Gov. Jay Inslee paused all counties from rolling backward to Phase 1 in the state's reopening plan on Thursday. All eight regions of Washington state will remain in Phase 2 of reopening as health officials track COVID-19 case trends.
As of Feb. 11, all eight regions had a decreasing trend in case rates and hospital admission rates as well as ICU occupancy below 90%. Half of the regions – the North, Northwest, Puget Sound and West regions – had a test positivity rate below 10%.
Under the criteria Inslee outlined in January, regions needed to meet at least three of those four health metrics before being allowed to move on to the next phase of reopening. Metrics would be reassessed every two weeks. Read more
The Washington Supreme Court struck down the state's felony drug possession law because, unlike other states, Washington doesn't require prosecutors to prove that someone knowingly or intentionally possessed drugs.
The ruling came in the case of a Spokane woman who said she did not know that she had methamphetamine in the jeans she had received from a friend.
Seattle police and the Pierce County Sheriff's Office both said they would not arrest people for drug possession, though other drug-related crimes would still be pursued. King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg called for lawmakers to rewrite the law, but also noted that his office has not prosecuted anyone for being in possession of less than a gram of any drug since 2018. Read more
A storm expected to bring heavy snow to the Cascades will make it "a very challenging 24 hours" at Snoqualmie Pass.
Forecasts are calling for several feet of snow to fall by the end of the storm, the Washington State Department of Transportation warned Thursday.
A Winter Storm Warning is in effect until 10 p.m. Friday for all of the Cascades. Heavy snow is expected above 2,000 feet, with windy conditions at times. Read more
Health leaders said in a press conference Thursday that more vaccines are on their way to Washington state, increasing the supply significantly by mid-March.
By mid-March, the state could get more than 300,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines per week, and that's not counting the vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to get emergency use approval soon. Read more
Residents in King, Pierce and Thurston counties had the opportunity to participate in a test of the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system Thursday morning.
The ShakeAlert system will be capable of sending warnings of imminent earthquakes to phones and other devices. The warning will give people a few seconds to prepare, as well as allow automated systems to activate emergency measures before the earthquake arrives.
The ShakeAlert system was developed by research universities in California, Oregon and the University of Washington, along with the U.S. Geological Survey. Read more
Also see: Seattle local forecast
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