School workers included in WA state vaccine requirement; masks are back for everyone
Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday expanded the state’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement to include K-12 school staff, most childcare and early learning staff, and higher education, as the state struggles to contain a rising tide of COVID-19 cases.
The governor also expanded the state indoor mask mandate to include everyone again in indoor settings, regardless of vaccine status.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal last week sent a letter urging Inslee to expand the state’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement, already in place for health care workers and most state staff, to school employees.
The expansion announced Wednesday applies to K-12 educators, school staff, coaches, bus drivers, school volunteers and others working in school facilities.
It also includes employees in Washington’s higher education institutions, as well as most childcare and early learning providers who serve children from multiple households.
The requirement covers public, private and charter schools. It does not include tribal schools.
As with the previous announced worker requirements for health care and state workers, the school employees will have until Oct. 18 to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment, with no test-out option. The state will allow for medical or religious exemptions.
Those who refuse the vaccines will be subject to dismissal, according to the Governor’s Office.
Reykdal estimates 40,000-50,000 school employees still need the COVID vaccine.
“What we do today matters,” Reykdal said Wednesday. “We is greater than me. And we have to wear face coverings now everywhere we go. We have to vaccinate at much higher levels, and we have to look out for each other.”
As noted by Reykdal last week, the COVID-19 vaccine mandates would not extend to students at this point, as mandated student vaccines are handled through a different process involving federal recommendations and the state health department.
“Unions may bargain with school districts to negotiate time off to receive the vaccine or recover from symptoms of the vaccine,” the Governor’s Office said in a briefing email outlining the plan.
Childcare providers affected by the requirement include the following:
▪ Licensed, certified and contracted early learning and childcare programs
▪ License-exempt early learning, childcare and youth-development programs
▪ Contractors (coaches, volunteers, trainers, etc.)
Excluded from the new requirement are providers who limit care to their family, friends or neighbors.
Shannon Ergun, president of the Tacoma Education Association, told The News Tribune via email: “With this mandate, we will be working with all of our members to ensure they have access to the resources they need to get vaccinated or provide documentation of an exemption.”
She added: “We do have a few members who may choose that getting the vaccine does not meet their own health and safety needs. As a labor union, we will ensure members are supported, in the ways that we can, to make their own choices about whether or not they access the vaccine.”
MASKS ARE BACK
Inslee also announced that the existing statewide indoor mask order will be expanded to once again include vaccinated individuals in indoor settings effective Aug. 23.
“Every county in the state currently falls within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) substantial or high transmission, and each of the state’s 35 local health officers recently recommended all individuals wear masks indoors,” according to Wednesday’s briefing material.
“There will be limited exceptions when face coverings won’t be required, such as office spaces not easily accessible to the public where individuals are vaccinated, and when working alone indoors or in a vehicle with no public face-to-face interaction. Small, private indoor gatherings where all attendees are vaccinated are also exempt,” it noted.
The state DOH recently recommended masks for outdoor crowded settings, such as concerts or farmers markets.
Earlier Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Chen, director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, issued a mask directive effective immediately for the county, saying residents 5 years of age and older should wear a face covering “both indoors in public and outdoors where physical distancing is not possible regardless of vaccination status.”
Chen told reporters on Wednesday that the county directive, while starting ahead of the new state order, was not a mandate and emphasized voluntary compliance.
Inslee made clear his announcements, in contrast, are legally binding orders.
“I want to make sure people understand this. This proclamation is a legally binding document,” Inslee said Wednesday. “Employers will need to comply, shopkeepers will need to comply. Business owners now will have a legal obligation in their operations to comply, both to require the use of masks in their businesses and to as appropriate in the vaccination requirement for their employees.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 2:39 PM.
