Author: Rachel Lacorte
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Washington’s statewide indoor mask rule, one of the few in the country, will begin March 21 on March 21, Gov. Jay Inslee said. Cancelled in most places, including schools and child care facilities.
Beginning March 1, participation in large events will no longer require vaccine verification or proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
Masks are still required in medical facilities such as hospitals and doctors’ offices, as well as in long-term care facilities, prisons and prisons. They will still be needed on public transport, taxis, ride-hailing and school buses.
Private businesses and local governments looking to provide masks to employees, customers or residents can still do so.
Inslee said the late March date to lift the mask order was based on hospital admissions projections. At a press conference on February 17, he showed a graph showing that the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was about 20 per 100,000 people. His goal is to reduce that number to five, which is when he says hospitals can resume more normal operations.
“For those of you who think it should have ended sooner, all I can tell you is that we lost 1,000 people to this disease in January,” he said. “When we make decisions, it seems to me that we should recognize how dangerous and deadly this disease is still after this time.”
Like the rest of the country, Washington state, which first made face masks statewide mandatory in June 2020, has seen steady declines in both cases and hospitalizations since the peak of the omicron surge last month.
Last May, the state changed its requirements to comply with CDC guidance that allows vaccinated people to not wear masks indoors, but that exception was made in August 2021 after the delta variant emerged. Cancel. A face covering requirement was implemented in September for outdoor events of 500 or more people, but the requirement was lifted on February 18.
Also on that day, non-emergency procedures, which had been suspended since last month, could resume due to concerns about hospital capacity after the governor decided not to extend the ban beyond a set four weeks.
Democratic governors in several states have ended or set a date to end face covering rules in public places or schools. New Mexico’s governor announced on Feb. 17 that the state’s statewide mask rule would be lifted, effective immediately, and Hawaii was the only state that did not indicate when it could lift its indoor mask rule.
