Pierce County sends in its application for Phase 2 of COVID reopening plan
Pierce County has submitted its application to enter Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Safe Start COVID-19 recovery plan.
County Executive Bruce Dammeier approved the application Tuesday after the Board of Health and the Pierce County Council unanimously voted to send the state a plan to reopen.
“I’m proud that the people of Pierce County have worked so diligently to get to this point,” Dammeier said in a statement. “And, I’m confident that we can safely and responsibly transition to the next phase of our recovery.”
The state will make the final decision on whether Pierce County reopens. The Secretary of Health could accept, modify or deny the application.
If accepted, Phase 2 allows retailers to resume in-store purchases, restaurants to reopen with 50 percent capacity and table sizes no larger than five diners, and the re-start of new construction, real estate, hair and nail salons, and barbers.
Pierce County’s application includes metrics of positive cases, hospital capacity and ability to handle a surge of new patients.
Here are 10 of the targets and where Pierce County falls, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department:
Fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 over 14 days. Pierce County: 18.3 cases
Hospitalization trend for COVID-19 is flat or decreasing. Pierce County: flat
Transmission rate is one, meaning when someone tests positive, they infect one other person on average. Transmission rate in Western Washington is currently one.
10 percent of licensed hospital beds occupied by patients. Pierce County: 8.9 percent
50 tests administered per COVID-case. Pierce County: 37.3 tests per case
2 percent of tests are positive. Pierce County: 2.7 percent
Median time from symptom onset to test collection is fewer than two days. Pierce County: two days
90 percent of cases contacted by investigators within 24 hours of positive lab results. Pierce County: 89 percent
80 percent of contacts are reached within 48 hours of a positive lab result. Pierce County: 82 percent
Two or fewer outbreaks at workplace or facilities for counties larger than 300,000. Pierce County: zero outbreaks last week
Two more metrics were added to the final application on Sunday, including more details about Pierce County’s COVID-19 response, who is disproportionately affected, and different reporting metrics for contract tracing work, according to a TPCHD tweet.
