Healthy Washington - Roadmap to Recovery

Overview

Effective January 11, 2021, the State of Washington is launching Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery which will use a regional approach for its upcoming phased recovery plan. These regions are largely based on the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) regions used for evaluating healthcare services given the concern for COVID-19’s potential impact on the healthcare system.

There will be eight regions in Washington that fall along county lines. Washougal is in the Southwest Region and in Phase 1 of the plan. Most regions in Washington have four or more counties. These regions are designed based on the available health care services in the area which has a strong connection to the metrics we will be using for COVID-19 hospitalizations, case data, and general mobility of individuals. 

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Metrics

In the Roadmap to Recovery, there are four metrics in total – two metrics that measure community disease levels (i.e., trends in case rates, test positivity) and two that measure health system capacity (i.e., trends in COVID-19 hospital admission rates , ICU occupancy). All four of these metrics must be met in order to move forward from Phase 1 to Phase 2.

• Decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population;
• Decreasing trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population;
• Average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds less than 90%; and,
• 7-day percent positivity of COVID-19 tests less than 10%

In order to remain in Phase 2, a region must continue meeting at least three of these four metrics.

• Decreasing or flat trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population;
• Decreasing or flat trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population;
• Average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds less than 90%; and,
• 7-day percent positivity of COVID-19 tests less than 10%

If a region in Phase 2 regresses and no longer meets any three or more of the metrics, the region – including all the counties within – will move back to Phase 1 on the following Monday.

In sum, a region that meets three or four of the Phase 2 metrics will remain in phase 2. A region that meets zero, or only one or two of the Phase 2 metrics will move back to phase 1.

Activities Allowed in Each Phase

The State of Washington will begin the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery plan with only two phases while it continues to assess the evolving pandemic and lists the following allowed or restricted activities in each phase:

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Learn more

Learn more about Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery at the Governor Inslee's Medium page here.