Five regions advance to Phase 2 on Valentine's Day

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that five new regions have met the metric requirements to progress to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington reopening plan, starting this weekend. The West and Puget Sound regions have maintained their metric requirements to stay in Phase 2.

The new regions progressing to Phase 2 are:

• North (Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Island)
• North Central (Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Grant)
• Northwest (Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason)
• East (Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Adams, Whitman, Garfield)
• Southwest (Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Skamania, Clark, Klickitat)

The only region not moving to Phase 2 is the South Central region – which includes Ellensburg, Yakima, the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla.

Additionally, the governor announced Thursday evening that the five regions progressing will be able to do so starting Sunday, Feb. 14. The holiday weekend provides a large portion of a restaurant's yearly revenue, and by moving up the region's reopening date will allow dining establishments to benefit.