Tri-Cities advances to Phase 2. Movie theaters and more can reopen

The Tri-Cities area can advance to Phase 2, giving Tri-Cities area residents more options for entertainment and recreation during the COVID pandemic, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday afternoon.

The changes take place immediately.

Movie theaters can open at limited capacity, more customers are allowed inside restaurants and bars, and churches may hold larger indoor services.

Personal service businesses, from barbers to tattoo artists, may serve more people at once.

Libraries and museums may reopen at limited capacity, and more outdoor tours and races are allowed.

Relatively small wedding and funeral receptions also can happen.

And convention centers are allowed some limited operations.

In addition to Benton and Franklin counties, Yakima, Douglas and Chelan also were approved on Tuesday to move to Phase 2. They were the only counties among the 39 in the state still in modified Phase 1.

The governor said there has been a leveling out in COVID risk between these counties and nearby counties already in Phase 2 since he temporarily stopped allowing counties to advance to new phases of reopening under his Safe Start plan in July.

Having the remaining five counties move to Phase 2 aligns them with the rest of central and eastern Washington, Inslee said.

“The COVID risk was off the charts for these counties last summer,” Inslee said. “They got it down because the majority of residents in these counties are doing the right things.”

In some cases rates in counties in Phase 2 were higher than those in counties remaining in modified Phase 1, making the change also a matter of fairness, he said.

He called the drop in new cases in the five counties since summer a testament to “the commitment of citizens to do scientifically credible things to save themselves” and also praised the work of local leadership.

“The residents of Benton and Franklin counties have substantially lowered the peak disease activity we saw in July of this year,” said Dr. Amy Person, health officer at the Benton-Franklin Health District.

That’s despite a stall in the steep decline in the number of new cases in recent weeks, followed by a slight uptick.

Inslee called out Benton County in a news conference Tuesday, saying that its current confirmed new case rate of 109 per 100,000 people was a quarter of the rate seen in July.

“The community has demonstrated our counties can open activities safely and it’s great news to see the recognition for their efforts,” Dr. Person said.

Many Phase 2 activities already were allowed under modified Phase 1.

What’s new for Tri-Cities

▪ Movie theaters can open at 25% capacity.

Movie-goers will need to maintain six feet of social distance between nonhousehold members and to wear facial coverings when they are not eating or drinking.

AMC earlier announced plans to open theaters elsewhere in Washington on Friday, but has not announced an opening date for its Kennewick theater.

Fairchild Cinemas has been eager to open its Tri-Cities theaters, but opening dates were not immediately available.

▪ Restaurants, bars, wineries and breweries can increase customers indoors from 25% of building capacity to 50% capacity.

▪ Churches and other faith-based organizations can expand indoor services to 25% of building capacity or 200 people, whichever is less.

▪ Libraries and museums can reopen at 25% of capacity for visitors, with the limit not including employees.

Curbside pickup and drop off already are allowed in the two counties for libraries.

Only one-way traffic is allowed in museums.

▪ Wedding and funeral receptions will be allowed, but no more than 30 people may participate.

Face coverings are required.

▪ Outdoor recreation, including races, tours and group rides, are allowed.

The guidance covers bicycle, running, cross country skiing and non-motorized boating events.

Starting waves are limited to no more than 10 participants with no more than 200 total participants starting in an hour.

Participants must wear face coverings until the event begins. Spectators are not allowed and distancing must be observed for participants, including at water stations.

▪ Convention centers and similar facilities may open for meetings with up to 30% occupancy.

However, no trade or craft shows are allowed.

▪ Barber shops, hair and nail salons and tattoo parlors may expand to 50% of capacity.

▪ Dog groomers may expand to 50% of capacity.

▪ Bowling league practice and league play is allowed.

▪ Agriculture events such as livestock, horse and animal exhibitions and auctions are allowed with outdoor capacity at 50%.

If held indoors, capacity will be at 50% up to 50 participants.

This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 3:07 PM.