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Vaccinated or not, you will soon need to wear a mask indoors again in Washington.
And if you work at a school, community college or child care center, you are going to have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-October or you could lose your job.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced those sweeping changes Wednesday in response to an unrelenting surge in coronavirus cases across the state that is overtaxing, and in some communities overwhelming, the health care system.
“We are in the middle of an explosive threat in our communities and we intend to confront it,” Inslee said at a news conference. “It’s important people understand why this is happening. It’s because not enough people are getting vaccinated.”
Inslee’s orders represent some of the strictest measures in the nation to tamp down another wave of the coronavirus. In a news conference where he was joined by state Schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal and Health Secretary Dr. Umair Shah, Inslee said Washington is breaking new records for hospitalizations.
“More than 95% of the COVID hospitalizations we see today are among the unvaccinated,” said Inslee, adding: “And it is heart-rending for us to see losing our neighbors, our co-workers, our students to a preventable disease.”
The indoor mask mandate is effective on Aug. 23 and includes those vaccinated and unvaccinated, according to Inslee’s office. Exemptions to the mask requirement are limited to cases where vaccinated people are working in office spaces not easily accessible and small, private indoor gatherings where everyone is vaccinated.
Rising cases of COVID-19 coupled with the emergence of the highly infectious delta variant have prompted health officers from eight Western Washington counties to recommend mask-wearing in indoor public spaces in late July.
For more information see these articles:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/guv-reinstates-indoor-mask-rule-whether-youre-vaxed-or-not/
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/inslee-brings-back-statewide-mask-order-and-mandates-vaccines-for-school-workers/
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