OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order will expire Sunday night, and the state’s counties will have more flexibility to apply to advance through the current four-phase “Safe Start” reopening plan using updated benchmarks that some larger counties had been seeking.
Most counties are already approved for Phase 2, which allows restaurants and taverns to reopen at half capacity with limited table sizes, hair and nail salons and barber shops to resume business, and for retail stores to reopen for in-store purchases at 30% capacity.
Under the guidelines issued Friday, any county can apply, and the application will be assessed on several targets, including whether they’ve had fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period.
A county’s ability to respond to outbreaks, an increased number of deaths, health system capacity and other factors will also be considered.
The “Safe Start” plan also allows the Secretary of Health to approve a county to move “in whole” to the next phase or to approve only certain activities in the next phase.