Snohomish County risks being one of the next counties to return to phase 2 of reopening when the state re-evaluates COVID-19 data on May 3.
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To stay in phase 3, large counties must have 200 or fewer new cases per 100,000 residents in two weeks and five or fewer hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in the last week. As of Tuesday, Snohomish County has now reached one of these thresholds, standing at 205 new cases per 100,000.
For the new cases, the county saw its number doubled in less than a month, increasing by over 250% since the decrease in March, from 85 new cases to 100,000. The 950 cases that the county registered in the week of April 4 also marked the highest total number of Snohomish counties recorded since the beginning of the autumn and winter wave in November last year.
Although it remains in line with hospitalizations for the time being, the county is approaching the limit, with 4.6 per 100,000 population for the week ending April 10, and Snohomish County health officer Dr. Chris Spitters said Tuesday that he believes that the region is likely to “exceed or address” the five referral hospitalizations by May 3.
“This puts us on the threshold and in serious danger of slipping back into phase 2,” Dr. Spitters warned. “Without being mitigated, these trends could bring us back to phase 1 not long after.”
As for what is causing these recent increases, Dr. Spitters believes that an increase in large unmasked gatherings among community members is likely to be to blame.
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“A quick scan of social media feeds is a good indicator of quality,” he described. “We just have too many people who gather in meetings with friends or family members who are not completely vaccinated, do not wear masks and do not keep their distance.”
Snohomish County Health posted on Facebook on Tuesday: “There have been many outbreaks of COVID among youth sports teams. These outbreaks endanger the Snohomish community and the county in danger of phase out. ”
However, Spitters said it may not be too late for Snohomish County to change things before May 3.
He advises residents to continue to disguise themselves and avoid gathering with others outside your home in large groups of unvaccinated people.
“If we start this approach immediately and do all these things well, I think we can have a reasonable chance of avoiding stricter restrictions,” he said. “Returning to a phase is painful and has a serious impact for many, but we are heading there in the next few weeks, if these figures do not return. It has happened before and it will happen again if we do not change course. ”