Inslee To Lift Indoor and School Masking Mandates in Late March

Govneror Jay Inslee will lift the state's indoor mask mandate (for most) and the masking mandate for schools March 21st after an announcement Thursday.

Those in healthcare, corrections, dental and long term care facilities will still be required to mask up after the end date.

Inslee stated that the March 21st target was made by examining how long it would take the state's hospitalization rate to fall to an acceptable level.

"The goal is to get the hospital admission rates down to five per 100,000 (people over 7 days) because at that level of hospital admissions, the hospitals will be able to have relatively normal functions," said Inslee.

Washington State's hospitalization rate is currently 21.9 per 100,000. The last time the state had a hospitalization rate below five was July of 2021, just before the rise of the Delta variant.

The state's vaccine requirement for large events will also be lifted, effective March 1st.

State Superintendent of Public Schools Chris Reykdal is crediting COVID-19 vaccinations, rapid testing and better information about the virus as reasons Washington is so close to ending its masking mandate for schools.

Washington's students have either been out of school or required to mask up since Inslee announced a temporary statewide school closure March 13th, 2020.

Reykdal said the decision to end the school masking mandate March 21st doesn't mean we're at the end of a global pandemic, but it does mean the COVID measures that were previously made have given Washington the flexibility to take the next step.

"To our students: hang with us here until March 21st. Please wear those face coverings because it is the law." explained Reykdal, "It's important that we keep that responsibility to each other; that we maintain that expectation to look after one another."

Local health districts, school districts, businesses and other entities can still impose their own masking rules after the March 21st end date.

Reykdal also warned school districts that they had better keep following the state mandate for the next month or face consequences like losing funding. Multiple school districts in Washington State have voted to make masking optional for students, putting them at odds with the state requirements.

State Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah is looking ahead to a post-mandate COVID fight following Governor Inslee's announcement.

Shah said it's important for people to remember to "respect the rules of the room" going forward.

"Know what's happening in the local health jurisdiction, know what's happening in the individual businesses and respect those rules," stated Shah.

Shah added that the state will soon make a shift towards prioritizing more vulnerable populations and specific outbreaks of concern.

The Department of Health is already preparing for the next COVID variant by continuing to increase testing capacity while also diversifying the number of PPE suppliers it has.