Tri-Cities allowed to reopen restaurants and theaters. Data mistake was found

The Tri-Cities area is being approved to move to Phase 2 of reopening immediately, the Washington state Department of Health announced on Sunday.

That means restaurants and bars can serve food and drink indoors, fitness centers can offer more services, and movie theaters and other indoor entertainment businesses can reopen.

All will be limited to 25% capacity.

In addition, some small at-home indoor gatherings are allowed.

The change comes after a data error was discovered.

On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee said the the South Central Region of Washington state, which includes the Tri-Cities, had not met two of the four Washington state goals required to move to Phase 2 of reopening.

Regions must meet at least three of the requirements under the Road to Recovery reopening plan.

That left Benton, Franklin, Yakima, Walla, Walla, Columbia and Kittitas counties as the only ones in the state that were not going to be in Phase 2 of reopening as of Monday, Feb. 15.

But a Walla Walla hospital had incorrectly reported its hospital data for new COVID-19 patients, instead reporting data for all new patients, according to the state Department of Health.

The problem was discovered after local health officials came together to discuss why the data did not match what they were experiencing at area hospitals.

“When errors like this happen, our DOH team is committed to getting things corrected as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Umair Shah, the Washington state secretary of health.

Data corrected

The correction of the data means that the South Central Region now meets a requirement that hospital admissions for COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people decrease by 10%.

Last week’s incorrect data showed a 9% increase in the rate of COVID patient admissions in the South Central Region, while admissions for the state had dropped 16%.

When the percentage was recalculated with correct data, the number of COVID patient admissions in the region’s hospitals dropped 19%.

The South Central Region already had met state requirements for declining numbers of new COVID patients per 100,000 people and have less than 90% of its hospital intensive care unit beds in use by all patients.

The fourth metric, which it has not met, is dropping the percent of COVID tests that are positive to less than 10%.

Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla said it made the error in reporting hospital data.

“The error was unintentional, and we acted as quickly as possible to provide corrected data to the state,” said Susan Blackburn, chief executive at the hospital.

Reopened activities

Here’s what is new for the Tri-Cities under Phase 2 of reopening:

▪ Indoor food and drink service is allowed at restaurants, bars and wineries up to 25% capacity. They can be open no later than 11 p.m.

▪ Theaters, museums, indoor concert venues, bowling alleys, trampoline parks, cardrooms and other indoor entertainment establishments can reopen at 25% capacity.

▪ Indoor recreation and fitness centers may operate at 25% capacity. Under Phase 1 they could open only by appointment.

▪ Up to 200 spectators allowed for outdoor sports competitions, but tournaments continue to be banned.

▪ Outdoor entertainment venues, such as arenas and stadiums, can open to groups of 15, with two households per group, and a maximum of 200 spectators and staff.

▪ Indoor social and at-home gatherings area allowed for up to five people outside a household, but are limited to people from two households.

▪ Outdoor social gatherings are allowed for up to 15 people outside of a household, but are limited to people from two households. Outdoor gatherings were limited to 10 people in Phase 1.

▪ Wedding and funeral ceremonies and receptions are allowed at 25% capacity or up to 200 people, whichever is less. In Phase 1 they were limited to 30 people maximum. Dancing continues to be prohibited at wedding receptions.

The Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery plan was launched Jan. 11 by Inslee with a focus on reducing the rate of new COVID cases.

All eight regions of the state were rolled back to a revised Phase 1 under the new reopening plan.

Initially, regions had a chance to move forward every week or to be knocked back a phase. More recently decisions on phases have been made every two weeks to give businesses more stability and planning time before phases were changed to their benefit or detriment.

This story was originally published February 14, 2021 at 12:20 PM.