OLYMPIA – With the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order due to expire next week and COVID-19 cases climbing, Gov. Jay Inslee will address the state’s continuing response to coronavirus at 5 p.m. this evening.

Inslee will be joined at a news conference by some of the state officials involved in that response: Dr. John Wiesman, Health Department secretary, Dr. Kathy Lofy, state health officer and retired Vice Admiral Dr. Raquel Bono, director for COVID-19 Health System Response Management.

The news conference will be televised live on TVW, and many commercial stations around the state.

The two-week order for people to stay in their homes except for trips for essential services like groceries, gasoline and food is due to expire on Monday. The two-week order for non-essential workers to be off the job would expire Wednesday.

Inslee has said in recent days that state officials have been studying a wide variety of data on the virus, including suppression and fatality rates, hospitalization of patients with symptoms similar to COVID-19 and traffic counts to show whether the stay home order is working.

While the rate of increase appears to be slowing in the hardest-hit Puget Sound counties, they are rising in some other areas of the state, he said Wednesday, adding that it “remains likely” the orders would need to be extended this week.