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King County has been approved for Phase 2 status as the region recovers and reopens after months of COVID-19 restrictions.
CHS reported earlier this week on the state’s largest county finally being ready to move up to Phase 2 status as Seattle’s waves of protests haven’t produced a notable spike in positive cases.
Masks and face coverings remain critically important after they started being required in King County and Seattle starting in mid-May. With the move to Phase 2, King County is distributing 5 million cloth face coverings and 20 million disposable face coverings to residents, workers and businesses.
Phase 2 will mean restaurants and bars can operate with “indoor customer occupancy” at 50% and outdoor dining also at 50% of capacity. You still won’t be able to eat or drink at the bar rail. In-store retail is locked at 30% capacity until the next phase.
Gyms can reopen Training and fitness training can begin again. In-home domestic services will be officially allowed. And “accountants, architects, attorneys, engineers, financial advisors, information technologists, insurance agents, tax preparers, and other office-based occupations that are typically serving a client base” can start keeping office hours again — if they want to. The biggest win, really, is the ultimate category of social distancing — you miss your friends and loved ones. “Individuals may gather with five or fewer people from outside their household per week,” the guidelines for Phase 2 read.
The looser restrictions will mean many Capitol Hill favorites are kicking back into motion while others who have hustled to launch new business efforts along the way can now consider shifting back toward more normal operations. Will “to go” cocktails stick around? Probably.
The reopening is part of the state’s revamped plan to transition the reopening process to a county by county process based on key measurements including infection rates and testing resources. “This approach reduces the risk of COVID-19 to Washington’s most vulnerable populations and preserves capacity in our health care system, while safely opening up businesses and resuming gatherings, travel, shopping and recreation,” the state’s announcement of the approval reads. “The plan allows counties and the secretary of health to holistically review COVID-19 activity and the ability for the county to respond when determining if a county is ready to move into a new phase.”
Officials are evaluating each county by five key measurement areas:
- COVID-19 activity: The ideal target for new cases will be 25 or fewer per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. Hospitalizations for COVID should be flat or decreasing.
- Healthcare system readiness: The available hospital beds in a given jurisdiction would preferably be at less than 80% occupancy.
- Testing: Counties should show they have adequate testing capacity, 50 times as many people per day as they have confirmed new cases per day – which equates to positive test results under 2%. They also need to show rapid turnaround time for test results, ensuring that we can work effectively to contain the virus.
- Case and contact investigations: The goal is to contact 90 percent of cases by phone or in person within 24 hours of receipt of a positive lab test result. There is also a goal of reaching all that person’s contacts within 48 hours of a positive test result. Additionally, there are goals to make contact with each case and contact during their home isolation or quarantine to help ensure their success.
- Protecting high-risk populations: The ideal number of outbreaks reported by week – defined as two or more non-household cases where transmission occurred at work, in congregate living, or in an institutional setting – is zero for counties under 75,000, and no higher than three for our largest counties.
The approval comes two weeks after the county began an interim Phase 1.5 as health officials opted for a slower advancement on reopening in King County. Earlier this month, Seattle announced a new free testing initiative that has added two mobile clinics — one to the north off Aurora and one in SoDo — as well as expanded recommendations for who should seek a test that includes anyone feeling even mild symptoms or who has had even a brief exposure to someone who is sick or tested positive.
The county’s most recently updated report on its performance through June 16th is below:
Seattle residents have now been under COVID-19 “stay home” restrictions for 101 days.
