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The Department of Health has received questions about whether all massage therapy qualifies as a health care service that could be resumed statewide under Proclamation 20-24.1.
Proclamation 20-24.1 allows non-urgent health care services to resume statewide, subject to the infection control and other requirements outlined in the proclamation.
The department has clarified that under Proclamation 20-24.1, a licensed massage therapist is providing a “health care service” and this service can be provided at any location statewide, including in counties still in Phase 1 under the Governor’s Safe Start Washington plan, as long as the requirements in the proclamation and in the laws governing massage therapy are met. This proclamation replaces the most recent COVID-19 practice alert for massage that the department provided on April 27, 2020. The department will not be providing guidance on implementing the Governor’s proclamation for the massage profession.
If massage therapy is provided at a location where other kinds of services have normally been provided, the only services that can be provided at that location are massage therapy and any other services that are permitted in the county under the Safe Start Washington plan, in compliance with the guidelines issued for the particular service. For example, in a county that is still in Phase 1, a day spa may reopen to provide massage therapy services, but not to provide facials, manicures, sauna, hot tub, or relaxation lounge services, as examples.
To find out what phase your county is in, please visit www.coronavirus.wa.gov.
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