Governor Inslee recently announced an end to the state’s current indoor mask mandate for most settings on March 21. Businesses and public entities (including local public health authorities) will still retain the right to have their own mask mandates, but will no longer be under a state requirement to do so. Masking, COVID-19 vaccinations, and vaccine boosters will continue to be strongly recommended by the Department of Health (DOH) as the state’s response to the pandemic adjusts to a new phase.

You can read more about the Governor’s announcement (and the data underlying this decision) on his medium page. You can also access the updated emergency proclamations below:

• Updated Proclamation 21-08.1 Safe workers
• Updated Proclamation 20-25.18 “Washington Ready”
• Updated Proclamation 20-03.7 Face coverings – Statewide

Below is a graphic that shows the settings where masks will still be required after March 21, but most other public settings like schools, public buildings, restaurants, gyms, and retail stores will no longer be required by the state to enforce a mask requirement. Individual businesses, public entities, and even local public health authorities retain the power to impose their own masking requirements.

The Governor said the decision follows the state’s examination of infection trends and hospitalization rates, as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline from their recent omicron-driven peak. March 21 was chosen because, while currently declining, the hospitalization rate is presently still at near-peak pandemic highs. DOH expects COVID-19 hospitalizations to be low enough by March 21 that hospitals will be closer to more normal levels of capacity—justifying relaxing some COVID precautions like universal masking. DOH hopes that infection control efforts going forward can be more targeted to the localities or sectors experiencing outbreaks, rather than a population-wide approach.

Governor Inslee reiterated that while ending mask requirements is an important step towards normalcy, it doesn’t mean that the pandemic is over. Continued vigilance will be needed to prevent another spike in cases, like the U.S. saw during the delta wave last summer. He said that his decision is limited only to lifting the masking requirements—the state of emergency will remain in effect. He argued that maintaining the state of emergency is important for accessing federal funds and maintaining certain PPE and workplace protections for health care and other workers. The decision does not change any of the workplace vaccination and testing requirements that have been put into effect.

Both the Governor and DOH maintain that vaccines and boosters remain the most powerful protection against COVID-19, as unvaccinated people who are infected are 16x more likely to be hospitalized then people who are fully vaccinated and boosted. DOH also encourages people to continue masking up in crowded or high-risk settings, though they might not be necessarily mandated to do so.

Dates to remember

March 21—The day that the state’s universal indoor mask mandate is lifted for most publicly-accessible facilities like schools, restaurants and bars, religious centers, gyms, grocery and other retail stores, and other businesses.