SPOKANE, Washington. – If current trends continue, Spokane County is at risk of reverting to Phase 2 of the state reopening plan.
The province has an average of about 119 cases per day and about 273 cases per 100,000 residents for two weeks. The statistic required by the state asks for less than 200 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants per 14 days.
Spokane County is also above the hospitalization threshold. The local hospital benchmark is 5.2 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents in a week, while the state says that number should be less than five.
If these numbers don’t drop, Spokane County runs the risk of being moved back one stage during the next state review. Governor Jay Inslee relaxed the requirements that counties had to meet in order to remain in phase 3 before the previous evaluation. To go down a stage, counties do not have to meet both metrics for the number of cases and hospital admissions, whereas previously counties would go back if they failed only one. The relaxed guidelines saved Spokane County from transitioning to Phase 2, but now the county doesn’t meet both requirements.
Spokane Regional Health District officials said in a meeting Tuesday morning that people between the ages of 10-39 are causing the problems. People in this demographic age are responsible for 61 percent of new cases.
Health authorities reiterated the importance of vaccination as it helps protect people from the virus and reduces transmission, which could lead to additional variants. Every Washingtonian age 16 and older is now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
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