Facing Rollbacks: Many WA Counties Could Move Backward This Week

OLYMPIA, WA — About a third of Washington counties face new restrictions this week, as the state reevaluates coronavirus metrics following a spring spike in case counts and hospitalizations.

State leaders will examine each county's status Monday and announce the results Tuesday. Last week, the Washington State Department of Health said more than a dozen counties looked at or near the thresholds to trigger a rollback to Phase 2. Counties that fail the metrics of their current phase will have to roll back by Friday.

Phase 2 allows for fewer people in most indoor spaces, cutting capacity for most businesses from 50 to 25 percent, and is likely to put more strict limits on the number of spectators allowed at professional sporting events.

After the last evaluation on April 12, three counties moved backward in Washington's Roadmap to Recovery plan: Pierce, Cowlitz and Whitman. According to the latest data, Pierce County looks certain to remain in Phase 2, with King among the handful poised to join them. Ferry County announced it would move backward last Friday.

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Related coverage:

• WA's 4th Wave Shows Early Signs Of Plateau, But Rates Still High
• Phase 2 Rollback Imminent As King County Rates Start To Stabilize
• Pierce County Likely To Remain In Phase 2

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Under the state's current framework, each county must meet at least one of two metrics to remain in Phase 3:

• Fewer than 200 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the 14 days leading up to the review.
• Fewer than 5 COVID-19 related hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the past week.

Pierce County remains well above the thresholds. King County, which narrowly avoided a rollback three weeks ago, now sits above both targets.

Last week, state officials said there were some early signs of a plateau in the fourth wave. However, new illnesses and hospitalizations, particularly among younger adults, have stalled too high.

"Transmission is still increasing, and we're seeing the majority of our counties are seeing rising case counts," said Dr. Umair Shah, state Secretary of Health. "The sharpest increases...are those in the younger population, youth and young adults. Hospital admission rates are increasing across all age groups as well."

King County's health officer on Friday acknowledged the "stormy weather," but said brighter days were on the horizon if community behaviors shift to minimize transmission while wider immunization efforts gain ground.

"At the moment, we don't have enough younger and middle-aged adults vaccinated to counteract the impact of variants that spread more easily," Dr. Jeff Duchin said. "Because vaccines take a few weeks to be fully effective...limiting activities and doing things more safely is the fastest way to turn the current surge around."

Duchin said Friday that moving the state's most populous county back to Phase 2 was all but inevitable, though changing course could by allowing for fewer opportunities to spread until more younger people are vaccinated.

"I think it's clear now that our best path out of this painful cycle of COVID-19 resurgence and restrictions, and for our return to normalcy as quickly as possible, is by rolling up our sleeves and getting vaccinated," Duchin said. "With increasing vaccination, we'll also be able to bid good riddance to the difficult restrictions that were once our only option for control of COVID-19."