by Carolyn Bick
King County and more than a dozen other counties will stay in Phase 3 of the State’s reopening plan, despite the fact that they have exceeded the metrics required to stay in Phase 3, Gov. Jay Inslee announced in a press conference on Tuesday, May 4.
Inslee said that the State will be “pausing” the regular two-week county metric evaluations for two weeks, which effectively means that no counties will be evaluated for another two weeks. It was widely expected that Inslee would move King County back into Phase 2 of the State’s reopening plan, but because the county’s case rates and hospitalization rates have flattened, for the most part, King County will not be moving back.
Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC), explained in the press conference that the case rate for the County has stayed fairly level for the last two weeks. He also said that King County hospitals have seen a plateau in emergency visits for COVID-like illness.
The case rate metric to stay in Phase 3 is at or less than 200 cases per 100,000 people. According to data from the Roadmap to Recovery dashboard, King County sits at almost 243 cases per 100,000 people. This data is current as of May 2, 2021.
Continue reading State Officials Pause Reopening Plan Evaluation, Keeping King County in Phase 3 →
