Last Washington Region Reaches Phase 2 Reopening

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington's last Phase 1 region is moving ahead with reopening after the state found one hospital had incorrectly reported its admissions data. Late last week, Gov. Jay Inslee announced five regions would join Puget Sound and the West Region in Phase 2 over the weekend, leaving behind only the South Central region, containing Yakima, Kittitas and four other counties.

On Sunday, the state Department of Health discovered that Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla misreported its data by mistake, artificially inflating one of the four metrics it uses to determine reopenings, officials said. After updating with the correct information, DOH said the region met its criteria after all.

"When errors like this happen, our DOH team is committed to getting things corrected as quickly as possible," said Dr. Umair Shah, state Secretary of Health. "We are pleased that partners in the South Central region brought this issue to our attention and we were able to resolve the matter quickly."

With the change, all 39 of Washington's counties are now in the second reopening phase, allowing for more indoor activities and recreation.

All eight regions are evaluated by the state every two weeks, and the next review is expected Thursday, Feb. 25, with the earliest change in phases March 1. The state has yet to announce reopening tiers beyond Phase 2, so any change would likely be a downgrade. For each region to remain in Phase 2, they must meet at least three of four metrics:

• A decreasing or flat trend in the two-week rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
• A decreasing or flat trend in COVID-19 hospital admission over the past two weeks.
• ICU occupancy under 90 percent.
• COVID-19 test positivity of less than 10 percent.

While Washington's coronavirus trends have trended in the right direction for weeks, health officials warn the situation could quickly worsen if more infectious variants take hold amid high community transmission rates.

Check out Washington's Roadmap to Recovery dashboard on the state coronavirus website.