Whitman County rolling back to Phase 2

OLYMPIA - Gov. Jay Inslee announced today that he will be moving three counties backwards in their coronavirus reopening effective Friday.

Those counties are Cowlitz and Pierce in Western Washington, and Whitman in Eastern Washington.

For a small-population county like Whitman to remain in "Phase 3," the governor said it would be required to have less than 200 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days and less than five new hospitalizations in the last week.

Whitman County reported 210 cases over the last two weeks, mostly connection to Washington State University, accordin...