Washington state facing shutdowns, Phase rollbacks as coronavirus cases rise

King County likely rolling back to Phase 2

King County's public health officer says COVID case counts and hospitalizations will likely mean the county is moving back a phase in the state's reopening plan.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - When the coronavirus pandemic hit the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington, their governors quickly reacted with shutdowns. Now they are about to impose new restrictions again as infections and hospitalizations rise to alarming levels.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is putting 15 counties that encompass the state’s biggest cities into the state’s extreme risk category starting Friday, imposing restrictions that include banning indoor restaurant dining. As Brown issued her order on Tuesday, she said rising COVID-19 hospitalizations threaten to overwhelm doctors.

"If we don’t act now, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other health care providers in Oregon will be stretched to their limits treating severe cases of COVID-19," Brown said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to order new restrictions next week for several counties, likely including the state’s largest, that would force businesses and churches to reduce their indoor gathering capacity from 50% to 25%.

Inslee will decide which counties need to be rolled back to Phase 2 of his reopening plan after an evaluation of public health safety benchmark numbers. The public health director for King County, which includes Seattle, expects it will be included in Inslee’s order.

"We might as well just get prepared for that and not just wait," Patty Hayes, director of Public Health – Seattle & King County, told the King County Council on Tuesday.

The moves come, ironically, as the supply of vaccines in many places is exceeding demand.

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"There are appointments available right now all across the state," Brown said.

For example, the public health director for northern Oregon’s Umatilla County, which was downgraded Tuesday from the moderate to the high-risk category, told state officials it can send last week’s vaccine allocation somewhere else and will likely do so again this week.

"Our demand level is dropping dramatically," Public Health Director Joe Fiumara told the East Oregonian newspaper. The county has about 6,000 doses and last week administered fewer than 500 as health department staff sat idly, waiting for people to arrive for vaccinations.

The level of vaccinations in the mostly rural county is far short of what health experts say is needed: According to Oregon Health Authority data, only about 19,000 people have been fully or partially vaccinated in the county where 78,000 people live.

The restaurant sector objected to Brown’s action, with the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association declaring that the state lost more than 1,000 food service businesses in 2020 and that 200 more closed permanently so far this year.

"The move by the governor’s office is tone deaf and offensive to tens of thousands of Oregonians working in restaurants and bars across our state attempting to pay their bills," said Jason Brandt, the group’s president and CEO.