Chelan Douglas Health District Crafting Phase 1.5 Proposal

Chelan Douglas Health District had a meeting on Monday to prepare a Phase 1.5 proposal to present to the Washington State Department of Health.

According to health district administrator, Barry Kling, the district isn't at a place that Governor Inslee or the health department would approve of an accelerated move into Phase 2, but a push into Phase 1.5 is conceivable.

"We're calling it a Phase 1.5 proposal because the idea would be to allow some of the things that would be allowed in Phase 2, but not all of them," said Kling. "We try to pick out the things that would not actually produce an increase in disease transmission."

The 'Phase 1.5' move would allow for less compression in several big box stores that sell a mix of both items deemed 'essential' and 'non-essential'. The action to open all retail stores would help disperse the concentration of folks shopping in one location.

"We think that with proper precautions taking, having other retailers open would actually decompress that crowding," said Kling. "It can ease up people's lives, it can help some folks get back to work and yet not have a significant effect on the health rate."