Pierce County To Move Back Into Phase 2 This Week

TACOMA — Pierce County will be rolled back into Phase 2 of the governor's Healthy Washington plan by the end of the week.

According to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), the county is one of three that failed their performance review Monday, and can no longer remain in Phase 3. The county will re-enter the second phase on Friday.

Here are a few of the restrictions that will be reimposed when that happens:

• Retail stores, restaurants, bars, houses of worship, personal and professional services will have their maximum capacity reduced from 50 to 25 percent.
• Bars and restaurants will also need to end alcohol service an hour earlier at 11 p.m. and limit visitors to a maximum of 6 people per table.
• Indoor entertainment like concerts, theaters and museums will be restricted to 200 people at a time, or 25 percent capacity, whichever is less.
• Outdoor social gatherings will be limited to 5 people from outside the household, down from 1o.

Recent changes to the Healthy Washington plan will allow some sporting events to continue in Phase 2 as they would have in Phase 3.

“The news that our county will return to Phase 2 effective April 16 is discouraging. This setback is a gut-punch to all of us, especially our Pierce County businesses that made it through the winter," said Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young.

Related: To Offset Phase 2 Damages, Pierce Council Prepares To Invest

Pierce County first moved into Phase 3 along with the rest of the state on March 22. At that time, state health leaders announced that the DOH would begin evaluating all of Washington's 39 counties every three weeks to determine if they were fit to remain in their current phases.

For counties with populations over 50,000 to remain in Phase 3, they would need to have either:

• Fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population per 14 days.
• Fewer than 5 COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 population per 7 days.

Unfortunately, Pierce County failed both metrics, according to the DOH, and will be moved back accordingly. The other counties moving back to Phase 2 Friday are Cowlitz and Whitman counties.

Both Snohomish and King County passed the evaluation (though King County cut it close), meaning Pierce is Washington's largest county to be rolled back. This is also the first time any counties have moved backwards through reopening phases, barring the statewide reset during the third wave of transmissions in fall.

The move has been met with disappointment from local leaders. As it became clear late last week that the county was going to be pushed back, several top Pierce County authorities, including County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, issued a letter to the governor's office asking for the review to be delayed, as The News Tribune first reported.

"It does not appear the increased cases are coming from the business community or restaurants who would be heavily impacted by the rollback," the letter reads. "Rather, the cases are likely coming from private and home social gatherings which are unlikely to be impacted by a rollback."

The leaders argue Pierce County deserves special consideration because of a recent discovery: that a technical glitch in the state's vaccine distribution program had given the county less than its fair share of vaccines, allowing more opportunities for the virus to spread.

Notably, no local health officials signed the letter, and health department representatives told The News Tribune that the vaccine shortage was not the primary reason Pierce County failed the state's metrics.

“This rollback is disappointing, but we know what we must do to reduce disease spread and open up more of our economy,” said Tacoma - Pierce County Health Department Director Anthony L-T Chen. “We are seeing more cases in small and informal gatherings. I know everyone is eager to get back to doing what they love, but we cannot let our guard down and allow the pandemic to come roaring back.”

Following the rollback announcement Monday, Woodards released a follow-up statement, reading in part:

Today’s news is certainly disappointing for Tacoma and Pierce County as it will have notable impacts on our community and our local businesses. I understand that this decision is based in data, and we have the power to change the outcomes in our community before the next evaluation. To be successful, we must remember that we are a resilient community. We have changed the tide on COVID-19 cases before in Pierce County, and we must believe that we can do it again.

The next DOH evaluation — and the next opportunity for Pierce County to re-enter Phase 3 — is scheduled for May 3. Until then, health leaders say it will be crucial to tamp down on transmission rates and focus on increasing vaccinations, if Pierce, Cowlitz and Whitman counties want to move on.

“Vaccine is a crucial tool that will help us end the pandemic, but it isn’t the only tool, and we don’t yet have enough Washingtonians fully vaccinated to rely on this alone to keep our communities safe from the virus,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary for COVID-19 response, Department of Health. “We need to focus on lowering disease transmission in the next several weeks ahead as we continue our vaccination efforts in order to avoid a fourth surge of cases. This means wearing masks, watching our distancing and keeping gatherings small and outdoors.”