SEATTLE — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday plans to start easing some COVID-19 mask mandates, and now the focus shifts to statewide masking requirements in schools.
Washington state's outdoor mask mandate for events with 500 or more people. will be lifted by Feb. 18, Inslee announced Wednesday.
There is no date for when the universal indoor mask mandate will lift, but the "day is coming" when the state no longer has a mask mandate, Inslee said. The statewide indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status, has been in place since Aug. 23, 2021.
School districts across the country have begun lifting their masking requirements for students. Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal shared his thoughts and recommendations Thursday morning.
“My recommendation isn't for an immediate removal," said Reykdal. "I'm asking them to review it to ultimately make this a mask optional policy. Local health officials, of course, can always intervene."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still recommending universal masking for students, but Reykdal said it may be time to weigh the risks.
“The question is do the benefits outweigh the risks," said Reykdal. "Now, as we get more folks vaccinated in what we've seen is just growing tension in our schools and a lack of relationship building in many places, because that mask serves as a bit of a barrier. It's clearly a barrier when it comes to speech therapies and language development."
Another cause of concern when talking about lifting mask mandates comes to teacher and staff safety. The Washington Education Association (WEA), citing staffing shortages, said Wednesday it is not on board with Inslee's plan.
"We must anticipate that lifting the mask mandate will exacerbate the shortages and could interrupt learning," the WEA said.
Reykdal said he isn't worried about school closures as much.
"We've seen in the last several weeks as omicron really peaked and started to fall, we never have more than 4% of our buildings having to close on a temporary basis as a result of infections, and it was generally adults. But we've gotten through that, and we're back in person again everywhere," said Reykdal.
Reykdal reemphasized he wants to see the mask policy become optional and that staff should be able to keep the right to wear one if they feel the need.
"I suspect a lot of our professionals will want to keep that even though they are vaccinated and boosted at really, really high rates. They should always have the right to maintain a mask if they want to," said Reykdal.
Another part of Reykdal's recommendation includes moving from broad asymptomatic testing to focusing those resources on those who are symptomatic in schools.
"We have that ability now that we didn't have six months ago even and so again, that's one of those variables that makes me believe we can remove masks and really enhance the learning environment and do it in a way that is safe, and rapid testing is one of the real powerful strategies,” said Reykdal.