Masks Will Be Required in K-12 Schools This Fall in Washington

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Masks will continue to be required in public and private K-12 schools when classes start this fall in Washington state.

Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday schools would open this fall in person as planned and would follow existing masking policies.

"All students and employees will be required to wear masks around each other in the building regardless of their vaccination status," Inslee said. "Importantly this is a legal requirement that all districts will need to follow... Certainly while this virus is increasing is not the time to decrease the protection of our young children. We will protect our young children."

Inslee said the decision recognizes the need for students to receive in-person instruction while minimizing transmission among students, staff, families and their communities.

"This is a legal requirement that all districts will need to follow," he said, adding that masks will help keep schools open to full-day, in-person instruction.

Vaccines in the U.S. are authorized for use on individuals 12 years and older.



"There's one very important, unvaccinated group that cannot use this lifesaving tool, and that is our children under the age of 12," Inslee said. "I know many parents are concerned about their young kids, we all are. And that is one reason why we're going to make some decisions today."

The announcement came during the Yakima Health District board meeting Wednesday, in which dozens of letters from parents requesting that masking be made optional were read, followed by a heated debate about mask wearing in schools and what authority the health district had over the matter.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Sunnyside, was critical of the state's announcement on schools, saying Inslee was undermining trust in the efficacy of the vaccine.

"Not only are children at decreased risk of COVID-19, but they have already experienced a year and a half of devastating losses in learning and critical effects on their mental and emotional heath," he said in a statement.

The case rate in Yakima County doubled from early July to 229 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 as of Tuesday in the past two weeks, the Yakima Health District said in a news release. There were 23 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 as of Wednesday, it said.

"Of these new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Yakima County, more than 96% are from people who are not vaccinated," the news release said. "The Yakima Health District acknowledges the need for and importance of continuing to have community-based testing and vaccine distribution. The COVID-19 vaccines are effective and can prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death."