Gov. Jay Inslee’s orders, which reduce the maximum number of people who are allowed to gather, went into effect statewide on July 20. Kittitas County now has a gathering restriction of 10 people, reduced from its previous 50 people. Inslee implemented this requirement to combat the increasing spread of COVID-19.

The new requirement currently applies to all gatherings except church gatherings, which remains at 50 people. 

Counties currently in phase two or a modified phase one of Inslee’s phased reopening plan have not had their maximum gathering number changed from five people.

Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) said they will try to safely open schools in the fall. However, in order to open schools the county may be required to have a positive COVID-19 percentage rate lower than 5%. To date, Kittitas County’s percentage rate of positive cases is 21.8%.

KCPHD asks county residents to limit all social interactions, social distance when possible and continue wearing masks in public. KCPHD and the county’s Incident Management Team (IMT) have said they will continue to prioritize preventative and responsive efforts surrounding long-term care facilities and high risk populations.

As of July 20 Kittitas County has 124 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, with 116 tests pending results. Of the county’s total 331 confirmed cases, 207 are considered recovered. The county reports four deaths related to COVID-19. All data is pulled from the Kittitas County Community Impact Dashboard.