Businesses Must Still Comply to COVID-19 Measures Despite Recovery Plan Changes

Governor Jay Inslee said Tuesday that it's his expectation that businesses will continue to follow the state's COVID-19 protocols despite the continued changes to the Roadmap to Recovery plan.

Inslee said the COVID measures are still the law and the expectation is they will be followed, with the state continuing its enforcement effort to preserve the safety of all Washingtonians.

The Governor's Office had briefly considered allowing increased capacity for restaurants with vaccinated-only sections, much like what has been allowed for other sectors in the state, but the idea was scrapped because there was such a lack of compliance by restaurants.

"Frankly we've asked the restauranteurs if they wanted such a thing and they said no. So we offered that to the restaurant industry, if they would like to have a situation where if (they) had exclusivity for vaccination or something … and they essentially said no."

About 100,000 complaints of businesses not following protocols have been reported since the pandemic began, resulting in $7.3 million in fines. A variety of businesses have been fined, with restaurants, gyms and agricultural operations the most common violators.