Pierce County, 7 others recommend masking up amid rising COVID-19 cases in Washington
Just when you thought the pandemic was over, turns out it’s still very much ongoing thanks to variants and levels of unvaccinated people.
Local health officials from eight counties, including Pierce, on Monday recommended a return to masking up when indoors in public spaces, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
“The health officers of King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Clallam, Jefferson, San Juan, and Grays Harbor counties have joined together to pass on their best public health advice to protect you, your family, and our communities,” said a joint statement. “We recommend all residents wear facial coverings when in indoor public settings where the vaccination status of those around you is unknown.”
The statement added: “This step will help reduce the risk of COVID-19 to the public, including customers and workers, help stem the increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in many parts of the state and decrease the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.”
The statement was signed by the health officers for the counties, including Dr. Anthony Chen, representing the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
The action taken Monday followed Friday’s recommendation from Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer at Public Health – Seattle & King County, who was the first to call for a return to indoor mask-wearing.
The state pulled back its mask requirements at the end of June for vaccinated people, while noting unvaccinated people needed to continue to keep their masks on in public spaces.
Monday’s recommendation ”ensures easy verification that all unvaccinated people are masked in those settings,” an FAQ accompanying the recommendation said.
Local health officials have taken the lead on making such recommendations across the country, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing whether to change its own guidance, given the surge in cases from the Delta variant and more breakthrough cases being reported.
On Friday, Pierce County reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases and one new death. It reported a total of seven new deaths in the past week.
Over the weekend, 268 new cases were reported. On Monday, 83.
Nigel Turner, director of the communicable disease division for the department, told The News Tribune in a phone interview Monday that there wasn’t a single inflection point that led to Monday’s action.
“We’re closely monitoring the the data every day in all the reports that come into our community. We’ve been seeing a significant increase, like last week with a 56% increase from the preceding week. So kind of like in the middle of last week we were certainly seeing that some additional recommendations made sense.”
Accompanying Monday’s announcement, TPCHD included an FAQ about the decision. In it, they noted that “Because of the increasing case counts, hospitalizations, and transmission of the Delta variant, the health officers felt it was important to share this recommendation with their communities for reducing transmission of COVID-19.”
The Delta variant has taken hold statewide, accounting for 57.5 percent of genome sequenced cases in the state’s July 21 variants report.
“This is something that’s rapidly growing in the state,” Turner said, “and there’s no reason to believe that this county would be separated from that. That would really be one of the reasons why we’re seeing this increase in cases and hospitalizations as well.”
The FAQ made clear this was not a new mandate, merely a recommendation, adding: “This recommendation does not issue a requirement that is stricter than anything from the state, and there is no enforcement action related to this recommendation.”
Turner remains optimistic the county can turn things around. The health department has turned to a “trusted messenger” campaign, with doctors and other members of the community promoting COVID vaccines via its social media.
“We do have the tools that can bring this down — higher vaccination levels certainly will be the strongest weapon — but masks can help. We’ve seen that in the past and that’s why we’re making this recommendation now.”
More information on the recommendation: tpchd.org/Home/Components/News/News/245/286.
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 11:28 AM.
