With end to mask mandate in sight, Whatcom health officials ask for continued vigilance
Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday announced plans to lift indoor masking mandates on March 21, but the Whatcom County Health Department reminded residents to remain vigilant about safety measures with COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates still high.
“In order to continue to push rates down to safe levels before safety measures are eased on March 21, we urge our fellow residents of Whatcom County to continue to be responsible, and take the steps we know work: use high-quality well-fitting masks, get vaccinated or boosted if eligible, isolate and get tested when sick,” Whatcom County Co-Health Officer Dr. Greg Thompson told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Relaxing the indoor mask mandate will come nearly seven months after the governor reimposed requirements for indoors.
While K-12 schools and childcare facilities will no longer have mask requirements, masks will still be required at places such as hospitals, dental offices, long-term care facilities and correctional facilities. Additionally, vaccination proof will no longer be required for large events after March 1.
“The governor shared that, once the statewide mask mandate ends, masks will be optional in school buildings across the state,” Bellingham Public School Superintendent Greg Baker wrote in a letter to students, staff and families after Inslee’s announcement on Thursday, Feb. 17. “Local health officials will monitor regional conditions and make adjustments as needed.”
Baker wrote that current masking mandates in school remain in place and that the district will continue to follow the law and public health guidance and work with the county health department as it awaits further guidance ahead of the March 21 change.
“We recognize a shift to optional masking may be a welcomed change for some while increasing concern for others,” Baker wrote. “We are committed to protecting the health and safety of all and helping staff and students adjust to changes.”
Inslee announced that businesses can still choose to keep mask and vaccination requirements as a condition of entry if they wish to do so, and federal regulations will still require individuals to wear masks while on airplanes.
Inslee said that because COVID-19 has changed “significantly” over the last two years, Washington’s efforts have been “aggressive in addressing those changes.”
“Now we have changes that will allow us in the next several weeks to take the next step forward into regaining what we consider a much more normal life,” Inslee said during a briefing announcing the change to the masking mandate. “Obviously we know we still have to be cautious because the rate actually remains high today, but this is good news for us to have relief in sight that I’m pleased to be able to announce today.”
Since at least 1967, local health officers in Washington state have had the authority to issue their own orders to curtail the spread of communicable diseases, Whatcom County Health Department spokesperson Scarlet Tang told The Herald in an email.
But Thompson told The Herald that Whatcom County will likely closely follow the guidance issued by the state.
“As Whatcom County health officers, we will be watching the situation closely,” he wrote. “It is unlikely that our guidance will differ significantly from the statewide guidance unless Whatcom County has unique circumstances that are significantly different from the statewide situation.”
But at this point, Whatcom, like most of the rest of the state, is seeing encouraging signs.
As of data released Wednesday, Feb. 16, on the Washington State Department of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Whatcom County’s weekly infection rate is less than half what it was mid-January, when the omicron surge was at its peak. Hospitalization rates also were down by about a third, the state’s data shows.
More than a third of Whatcom County’s total cases during the pandemic were epidemiologically linked to January along with 19% of its COVID-related hospitalizations and 12% of its COVID-related deaths, but all of those numbers have dropped significantly during the first half of February.
“Together we are making our community safer,” Thompson said.
