OLYMPIA — The Washington State Department of Health will issue additional guidance by the end of the week for businesses and workplaces on wearing masks. Washington Department of Health secretary Umair Shah said DOH is working on the guidelines with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries and the office of Gov. Jay Inslee.
Shah made the announcement during a press briefing on the state's pandemic response Wednesday.
The new guidelines follow an announcement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can stop wearing masks indoors and outdoors in most situations. The CDC announcement was made May 6, and state officials adopted those recommendations the same day.
But some jurisdictions within the state didn't adopt the CDC recommendations. Shah said DOH will support local jurisdictions going with different rules.
Inslee announced May 6 most restrictions on movement and business will be lifted June 30. Reopening could happen more quickly if 70% of state residents 16 years of age and older have received at least one shot of vaccine, Inslee said.
Lacy Fehrenbach, DOH deputy secretary for COVID-19 response, said the next six weeks will be a time of transition. Some people will continue to want to wear masks, whether or not they are vaccinated.
Shah said people should avoid what he called "mask-shaming," asking people to take masks off. There are places and situations where masks are still required, he said.
People who are unvaccinated are required to wear masks.
Shah said about 47% of state residents 16 and older have had at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine. As a result of the increase in vaccinations, the number of people contracting the disease, called the case rate, was declining in all age groups as of Wednesday. The rate of hospitalization is flattening or declining in most counties, he said.
About 2.9 million Washington residents have been fully vaccinated, he said.
Fehrenbach said not all of the decline in case rates can be traced to vaccination. The point came up in reference to Yakima County, where the case rates are declining and are lower than the state average, but vaccination rates are also below the state average.
Vaccination is crucial to the decline in cases, but the mitigation measures — masking, handwashing, social distancing — also play a role, she said.
With warmer weather, people are spending more time outdoors, and some communities have built more immunity than others, she said.
