Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that starting next week, the state’s indoor mask mandate will be expanded to include outdoor events with 500 or more attendees, regardless of vaccination status.
The new requirement — which takes effect Monday — comes days after a similar outdoor mask mandates took effect in the state’s two most populous counties, King and Pierce, due to rising COVID-19 cases. An indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status, has been in place in Washington since Aug. 23. Last month, Oregon was the first state to re-institute a statewide mask requirement for outdoor public areas where people are close together.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that everyone regardless of vaccination status wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas where there is “substantial or high” rates of COVID-19 and has recommended considering masks in crowded outdoor settings in areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases.
As of this week, all of the state’s 39 counties were in the “high” threshold range, according to a CDC tracker. Also as of this week, nearly 74% of people age 12 and older have initiated vaccination statewide and 67% are fully vaccinated. (AP)
