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Kittitas (pronounced 'KITT-i-tass') County is located in central Washington State. It spans from the lush forested Cascade Mountains to the upper Yakima River Valley plains and the Columbia River.
Kittitas County, WA - 05/18/2020 - The Kittitas County Incident Management Team (IMT) has been notified by John Wiesman, Secretary of Health, that Kittitas County will be required to wait until May 26 for a determination on our Phase 2 status. In correspondence received, Secretary Wiesman explains that our county must observe the two week incubation period for COVID-19, since it is possible that there may be others who have been exposed to COVID-19.
The IMT knows that people of Kittitas County want to be in Phase 2. We know that people feel they can no longer maintain Phase 1 for various reasons. We anticipate some residents’ reactions to this news may be to act in a way that does not comply with state directives. But the job of the IMT and Kittitas County Public Health Department is to continue to fight COVID-19 in every way possible, and we ask our residents to support the local Kittitas County effort. “We want to remind people that Kittitas County continues to lead the way in our numbers of patients, our response to an outbreak, and our ability to contact and trace potential exposures,” states Health Officer Dr. Mark Larson. “We have done what we have been asked to do. All of us.” We currently have 59 positive cases in Kittitas County. The recent increase of patients is all associated with the Twin City Foods Inc. outbreak. There are no new cases that are not associated with the outbreak. There is no other element the state identified that Kittitas County has to address in order to be granted Phase 2 status. The requirement is the time element, the incubation period associated with the disease that causes COVID-19, to confirm that the outbreak did not threaten the health of our entire county. Once the incubation period ends, the impact of the outbreak, including the number of cases associated, will be better understood. If you have questions about your health, please contact your healthcare provider or you can call the Temporary COVID Clinic at KVH at 509-933-8850. If you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the Emergency Department at KVH. If you have general questions about COVID-19, please call the EOC at 509-933-8315 or 509-933-8305.
Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us
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Contact: Kasey Knutson, Public Information Officer, (509) 962-7515