More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, 10 emergency proclamations issued by Gov. Jay Inslee in response to the coronavirus will soon be all that remain in place.
At the height of the pandemic, the governor had 85 emergency proclamations in effect. But, over time, Inslee has been quietly rescinding most of those proclamations.
At the beginning of June, Inslee rescinded two more proclamations, and by the end of July, 12 more COVID-related proclamations had been canceled. The decision to rescind those orders came shortly after the governor’s office told McClatchy in May that there were no plans to end any more COVID proclamations at the moment.
By Oct. 27, the latest 12 proclamations to be repealed will be fully phased out.
Those orders related to long-term care, restrictions on non-urgent medical procedures and licensing for health care workers.
“When these 12 healthcare-related emergency orders are terminated, approximately 87% of all COVID emergency proclamations will have been rescinded,” the governor’s office noted in a news release.
But 10 will remain in place, unless the governor takes more action before October. Here are some significant ones.
• 20-05 emergency declaration – Declared COVID-19 a statewide emergency. Without this emergency declaration in place, none of the other emergency proclamations would be possible. This declaration also activated the Washington National Guard.
• 21-14 on vaccines – Recently amended, this is the emergency declaration that requires state workers, staff at educational facilities, and health care employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This has been one of the most controversial emergency provisions in the state, as many Republicans, including Rep. Jim Walsh from Aberdeen and Sen. John Braun from Centralia, have been very vocal against the requirement from the beginning.
• 20-09 on school operations – Simply states that public, private and charter schools are not allowed to offer in-person schooling unless they abide by the Department of Health, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Labor & Industries’ policies and guidance related to the spread and prevention of COVID-19.
Inslee’s rescinded proclamations note that “although Department of Health statistics reflect the continued persistence of COVID-19 and support the continuation of the state of emergency, health experts and epidemiological modeling experts believe that as a state we have made adequate progress against COVID-19 to begin rescinding or modifying amendatory proclamations related to specific health issues.”
Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for the Governor’s Office, told McClatchy there isn’t an approximate end date for the remaining proclamations yet, but they’re “confident” the state will eventually get there.
The full list of emergency proclamations in effect for Washington, including non-COVID proclamations can be found at https://www.governor.wa.gov/office-governor/official-actions/proclamations.
