The masks come off: What you need to know with statewide mandate ending March 12

Starting on Saturday, March 12, masks will no longer be required in most places in Washington state.

Washington health leaders urge continued mask wearing after mandate lifts

That means that those at restaurants, bars, schools, child care facilities, houses of worship, gyms, grocery stores, businesses, and retail establishments will no longer have to mask up moving forward. The mask mandate will remain in place for health care facilities, hospitals, long-term care settings, public transit, taxis and rideshares, and correctional facilities. Private businesses and individual counties will also still be permitted to enact their own masking requirements.

For travelers, masking requirements at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — and airports across the country — will remain in place through at least April 18, after the Transportation Security Administration extended its previously set end date on Thursday.

Originally set to lift on March 21, Gov. Jay Inslee moved Washington’s indoor mask mandate end date up following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC’s guidelines for masking divide counties into three risk categories based on the level of community transmission. For areas where the risk level is low, masking is no longer recommended. Residents in medium areas are advised to wear a mask if they are at risk for severe illness, while those in high-risk counties should wear a mask in all indoor public settings, regardless of their medical status.

As of March 10, all but one county in Washington is either in the low or medium category, with Asotin County the lone exception as the last remaining high risk area. In the Puget Sound region, King and Snohomish counties are both in the low risk category, while Pierce County is still classified as medium risk.

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Moving forward, it will be up to individuals to assess their own personal comfort levels, or as UW Virology’s Dr. Keith Jerome puts it, “people need to use their common sense.”

“And really think about their own tolerance for risk, what their own situation is, and what they’re doing,” he added while speaking to KIRO Newsradio on Friday. “If you’re outside in small groups, it’s completely fine to take them off at this point. Flipside, if you’re going to a concert in a crowded arena, why not keep that mask on and protect yourself?”

Washington first enacted a statewide mask mandate in June of 2020. That was briefly peeled back last May for those who had been vaccinated against COVID-19, but it was later reinstated in full in August 2021 when COVID case rates spiked with the arrival of the delta variant.

Washington’s outdoor mask mandate — which applied to large events, like sporting events or festivals — was lifted on Feb. 18.

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