Gov. Jay Inslee gave most residents of the state an early Valentine’s present, announcing Thursday he was moving most of the state forward to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Plan beginning Feb. 14. On Sunday residents of Yakima County and the other five counties in the South Central region got a special gift: Phase 2 status. Data that kept the region in Phase 1 was corrected. The entire state is now in Phase 2.

Skagit County residents, like North Region neighbors in Island, San Juan and Whatcom counties, are able to dine inside, work out at gyms and go to museums and theatres at still proscribed capacities. For restaurants, the restriction remains 25% of maximum capacity.

“The bottom line is the entire state is dramatically improving,” Skagit County Public Health Officer Howard Leibrand told the Weekly News Sunday. He noted two competing forces nationwide: “political influences,” a comprehensive, coordinated communications policy for public behavior for wearing masks and social distancing that reduces the rate of transmission. The opposite effect is the rise and spread of much more contagious variant virus strains, which are “doubling every 10 days if you let it go,” he said.

These challenge people to maintain vigilance on their public behavior. He has concern for cases increases locally from Super Bowl parties on Feb. 7.

Leibrand said variant viruses are in only 1% of cases in the state.

He predicted Skagit County’s reduced growth in new cases will show “the downturn in exponential decay is slow and then it speeds up. When it starts to tail off you know it is going to turn down,” he said. He expects February’s reduced rate of increase in infections will continue. “Once the cruise ship gets stopped, it is hard to get it going again” was his metaphor.

The 154 cases in Skagit County the first half of February is 20% of January’s total 768 cases. Last week, Feb. 7-13, there were 47 new cases, below seven per day. New cases were less than half the 107 Feb. 1-7.

Total cases did pass 4,000 on Feb. 11, to 4,015 since reporting started a year ago.

Schools opening to on campus instruction is advancing throughout the county. Leibrand expects that to continue and that few new cases will arise. The schools have cleaning and monitoring protocols and are working with Skagit Public Health staff.

He is likewise hopeful for athletic programs to operate.

Whether students, their parents, residents or businesses, he stressed careful public behavior to keep the variants at bay. “You can do anything in Phase 2 as long as you do it safely,” he said.

Regarding the vaccine and the rate of vaccinations, he understands the nationwide scope of the need and the logistical struggles and is still “quite impressed with the roll out. People had expectations beyond reason.” He notes the federal government is distributing 1.5 million doses daily, surpassing President Biden’s original goal.

For Skagit County, it will take 130 days to provide first dose vaccinations at 1,000 people a day. Locally and nationally “it is not an easy job and is going to be slow. We expect it to be slow,” he said. “The expectations have not been communicated well.”

He understands and shares frustrations with Skagit Public Health not getting first dose allocations from the state for the third week in a row. Hospitals and pharmacies, including La Conner Drug, are getting supplied.

Given that the federal government delivers adequate dose quantities in Washington, Leibrand knows “we are organized in the county. We will make it work.”

If 60-70% percent of county residents are vaccinated by the end of the summer, coupled with natural immunities from those infected, Leibrand hopes for near full recovery by the end of the year.