Safe Start Washington: Washington's phased approach to reopening businesses

On May 4, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced the state's plan for returning to a sense of normalcy as COVID-related business restrictions begin to be lifted. The bad news is that most Washington businesses are likely still months away from returning to full operation. The good news is that employers have time to make the necessary preparations to ensure a safe and compliant return to business under the governor's plan.

Safe Start Washington plan

Governor Inslee's Safe Start Washington plan presents a phased approach to removing the restrictions placed on individuals and businesses under the earlier Stay Home, Stay Healthy emergency shelter-in-place order. The plan will operate in four phases, during which specified restrictions will be lifted. Each phase is tied to a series of metrics that track how new COVID-19 cases are trending throughout the state and the state's general preparedness to respond to and mitigate the effects of ongoing COVID-19 incidents.

Specifically, the state is monitoring disease activity, healthcare system readiness, testing capacity and availability, case and contact tracing capabilities, and its ability to protect high-risk populations. The governor's office has published an online dashboard, updated weekly, showing the current level for each metric, which can be viewed at https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/covid-19-risk-assessment-d....