Tuesday, August 4, 2020 2:26 pm

Lewis County has seen a rise in COVID 19 cases, as has the entire state. With the increase in cases, new restrictions have gone into place. Governor Inslee continues to keep many county's at Phase 2 or 3 with the chance of moving to Phase 4 off the table.

Lewis County has seen an increase for the past few weeks, since July 15. Lewis County has seen 81 new cases and no new deaths. Washington State has seen over 58,000 cases since January, 2020 with approximately 1600 deaths. Washington has tested over 1,000,000 individuals.

Governor Inslee has enacted new guidelines, this will hit especially hard on restaurants, bars and taverns as well as catering companies. If you want to have lunch with a friend, you must now do so outside. The new rules do not allow for non-family members to eat inside together. Also, no alcohol can be served after 10:00 p.m. Maximum number of people in the same household who can eat inside is 5.

Wedding receptions are banned beginning August 10 and funerals are limited to 20 capacity indoors and a maximum of 30 people outdoors with social distancing.

This is going to continue to impact our local businesses. The Club has seating in their alley for outside seating. Donna's Place has a nice outdoor patio for customers to enjoy. Restaurants are trying their best to stay open, these guidelines have hit the restaurant and bar business extremely hard. If you can afford to, please support your local restaurants. They have take out available if you are uncomfortable eating indoors.

Masks are required everywhere now. If you go into a store, masks are required unless you have a medical condition. While many are not happy with the mask mandate, it is a requirement. Unfortunately, businesses can be fined if they serve a customer without a mask.

If you inform a business that you can not wear a mask due to a medical condition, they can not ask you what your medical condition is. Please continue to social distance at all times while not wearing a mask.

While Lewis County has seen an increase in cases, Lewis County residents should do their best to social distance, wear masks, and continue to wash their hands.