OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee will issue new restrictions on gatherings in an effort to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Washington.

Most social gatherings will be limited to five or fewer people in Spokane County and others now in Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan.

Notable exceptions to the restrictions include religious services, weddings and funerals. Live entertainment events, already banned at bars and taverns, will be not be allowed in all other venues, including drive-in concerts.

“We do know we’re going in the wrong direction,” Inslee said in announcing the changes Thursday afternoon at a news conference where he wore a mask. “We are jeopardizing the gains and momentum we made with the stay-home order.”

The new orders are a response to the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, including 95 in Spokane County on Thursday. Two new deaths were also reported, bringing the county total to 43. There are 28 county residents receiving treatment at local hospitals.

This week alone, 415 more Spokane County residents received positive test results. Against that backdrop of rising numbers, the Spokane Regional Health District said only 41% of people with COVID-19 are considered recovered.

Across the state line, the Panhandle Health District confirmed 107 new cases on Thursday. There are 11 residents in the five-county PHD region hospitalized with COVID-19. Most cases are in Kootenai County, with 565 active cases.

In Washington, the new restrictions Inslee announced will take effect Monday.

Residents in counties that are in Phase 3 may have gatherings of 10 people or fewer. People in those counties had been allowed to gather in groups of up to 50.

The restrictions only apply to social gatherings and are not being extended to business settings.

The restrictions will cover things such as backyard barbecues and birthday parties, although they will be “largely self-enforced,” Inslee said. The state has no plans to cite people for violations.

Instead, health officials hope people will want to avoid contracting the virus and spreading it to more vulnerable family members, even if they believe it wouldn’t seriously affect them.

Information from local health districts indicates that at this point, the virus is most commonly spread at social gatherings, Inslee said.

The state is currently experiencing the largest number of positive cases since the pandemic began, with the seven-day average hitting 629 cases per day, and a higher rate of positive tests among all the people tested.

The infection rate is currently 115 people for every 100,000 Washington residents. The recent increase is almost as steep as the early days of the pandemic, and the total is twice as high, Inslee said.

Other restrictions could follow if the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise. They could include closing bars, dining in restaurants and indoor recreation facilities like bowling alleys. Other restrictions, such as another stay-home order, could follow.

Inslee declined to say when he and state health officials would decide whether that conditions warrant those further restrictions.

It could take weeks for health officials to know whether new restrictions are effective due to testing delays and the time it takes for symptoms to develop in some patients.

“We will make the decision at the right time,” Ins- lee said, based on the risk to human life, science and fairness. “We could make a decision tomorrow if we saw some things in the data that made it clear that was the right decision. … We are not timid or afraid of controversy.”

In a document obtained by the Center for Public Integrity from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Washington is considered to be in the “red zone” when it comes to the diagnostic test positivity rate from last week. Idaho is as well.

Areas in the red zone have seen more than 10% of tests come back positive.

The localities in the red and yellow zones are all in Central and Eastern Washington, including Spokane, Yakima and the Tri-Cities, as well as rural counties that have increasing case rates, like Adams, Grant and Okanogan. Coeur d’Alene is also considered a red zone, according the White House document.