Data Reporting 'Error' Cleared, South Central to Phase 2

16th District State Senator Perry Dozier (Walla Walla) whose district includes part of the South Central Region, announced Sunday:

"BREAKING: Today I am happy to announce that our Region will move to Phase 2 effective now!

I want to give a big thank you to our county commissioners (

Greg Tompkins-Walla Walla County Commissioner District 3

,Amanda McKinney- Yakima County Commissioner Position 1
, and Re-Elect Brad Peck County Commissioner who worked behind the scenes in fact-checking the DOH and Governor Jay Inslee
. Also thank you to Dr. Raul Garcia for Washington in your help."

The WSDOH also released this information:

"The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) announced that a hospital in the South Central Region of the Healthy Washington Plan misreported data which led to a determination that the region remain in Phase 1 of Governor Jay Inslee’s Roadmap to Recovery phased reopening plan. When the region did not move to Phase 2, it was brought to the attention of DOH that a hospital in the region appeared to be incorrectly reporting its hospital admission data.

After learning that the hospital, Providence St. Mary Medical Center, in Walla Walla was reporting COVID hospital admission data incorrectly, the Department of Health began working with the facility to correct the reporting mistake by the hospital."

We will shortly be posting a list of what is going to change in Phase 2 so everyone will know exactly what to expect. This will affect Kittitas (Ellensburg), Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Columbia Counties (Dayton).