With COVID-19 increasing, state ‘may continue to extend’ pause in phases, officials say
State Secretary of Health John Wiesman said the rate of new COVID-19 cases continues to increase, and that it is nearly double the peak in March.
He said no decision has been made, but that the state “may continue to extend” a pause in counties advancing phases under the state’s Safe Start plan.
“What we’re trying to do at the moment is prevent runaway growth of COVID-19 in our state,” Wiesman said at a weekly briefing Wednesday held by state officials about Washington’s response to the pandemic.
Having fewer, shorter and safer interactions with others “is absolutely critical,” he said. “... staying home is still the safest.”
When going out is necessary, Wiesman said: “Keep it quick, keep your distance from others and wear your face coverings.”
Asked about a potential extension of the pause on phases, which goes until July 28, he noted: “We really lost the momentum from the very early days where we were able to bend that curve down. ... I think anybody who is looking at these numbers will understand we need to be cautious.”
The state reported totals of 49,247 cases and 1,468 deaths Wednesday. Tuesday those totals were 48,575 cases and 1,465 deaths.
Wiesman said we need to see “rates coming way down,” and that: “Decisions haven’t been made yet, but I think if you carefully look at the data you can probably draw those conclusions that holding at the moment and again considering how we continue to reduce risky interactions needs to be our focus right now.”
He has returned pending applications counties had submitted to advance phases before the pause started. They’ll be four weeks old at the end of the month, he said, and will need to be updated when the pause is lifted.
State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy shared a graphic at the briefing that showed the highest rates were in people 80 and older in April, and that at the end of June and in July the highest rates of illness were in people ages 20 to 24.
“One thing that we’re really concerned about here in Washington is whether our current trajectory is putting us on the same path that Florida was on,” she said. “... That would mean over the next few weeks we would start to see cases in a much broader age group ... .”
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 5:37 PM.
