Pierce County leaders move to apply for Phase 2 of state’s COVID-19 recovery plan
Some Pierce County elected officials said Thursday they will apply for Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s phased COVID-19 reopening plan as quickly as possible.
County Executive Bruce Dammeier, County Council Chairman Doug Richardson and vice chairman Dave Morell called for an emergency meeting of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department Board of Health to approve Pierce County’s Phase 2 application.
Richardson also called for a special meeting of the County Council, according to a Pierce County tweet.
Both the County Council and the Board of Health must express support for such an application.
With strict social distancing and safety measures, Phase 2 allows the opening of outdoor recreation, manufacturing, construction, domestic services, retail, real estate, professional services, nail salons, barbers, pet grooming and restaurants.
“The people of Pierce County are ready to responsibly & safely move to Phase 2,” Dammeier said in a tweet.
“We’re taking steps to move Pierce County safely into Phase 2,” Morell tweeted.
County communications director Libby Catalinich said the elected officials want a Board of Health meeting and a special County Council meeting “as soon as possible.”
The application would then be sent to the state for review. An application must include plans for:
Making testing available and accessible to everyone in the county with symptoms,
Staffing case investigations and contact tracing
Housing people in isolation or quarantine who can’t or don’t want to do so at home
Providing case management services to those in isolation and quarantine
Responding rapidly to outbreaks in congregate settings.
The state has set benchmarks for moving to Phase 2, including that counties must have fewer than 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day span.
Pierce County would need fewer than 90 cases over a 14-day period to qualify, but the county has seen about 167 new cases over the last 14 days.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department responded to the tweet, saying the county is getting ready, but does not currently meet Inslee’s requirements.
“While we are preparing to be ready, we don’t meet Governor’s current requirements,” the tweet said.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
