News Flash

Cowlitz County is currently in Phase 2 of Governor Inslee’s “Safe Start” plan to re-open Washington’s
economy as of May 23, 2020. Cowlitz County officials had previously identified June 13, 2020 as the earliest
possible date that Cowlitz County would be eligible to apply for a variance to advance to Phase 3 of
Washington’s “Safe Start” Plan.

In an abundance of caution, the Cowlitz County’s Health Officer concluded today that the application for
variance to Phase 3 would be temporarily postponed in order to allow time to learn the full scope of a recent
increase in positive COVID-19 cases in Cowlitz County. There have been 22 new cases reported from June
8th to June 11th, nine of which have been connected to outbreaks in Clark County. Health officials will reevaluate the various metrics considered during the variance request process in several days, though no
definitive timeline is currently set.

While maintaining social distancing and common sense, Cowlitz County residents can safely emerge from
this pandemic, while continuing to protect high-risk, vulnerable citizens. Currently there are no deaths and
the number of current cases stands at 99. Of those cases, 67 have already recovered (For Washington
COVID-19 reporting, a patient is considered ‘recovered’ if: 28-days after symptoms began or a specimen
was collected, they are still alive and not hospitalized). The remaining 32 cases are active. There have
been 3,625 negative test results.

On the Governor’s website, there is individual guidance for further clarification on each category found at
https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/news/news-release-archive. If you have questions about if your
business is essential or if you want to seek further inquiries about essential business you can use the State
of Washington site at https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/whats-open-and-closed/essentialbusiness. Cowlitz County Health and Human Services and the Incident Management Team will continue to
provide local updates on the Cowlitz COVID-19 coronavirus webpage at www.cowlitzcovid19.com.

Follow us at:
Twitter - @CowlitzDEM
Instagram - cowlitzcountydem
Facebook - Cowlitz Covid-19 Incident Management Team
Previous Press Releases: www.cowlitzcovid19.com