CHS COVID-19 TIMELINE: + Feb. 29 First ‘presumptive positive’ COVID-19 case in King County + Mar. 11 Washington puts ‘over 250’ restrictions in place + Mar. 11 Schools closed + Mar. 15 Restaurants and bars closed, ‘over 50’ threshold + Mar. 21 Police begin clearing parks + Apr. 2 Washington restrictions extended + Apr. 6 Schools closed for rest of year + Apr. 8 Can’t relax those social restrictions yet but, exhale, Seattle — COVID-19 model says you’ve made it through this outbreak’s peak + Apr. 27 Washington eases restrictions on some outdoor activities but you’ll still need to give six feet on the trail + May 1 Washington extends COVID-19 restrictions through May, readies ‘four phase’ plan for reopening with limits on groups, restaurant capacity, and travel +May 15 Zero: King County reports a day with no new COVID-19 deaths + May 29 Inslee transitions COVID-19 phases to ‘county by county’ decisions putting King County within striking distance for loosened restrictions + June 5 King County cleared for Phase 1.5 — Restaurants at 25%, in-store retail, and you can get a haircut
Meanwhile, businesses near the core of the Capitol Hill protest zone are also part of the expanded reopening. Some face unique challenges mixing with the new shape of the neighborhood.
Capitol Hill resident Alex Porter has toured the area to help bring attention to the shops, restaurants, and more that are open near the protest area and camp. You can check out the tour, below.
❤️ @poquitosseattle ❤️ @bigmariospizza ❤️ @cafepettirosso ❤️ @quinnsseattle ❤️ @bimboscantina ❤️ @castlesuperstores ❤️ Bok Bok Fried Chicken ❤️ @retrofithomeseattle ❤️ @littlebigburgerseattle ❤️ A Pizza Mart ❤️
❤️ @eltanabagels ❤️ @pokebar.seattle.wa ❤️ @ramendanbo_usa ❤️ @manaoseattle ❤️ @thecuffcomplex ❤️ @rgbsoda ❤️ Tzar Bar ❤️ UDON Noodle ❤️ @rbtacos ❤️ @elliottbaybookco (order online) ❤️
❤️ Marmite Seattle ❤️ Chophouse Row ❤️ Blick Art Materials ❤️ Northwest Liquor & Wine ❤️ 35th North Skateshop Seattle ❤️ Cupcake Royale ❤️ Yo Zushi ❤️ Amandine Bakeshop ❤️ Cupcake Royale ❤️ Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream ❤️
You can also help spread the word about your Capitol Hill-area favorites in the CHS comments.
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Time to follow the lead of other cities and permit more outdoor seating in our under-utilized street right of way to allow these businesses to capture revenue and keep people safe.
Does further crowding of pedestrians on the sidewalks increase safety? Most I see are not wearing masks.
That’s why we should close streets and move existing sidewalk seating into them.
Many other higher issues to be concerned of but, hoping they open the Starbucks at Broadway and Pike. One in the grocery doesn’t cut it.
The mf’s tryna kill us..
Even simple stuff like a contact tracing app doesn’t exist, so we’re no better off than we were in March. Almost no one got infected when we shut down in March, and now we are surrounded by hot spots in Oregon and west WA. Can’t swim in lake or play tennis, but can hold mass protests….
Hmm, you noticed that too….
In such a tech focused city how do we not have the Apple / google contact tracing app that is in wide use in EU ?
But does it work well over there? Unless everyone is microchipped, I don’t see how it can be simple and accurate.
Why can’t you swim in a lake or play tennis? Those are both allowed.
Bathing beaches closed, Seattle parks has locked all the tennis courts and removed.
Tennis courts have been open since June 12?
Also, the Seattle parks website says parks are open for swimming.
Tennis courts are open.
https://parkways.seattle.gov/2020/05/14/seattle-parks-and-recreation-amenities-whats-open-and-whats-closed/
For Pike-Pine, this opening-up doesn’t matter much, because not many people will want to hang out in the shithole that is the occupation zone. I feel for the small businesses and the residents of the area.
That’s wierd I thought businesses are enjoying an uptick and the area is way more crowded then before Chaz started…lots of ppl bored curious enough to swing by it seems
“Individuals may gather with five or fewer people from outside their household per week”
We are going to fail so badly at this, everyone is going to catch up with friends while the sun is out. I don’t see anyone wearing a mask around the parks, large groups of friends not following guidelines.
I hope we don’t get a second wave
I don’t understand this one. Does this mean at my house without masks? What if we are outside and maintain 6 feet? And wear masks? What are the rules for individuals may gather. If you can’t gather with masks to avoid this, it won’t work. Who doesn’t have contact with five other people in a week?