205 W 5th Ave Ellensburg, WA 98926-2887
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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 - 12/14/2020 - The Kittitas County Incident Management Team (IMT) is changing the current COVID-19 quarantine process per recent CDC recommendations. Currently, the quarantine process is 14 days for an individual to stay home. In Kittitas County, an additional option to quarantine for 7 days along with a negative COVID-19 test result has been added to our protocol.
The 14-day quarantine process is the safest. It has a zero percent chance of transmission to others. 14-day quarantine will be mandatory for high risk situations such as people who work in acute or long-term healthcare settings, correctional facilities, shelters, or crowded work situations such as a warehouse or factory. People who live in communal housing will also be considered high risk situations. If you are not high risk, there is an option to quarantine for 7 days along with a negative test result at the end of that 7 days. With this process, there is a four percent chance of transmission as opposed to a 7-day quarantine without a test, which has a 10% chance of transmission. For individuals who use this process, symptoms should continue to be monitored along with masking, social distancing, and avoiding other high-risk individuals. The IMT has already started to implement quarantine in this manner and the contact investigation and contact tracers are assisting people who are in quarantine to make this determination. Because of the multiple quarantine options recently introduced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the quarantine process in each county or region may differ. Kittitas County’s response pursued two quarantine options in order to continue providing safety in high risk situations, and to also provide earlier release in less risky scenarios in order for individuals to return to school or work, sooner, with minimal risk. If you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the Emergency Department at KVH. To reach the KVH COVID Clinic, please call 509-933-8850. For local information, please visit the COVID-19 Information website via Kittitas County at https://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/response/202003-covid19/default.aspx.
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