Will Washington Reopen Before June 30th? It’s Going to be Close

Governor Jay Inslee reiterated Thursday that the state will in fact reopen on June 30th, if not before.

Inslee said there is still a distinct possibility Washington can hit its 70% vaccination target before June 30th, as the updated numbers now show 67.8% of those 16 and older at least partly vaccinated as of Thursday morning.

"This would be a great time to get the vaccination," said Inslee.

Washington's vaccination dashboard is having a difficult time staying up-to-date at this point, largely because federal vaccination data from the Department of Defense and Department of Veteran's Affairs has been inconsistent and difficult to add to the state's total.

"I just can't foresee not opening before June 30th. The reason is we are continuing to have a decline in numbers, at this moment, of infections and a decline in hospitalizations at this moment." explained Inslee, "That has been consistent the last several weeks."

To reach the 70% vaccination threshold to reopen early, Washington still needs 134,658 people 16 and older to get at least their first dose (as of Thursday afternoon). With the state seeing 10,000-15,000 new vaccinations a day, the earliest possible reopening date appears to be June 26th. Washington will need to average 11,222 a day to reopen any sooner than June 30th.