The Eastern region will not move to phase 2 this week because the rate of cases, the increase in the positivity of the test



[ad_1]

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Eastern region, along with the seven other Washington regions, will remain in Phase 1 of the “Healthy Washington” plan at least until February 1.

The State Department of Health said none of the regions met the parameters required to move on to the next phase and the Eastern region had in fact seen its numbers worsen.

The Eastern region, which includes Spokane and eight other counties in eastern Washington, meets only two of the four parameters needed to move forward.

The region met three of the four metrics in last week’s DOH report.

In that report, cases were down 26%, and now they are up 12%.

Hospital admissions have actually improved, falling by 11% and now by 20%.

Intensive care beds in the area have filled a bit more since last week; now at 82%, but the goal is to stay below 90.

The test’s positivity was 17% last week, and now it’s over 21.

To move to phase 2, a region must meet the following conditions:

  • Trend in the 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population
  • Trend in the 14-day rate of new hospital admissions for COVID-19 per 100,000 population
  • Average occupancy rate over 7 days of staffed beds in ICU
  • 7 days percent positive for COVID-19 tests

84 people in Spokane County have died so far this month from COVID-19.

For comparison, 78 people died in the first 22 days of December, so it’s up slightly.

We know that 50 percent of the 468 covid-19 deaths in the county are linked to long-term care facilities.

15 people under the age of 40 have also died from this virus.

RELATED: WA Reopening: Eastern Region Is Getting Closer, But No Region Is Ready To Move On To Phase 2



[ad_2]

Source link