People in Spokane County are among those breathing sighs of relief now that Governor Jay Inslee has announced a two-week delay in changes to Covid recovery phases.
It means businesses and others won’t have to change what they’ve been doing since the county moved to Phase 3, says Interim Health Officer Francisco Velazquez.“I think the most important thing to do and to remember is we have these two weeks of grace, which is really good for us to step it up a notch and make sure that we follow the guidance, get as many people immunized as we can, so as we look at the longer-term future, not just the next two weeks, for the next several weeks and several months, we continue to improve consistently," he said.
Velazquez says Spokane has endured fluctuations in its case rates and hospitalization percentages for the last few weeks, but the current situation is ok.
“In talking to our health care partners, they’re confident that what they have is manageable. If you look at hospitalization rates and ICU utilization, they’re stable," he said.
The Covid case rate is about 261 cases per hundred thousand people, which is above the 200 needed to keep Spokane in Phase 3. Its hospital percentage is also slightly above what is allowable.