OLYMPIA, Wash. — The remaining COVID-19 emergency orders are finally set to expire. Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday he is ending the orders and state of emergency by October 31. There were 85 total COVID-19 emergency orders Inslee has put into place since the pandemic started, most are already lifted. There are 13 healthcare-related orders, which will end Oct. 27.
The rest, 10 of them, will be lifted Oct. 31. “We’ve come a long way the past two years in developing the tools that allow us to adapt and live with COVID-19,” Inslee said. “Ending this order does not mean we take it less seriously or will lose focus on how this virus has changed the way we live. We will continue our commitments to the public’s well-being, but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered.”
However, though Inslee is ending the emergency orders, he and public health leaders want to remind people masks and vaccines will keep the communities safe. “Governor Inslee’s rescission of these remaining emergency orders marks an important transition for the state of Washington, but that does not mean that COVID-19 is not in our state anymore,” said Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH. “We must move forward from a pandemic response to adapting our behaviors to coexist with the COVID-19 virus.