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Ferry County that it has opted to voluntarily move itself back to Phase 2 of reopening effective immediately, ahead of the state announcing larger-scale rollbacks next Tuesday.

According to the Northeast Tri County Health District (NETCHD), the county has “experienced a sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations” in recent weeks.

“While this move into Phase 2 is difficult, it is also critical to help curve disease transmission rates in the right direction,” NETCDC said in a written release.

These counties are most at risk of being next to roll back to Phase 2

As a county with a population under 50,000, it would need to have 100 or fewer total new cases tallied over two weeks and 3 or fewer hospitalizations over the past week in order to remain in Phase 3. NETCHD reports that Ferry County has seen 106 cases since April 12. Over the last week, seven people have needed to be transported to hospitals for COVID-related reasons, with “additional people hospitalized” as well.

Ferry County also has the highest case rate adjusted for population in Washington, “and ranks among the highest nationally.”

We are deeply concerned about the rapid growth in disease in Ferry Co. & the strain this has put on their local healthcare system.

DOH fully supports NETCHD’s decision to move Ferry Co. to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery System, effective immediately…

— WA Dept. of Health (@WADeptHealth)

“This swift action is necessary protect the community and get Ferry County back on the path towards economic recovery sooner,” the state Department of Health .

The state will be evaluating data in every county on Monday to determine where rollbacks might be necessary. Gov. Jay Inslee will announce the results of that evaluation on Tuesday.