Washington State is currently working under a plan called "Roadmap to Recovery" which uses two metrics to determine if particular counties are eligible for loosening or tightening mandated restrictions that are thought to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic. The entire state moved to "Phase 3" (the least restrictive phase) in March and since then three counties have been moved back to a more restrictive "Phase 2". It is expected that several more counties will be returned to "Phase 2" next week.

The two metrics used for this determination are the number of new Covid-19 cases found through testing per 100000 populaton and during a 7 or 14 day period and the number of new hospitalizations related to Covid-19 per 100000 population during the 7 or 14 day period. The number of days that are used for this measurment depends upon the total population of the particular county.

I believe (and hope) that the overall goal of the State's response to the pandemic is two-fold. The number one goal is to reduce the number of overall new cases to the point where "heard immunity" is reached. The second goal is to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed.

Kitsap County, where I live, is a suburban county with approximately 275000 residents. It is considered a "large" county for phase determination. According to what I see in the news media it is one of several counties that are in danger of having our restaurants punished by being relegated from "Phase 3" to "Phase 2".

Kitsap County's current numbers are 214 cases per 100000 population (which exceeds the "Phase 3" threashold) and 3.3 new hospitalizations per 100000 population(which does not exceed the "Phase 3" threashold). Kitsap county has only one hospital that is open to the public. It was first opened in 2020 and is state-of-the-art in every respect.

In terms of reaching the stated (by me) goals, what does this mean? The first thing that I see is that we still have a lot of cases each week, but few hospitalizations. Less than 2% of those who test positive require hospitaliztion. That seems like a very low number and it seems to me that our health care system can absorb this small influx of new patients. Currently only 7% of patients who are currently hospitalized have Covid-19. Less than 1/3 of the patients in the Intensive Care Unit have Covid-19 and only 27% of ventilators are currently being used. Looking at these numbers (provided by the Kitsap County Health Department) I see no evidence that our health care system is being overwhelmed. That was the number two goal.

In terms of the number one goal -- "herd immunity". That can only be achieved through wide-spread immunity and can be achieved in two ways; vaccinations and infections. All counties in Washington State are doing their best of vaccinate as many eligible people as possible as rapidly as possible. However, there is a great deal of resistance in the state to vaccinations. The lines to get vaccinated have shrunk. There is now no need to make appointments. There is plenty of vaccine, plenty of facilities to vaccinate, yet few arms.

If these hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians (and Americans) don't want to get vaccinated, then they need to acquire immunity through infection. That is the only way that we can defeat the pandemic. Closing restaurants, gyms and bars won't do it. What waste of political capital on the part of politicians.

Kitsap County's numbers indicate that we are working in the right direction toward "herd immunity". More people are getting vaccinated each week and more unvaccinated people are achieving immunity through infection. This is being done without severly taxing our health care system.

Good job Kitsap County residents and Washington residents in general. "Live Free or Die" is Vermonts state motto. Perhaps our's should be "Get Vaccinated or Get Sick...Please"