As the pandemic continues, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new plan last week called “Healthy Washington — Roadmap to Recovery.”
This new plan takes effect Jan. 11, and unlike the state’s previous “Safe Start” plan, “Healthy Washington” consists of two phases instead of four, with the state divided into eight regions. Every region will start in Phase 1, and reopenings will happen by region rather than county. Additionally, regions do not have to apply to move forward to the next phase. The state Department of Health will promote regions based on whether they hit four key metrics. The DOH will examine data every Friday to determine if each region can move forward on the following Monday.
Metrics used will include: a 10% decreasing trend in case rates during the previous two-week period, a 10% decrease in COVID-19 hospital admission rates during the previous 14-day period; an ICU occupancy rate that’s less than 90%, and a test positivity rate of less than 10%.
Read on for a list of what activities you can and can’t do in each phase and a breakdown of the regions. For the official guidelines and more information, visit the governor’s website or the state’s coronavirus website.
