All counties in Washington to move to Phase 3 on March 22; open indoor dining, gyms at 50%

All counties across Washington will move forward to Phase 3 of the state's reopening beginning later this month.

Under Phase 3, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor places will be able to increase capacity to 50%, up from 25% as it was in Phase 2, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday.

"Because of the work we have done in reducing the infection rate in our state, in reducing the hospitalization rate, we are now eligible to move forward on Phase 3 of our economic recovery plan," Inslee said during the news conference Thursday. "Some of the hardest hit businesses in Washington State will be able to return to 50% capacity.

All counties will be able to move forward to the third phase on March 22. This will also include large indoor and outdoor facilities that can hold up to 400 people, such as high school graduation ceremonies and concerts. But, capacity must not exceed 50% and social distancing along with masking is required.

"On March 22 we take one more step in beating the virus and reopening our economy," Inslee said.

The state will evaluate progress every three weeks based on two metrics: case rates and hospitalizations. Instead of the regional approach the state had been using, it is now moving back to evaluating progress on a county-by-county basis.

Large counties will have to have fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days and fewer than five new COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people on average over seven days. Smaller counties will have a somewhat different criteria to move forward, Inslee said.

The first review will be April 12.

"We think there's reason to be optimistic and we think this gives us way to keep moving forward," Inslee said.

For the past several weeks, all counties in the state had been in Phase 2 of the states repoening, which allowed many indoor venues to be open at 25%.

Inslee also announced the state would be moving forward earlier than expected to the next tier of Phase 1B. On Wednesday March 17, critical workers in certain congregate settings will become eligible to get the vaccine.

In recent weeks, the state has been speeding up its vaccination rollout. As of March 8, the state was vaccinating an average of more than 46,000 people per day over the previous seven days, exceeding its target of 45,000 doses per day.

The state has given a total of more than two million vaccine doses. In the coming weeks, officials expect Washington's allocation will continue to increase. The state has been receiving more than 300,000 doses per week, but it's still less than what providers have been asking for.

Last week, Inslee announced educators and child care workers would be immediately eligible to receive the vaccine after a directive from President Joe Biden telling states to prioritize teachers.

Until more people are vaccinated, officials are urging people to continue wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings to slow the spread of the virus. In recent weeks, case rates in the state have been pleateauing after declining quickly since January. Health officials are concerned about the possibility of a fourth wave, especially given the spread of new variants within the community.

As of Feb. 27, the most recent date the Department of Health has complete data for, the state was seeing a rate of 705 new cases per day over the previous seven days, which is higher than the plateau after the first and second surges in the state. After the second surge in the state over the summer, Washington saw a rate of about 400 new cases each day.

"After every wave, we're having a higher baseline," Scott Lindquist said during a Thursday morning news briefing . "This sets us up for continued waves."