SEATTLE — The formal end to Washington’s COVID-19 emergency has arrived — but what that means for schools, hospitals and small businesses could vary, particularly as the state barrels toward yet another pandemic winter.
The same day Gov. Jay Inslee proclaimed the emergency, on Feb. 29, 2020, the state announced its first COVID-19 death, a King County man in his 50s. At the time, Inslee said his office would “continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.”
Two years and eight months later, the state has lost more than 14,000 Washingtonians to COVID. About six still die from the virus every day.
The end to the proclamation doesn’t change the threat the virus still poses , health experts say. So what does it all mean?
Which emergency restrictions are no longer in place?
Most of the governor’s 85 COVID emergency orders have already been lifted over the past year or so, including those related to business and restaurant closures, stay-at-home orders, remote learning and limits on large gatherings.
Most indoor mask mandates and vaccine verification requirements have also been rolled back.
State vaccination mandates lifted Monday for health care and education workers, though many of those employers have chosen to keep those requirements in place, including UW Medicine, Providence Swedish and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.
The University of Washington is also maintaining its COVID vaccination requirement for students and employees, though the mandate is no longer in place for Washington State University employees, contractors or volunteers.
WSU students will still be required to be vaccinated during this academic year if they’re enrolled on a physical campus.
State workers will continue to be required to receive their primary COVID shots. Boosters aren’t required, but the state is offering its employees a $1,000 bonus if they opt for extra immunization.
Face coverings will still be required in health care and correctional facilities, per a separate state Department of Health order, though state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said last week his office will have an update on the order in mid-November.
Why is the state of emergency lifting now?
Last month, Inslee said his office thought the timing made sense because the state has accumulated a wide supply of COVID treatments, vaccines and tests and that people generally know how they can protect themselves.
The state has since pivoted to focusing less on individual case counts and outbreaks to long-term efforts like wastewater surveillance, indoor air quality and vaccine distribution and education. Still, Inslee noted the end of the order “does not mean we take [the virus] less seriously or will lose focus on how this virus has changed the way we live.”
“We will continue our commitments to the public’s well-being, but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered,” Inslee said in a statement.
How will this affect my daily life?
For most Washingtonians, it won’t.
Some programs are changing, including WAserv, whose COVID efforts come to an end Monday, state health leaders said last week. The program, which enlists Washington volunteers during natural disasters or emergencies, has for the past two-plus years recruited more than 28,000 helpers into hundreds of health-care facilities in the state.
The most noticeable difference for the majority of residents, however, appears to be the state’s changing tone around pandemic efforts, Shah said.
“What you are going to sense over time is that we are going to increasingly amp up our concern for respiratory season and virus season, that we are going to increasingly say, ‘This is the time,’ “ Shah said. “We’re not completely out of the woods here.”
What lies ahead?
While COVID numbers have been on a gradual decline since midsummer, local virologists have said a winter surge is likely on its way. It’s too early to say how bad it might be yet, but a recent influx of respiratory infections, lagging booster numbers and general heightened transmission indoors could be a worrisome combination.
Shah has said he hopes COVID vaccines and updated boosters will prevent our state from repeating past surges in hospitalizations and deaths, but a mix of new subvariants has started to circulate and the extent of their impacts is murky.
