Restaurants, museums, fitness centers allowed to reopen at 25% capacity starting Monday

Meghan Walker Ballard

Gov. Jay Inslee yesterday announced easing of COVID-19 guidelines for King County, allowing many business to reopen indoor service starting Monday, Feb. 1.

Under the easements, King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties will be in Phase 2 of the new Roadmap to Recovery plan. That means restaurants, indoor fitness centers, and live entertainment venues including bowling alleys, museums, and concert halls will all be permitted to reopen to 25% capacity. Bars will remain closed, unless they also serve food.

The state now requires that counties meet three of the following four metrics to be permitted for Phase 2 guidelines:

  1. Trend in case rate: Trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 100K population;
  2. Trend in hospital admissions rate: Trend in 14-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population;
  3. Percent ICU occupancy: Average 7-day percent occupancy of ICU staffed beds; and
  4. Percent positivity: 7-day percent positive of COVID-19 tests.

King County has seen a decline in hospital admissions (down 16%), ICU occupancy (currently 84% capacity), and percent of positive COVID-19 cases (currently 9%).

Other counties moving into Phase 2 are Grays Harbor, Pacific, Thurston, Lewis.

To read more about Phase 2 and the metrics for reopening, read Gov. Inslee’s announcement on Medium.

Photo courtesy Skal