Officials: Snohomish, other counties not ready for Phase 2
EVERETT Snohomish County likely wont move to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslees plan to reopen the state, even if much of the rest of the state does on June 1, local officials say.
As in other large Western Washington counties, there are too many new COVID-19 cases each day to meet the required threshold. While hospitals are ready for a surge, contact tracing and testing arent where they need to be to control a major outbreak, the countys top health officer, Dr. Chris Spitters, said during a Friday call with reporters. Its possible the county could enter the next phase which, among other things, would open restaurants to 50% capacity, barber shops and nail salons at some point in June.
Things continue to get better, but were still not there, Spitters said. Id like to have better news than that. I do think its not far off, but its something thats going to take efforts by us on the containment end and efforts by the community to do what they can to suppress transmission.
King and other large counties are in the same boat, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said during the Friday briefing.
Were headed in the right direction, but we certainly will not meet those criteria by June 1, he said.
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