The state’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted for most public spaces Monday, March 21, including in restaurants, gyms, grocery stores and places of worship. It’s lifting for schools and child care centers, too.
Masks will remain required when inside any health care facilities, including pharmacies, as well as long-term nursing care settings.
Local businesses have the right to still require customers and employees wear masks after the mandate lifts.
The state’s lift does not override federal-level mask rules on public transit that covers using buses, ferries, airports, trains, airplanes, taxis and ride-hail vehicles, and in terminals.
The same federal rule means kids will need to mask while riding school buses.
Gov. Jay Inslee last week rebuked calls to remove the indoor mask mandate faster.
“I understand the urgency to (end mask rules) today. It would not be safe to do this today,” Inslee said during a press conference Thursday, Feb. 17 which included state K-12 schools secretary Chris Reykdal and state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.
Shah said the state health care system is still stressed as hospitalizations remain higher than seen during previous waves of coronavirus infections. Currently, the
predominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 is waning.
State leaders are timing when to lift the mask mandate based on prediction models for when hospitalizations from COVID-19 are no longer hampering the health care system. One model indicates hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 will fall below a threshold of overburden around March 24.
County-level health authorities can still set local mask orders stricter than the state’s. Snohomish County aligns its mask rules to state guidelines, and hasn’t indicated it will deviate from that.
Shah said people who have comorbidities or have higher health risks from catching COVID-19 should still wear a mask from a public health perspective.
The state’s health chief also recommended to don a mask when among a big crowd even after the mandate lifts.
For schools, March 21 marks a milestone in the coming weeks. Reykdal told students to be patient until the change happens.
Masks will still be required inside jails and prisons because of the nature of congregational settings. COVID-19 outbreaks inside state prisons have occurred frequently the past few months.
Inslee said last week he doesn’t have enough data to predict when he might lift the mask mandate in prisons.
The state’s mask mandate at large outdoor concerts and stadiums lifted Feb. 18.
In other news, on March 1, King County will end its requirement that people must show proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test, to eat at a restaurant or bar.
