Spokane County reported five new COVID-19 cases and no additional deaths on Thursday, an indication that social distancing guidelines are working.

The local case count hasn’t increased by double digits in a single day since April 12.

“We are definitely slowing things down,” Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz said during a morning news conference.

Spokane County has confirmed a total of 322 cases and 19 deaths related to the disease so far, Lutz said. Thirteen people were hospitalized on Thursday, a decrease of one from Wednesday.

But Lutz said Spokane and the state are still a “far cry” from where they need to be in terms of the testing capacity to thoroughly isolate new cases of COVID-19 and relax social distancing guidelines.

About 7,500 people have been tested in Spokane County, which has more than 500,000 residents. Nearly 150,000 people have been tested statewide out of Washington’s population of about 7.6 million.

Just over 12,750 Washington residents had COVID-19 as of Thursday, at which point 711 people had died from the disease, according to the state health department. Cases grew by about 250 from Wednesday, while deaths increased by 19.

Washington has the lab capacity and supplies to run only about 4,000 tests a day, but its goal is to test between 30,000 and 40,000 daily in the coming weeks, Lutz said. He said the additional 100,000 test kits the state health department received Wednesday will help officials reach that goal.

Lutz said he also expects the state health department to roll out more liberal testing guidelines this week so people with a wider array of symptoms can be tested.

The state health department plans to have 1,500 employees investigating how new confirmed cases contract the novel coronavirus by mid-May.

Lutz said he believes antibody testing, which could show if someone had COVID-19 and developed immunity, is weeks or months away for Spokane and the rest of Washington.

Despite reports of people recovering from COVID-19 and later seeing their conditions worsen, Lutz said health officials do not believe people can contract the novel coronavirus multiple times.

“For whatever reason the body’s immune system is able to fight it off, fight it down, push it back and then it has a recurrence, a resurgence,” Lutz said. “The original infection just never fully went away.”

Lutz said local hospitals are now in good shape to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our hospitals are very well-equipped with their personal protective equipment,” Lutz said, noting early concerns about supplies shortages and bed capacity. “That has been addressed and I am very encouraged by what is available.”

In North Idaho, Kootenai County confirmed three new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, for a total of 59, according to the Panhandle Health District. Bonner County remained at four cases, while Benewah, Shoshone and Boundary counties reported none.

Statewide, Idaho reported just over 1,700 confirmed cases on Thursday, for an increase of about 30 cases from Wednesday, according to the state health department. Fifty-four people have died from COVID-19, up six from Monday’s count.

Meanwhile, Gov. Brad Little issued a four-stage plan for reopening the economy. He said officials will evaluate emergency department and case count data next week and announce if Idaho can move to the first stage on May 1, following the expiration of his stay-home order.

The first two-week stage mandates that dine-in restaurants, bars, large venues, hair salons and gyms remain closed, while other businesses should continue allowing employees to work remotely and only have them return to the workplace if disease prevention precautions are in place.

The plan discourages public and private gatherings but says places of worship can open if they adhere to strict disease prevention precautions.

The requirement for nonessential, out-of-state travelers to quarantine for 14 days will remain in place until the third two-week stage of Little’s plan.

Restaurant dining rooms, gyms and hair salons could open during the second stage, provided they have adopted certain guidelines.

Large venues, bars and night clubs could open during the fourth stage with disease prevention protocols in place. Workplace staffing and public gathering restrictions would be lifted at that point with social distancing guidelines still in place.

Visits to senior care and corrections facilities would also resume in the fourth stage.