The Washington State Department of Health clears up confusion about the seriousness of current pandemic efforts. Author: Steve Soliz Updated: 11:15 PM PDT May 5, 2021 The state of Washington is in the midst of its fourth wave of COVID-19 cases. That fact was made clear by Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday when he announced a temporary pause in Healthy Washington, the state’s reopening plan. “For the past several weeks, epidemiologists have observed a fourth wave developing of COVID,” Inslee said. “The most recent data that has come in just the last few days, including what DOH has observed over the weekend, shows a potential plateauing of the COVID activity in the state of Washington, which obviously is good news”