As Yakima Health officials continue to push to get more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine they're reporting improving numbers in the valley. Health district spokesperson Lilian Bravo says Yakima County will be able to remain in Phase 3 if at least one of the following two metrics can be met:
1. Less than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,00 population per 14 days
2. Less than 5 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 population per 7 days.
Bravo says currently Yakima County is at 116 covid cases per 100,000 and 3.1 COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000. She says that's good news and she says the numbers continue to improve. Bravo also says vaccination rates are increasing she says 49.83% of people ages 16+ have had their first dose of the vaccine while 41.32% of those 16+ that are fully vaccinated. Bravo says "We are in a good spot but hope we can continue to see these COVID-19 rates go down and vaccination rates go up. In general, communities require the majority of their population to be vaccinated (70%+) to ensure adequate immunity against a virus. Again, while we are doing much better, we know we can work together to continue to lower these rates and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.  We are very close as a state (58.83% initiated vaccination 46.78% fully vaccinated) and we can work towards doing our part in Yakima as well."
If you are looking for the vaccine you can find a location near you at yakimavaccines.org.

State officials say they're hoping to reach the 70% state vaccination rate by early or mid June. Governor Jay Inslee has announced a full reopening of the Washington economy is set to happen on June 30.

 

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