Washington Reaches Phase 3: Here's What's Allowed Starting Monday

SEATTLE — Just one day shy of a full year since Gov. Jay Inslee enacted Washington's first stay-at-home orders, all 39 counties reach the third reopening phase for the first time Monday.

Inslee announced the latest overhaul to his Healthy Washington roadmap earlier in March, crediting the state's improved coronavirus metrics and expanding vaccination efforts.

"Because of the progress we've made by decreasing our case rates and hospitalizations, as well as our tremendous efforts to get more people vaccinated, our reopening plan is once again based on counties, not regions," Inslee said on March 11. "We are excited to take this step, and we will keep evaluating our progress, and the impacts of these changes, to determine how and when we reopen further."

Here are some of the major changes under Phase 3:

• Capacity doubles for all previously-allowed indoor activities, including at bars, restaurants, gyms and movie theaters. Under Phase 3, all can operate with 50 percent occupancy (400 people maximum).
• Limited spectators can return to professional sporting events. Larger venues with permanent outdoor seating can welcome up to 9,000 fans. The Seattle Mariners and Sounders FC have already announced ticketing plans for April.
• Indoor and outdoor events may resume at smaller venues — as long as crowds do not exceed 50 percent capacity or 400 people. Student-athletes can also participate in high-contact sports with spectators under the same guidelines. (Find the full guidance for spectators on the governor's website.)
• Alcohol service may continue until midnight, up from the previous 11 p.m. cutoff.
• All counties are now evaluated separately, instead of by region, every three weeks. The first statewide review is planned for April 12.
• The state plans to revisit capacity caps in mid-April and could allow for even more people at a variety of events.

Here are a few more differences between the phases:

The third phase also marks a change in how the state evaluates reopenings, abandoning the regional approach in favor of counties while simplifying the metrics.

Moving forward, the state Department of Health will assess each county based on the rate of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations every three weeks. Inslee said a built-in failsafe would also move a county backward if their ICU beds were 90 percent full.

In the nearly two weeks since Inslee announced Phase 3, health officials have cautioned of a plateau in the state's progress and a recent increase in cases among younger adults.

"What has happened after this third wave is we're starting to see the slowdown in the decrease of the number of cases, but the baseline is even higher than the first, second, or third," said Dr. Scott Lindquist, state epidemiologist for communicable diseases. "The additional concern is this emergence of the younger-age case rates. Given our opening...to Phase 3, higher base rates, this predominance of younger age groups, and the emergence of variants in the state, we're very concerned what this all means."

Dr. Umair Shah, the state Secretary of Health, said the state will quickly scale back activities if a county's metrics take a swing in the wrong direction.

"We want to make sure we're doing everything that we can to move forward, but also recognizing that if the data do not show that we can continue to move forward, then we are absolutely ready to take decisive action," Shah said.

On Friday, King County's health officer pleaded for continued vigilance, citing the prevalence of more contagious variants and the much higher risk for infection indoors.

"If we have too much activity without taking precautions, COVID-19 will rebound," Dr. Jeff Duchin said. "So, please remember face masks, understand the importance of ventilation, open doors, open windows, limit time with others in crowded indoor air spaces. It's incredibly important to remember how this disease spreads through the air."

Read more about Phase 3 in Washington on the governor's blog.