Summary

King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin has issued a Local Health Officer Directive that strongly urges residents to continue wearing a face mask in indoor public settings, whether or not they are vaccinated. Public Health – Seattle & King County recommends that businesses who serve the public continue policies to ensure customers and employees wear masks indoors.

Story

With local COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates decreasing but still at elevated levels, Public Health - Seattle & King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin has issued a Health Officer Directive strongly urging all residents, fully vaccinated or not, to temporarily continue wearing face masks in public indoor settings.

“Continued use of face masks for everyone five years of age and older within indoor public spaces is reasonable and necessary in King County to reduce the risk for COVID-19 transmission until more of the population is protected through vaccination and COVID-19 disease rates decline,” the Directive states.

In addition to the local Directive, the Washington State Department of Health Order continues to require everyone to wear face masks in schools, public transportation, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, and health care settings, including doctor’s offices, long-term care, and hospitals.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance to allow fully vaccinated people to stop wearing masks in many settings. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and the Washington State Department of Health have also noted that ending indoor mask mandates should be linked to local circumstances.

Public Health took a number of factors into consideration in issuing this Directive, including: 

• While King County vaccination rates are leading the nation, large segments of our population are not yet fully vaccinated.
• Rates of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations remain elevated in King County.
• Gathering indoors without masks with no way of knowing who is and who is not vaccinated raises the level of risk for COVID-19 spread for customers and workers.
• The burden of COVID-19 is disproportionately higher in some parts of our community, due to underlying causes such as living and working conditions and access to vaccine. This includes people in neighborhoods in south and southeast King County, younger age groups, and residents of color.
• Many people with certain health conditions don't have the option of getting vaccinated to protect themselves. They rely instead on us as a community to protect them.
• Children 12-15 years and young adults only recently became eligible for vaccination.

Furthermore, with no practical way to know who is or is not vaccinated in public spaces, a policy that has different rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people is difficult to implement and unfairly shifts the burden to businesses and frontline workers. When unvaccinated people are not wearing masks indoors, they are at risk both of getting COVID-19 themselves as well as spreading it to others.

This directive will remain in effect until Public Health – Seattle & King County confirms that 70% or more of residents age 16 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Someone is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second shot (or in the case of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, their first shot). Public Health currently projects the county will reach the threshold in late June.

Quotes

"We have made enormous progress, but there are still hundreds of thousands among us who are at risk and are putting others at risk. This is the moment when our community can turn the corner into a summer of rebuilding - but recovery depends on every person in King County doing their part, getting their shot, and taking the simple precautions needed to stamp out the virus."  
— Dow Constantine, King County Executive

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"Seattle has led the country with the lowest deaths, cases, and hospitalizations of COVID-19 because we have relied on the local public health experts and scientists. The decisions we made saved countless lives. Seattle’s goal is to keep our community safe and healthy in every way possible, and as more individuals and young people are seeking vaccinations, we know masking in indoor public spaces will continue to allow our community to have the highest level of protection."
— Jenny Durkan, Mayor of Seattle

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"The CDC is still requiring mask wearing in health care settings, recognizing that masks keep vulnerable people safe. Until we have higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and lower disease rates, continuing to wear masks throughout the county will help keep all our neighbors safe and prevent them from needing critical hospital care."
— Cassie Sauer, President and CEO, Washington State Hospital Association

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"I'm totally on board with continued masking - it makes sense from the scientific and public health perspectives. What we've proven over the last year during this pandemic is how effective masking indoors has been to keep our COVID-19 numbers lower than most. Driving the case count down is what is going to make it safe to re-open Washington at the end of June. Vaccines and masking go hand-in-hand, especially when cases and hospitalizations remain high."
— Dr. John Lynch, Clinical Lead of UW Medicine COVID-19 response and an associate professor of Medicine and Allergy and Infectious Diseases at UW School of Medicine.

Community leaders in the Pandemic and Racism Community Advisory Group for King County have expressed support for this directive.

"We have witnessed the ways the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities in our community. Throughout this pandemic, front-line workers—many whom are from communities of color--have had to bear the burden of increased risk of getting COVID-19. Until more people are vaccinated, by continuing to wear a mask in indoor public spaces, we are helping to protect those who provide critical services for our community. I believe this is the right action to take as we strive for equity until this pandemic is behind us."
— Michelle Merriweather, President & CEO, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

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"Masking, social distancing and other public health measures have been the foundation to protecting our communities during the pandemic. Now with highly efficacious vaccines and widely available vaccination locations, we can begin to imagine getting back to our normal lives. But we can’t let our guard down too early. Indoor environments have been shown to be where transmission risk is highest, so continuing masking policies can only help speed our recovery while we wait for more to be vaccinated. Masking also helps to protect our community’s most vulnerable populations. Cancer and other immunosuppressed patients are at high risk for COVID-19 complications, and many remain at risk because they are less likely to respond to available vaccines. So, a few more weeks of wearing your mask or stepping up to get vaccinated is not just good public health practice - it could save lives."
— Dr. Steve Pergam, Associate Professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

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"King County has done remarkably well compared to other parts of the U.S. throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and although we are beginning the transition towards fewer mandates and more personal decision making, we need to continue doing what’s been working for us for a bit longer. Please continue to use your mask in indoor public spaces while we get disease rates lower, more people vaccinated and more of our community protected. To help get us back to normal as soon as possible, get vaccinated soon."
— Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health – Seattle & King County