'Honor System' For Masks Enough For Compliance: Inslee

OLYMPIA, WA — After a week of confusion over the changing mask guidelines, Gov. Jay Inslee has issued a proclamation clarifying how mask requirements will be enforced in Washington going forward.

Under the updated guidance, Washington businesses now have several options for dealing with mask-less customers:

• Use the "honor system" assuming that customers without masks are fully vaccinated.
• Alternatively, they can demand proof of vaccination before allowing mask-less customers to enter.
• Or, continue to require that all customers wear facial coverings at all times.

As for employees, businesses can choose to allow employees to stop wearing facial coverings, if the employees can provide proof of vaccination. Businesses also retain the right to require all employees to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

There are still no plans in place for a vaccine passport program.

It is worth noting that these changes do not apply to King County, which broke rank earlier this week by reinstating the mandate requiring everyone to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.

Related: King County Reinstates Mask Mandate For Indoor Settings

Masks will also still be required in some settings like while visiting health care providers, at correctional facilities, homeless shelters, schools and while using public transportation.

The governor's announcement brings Washington's official guidance more in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest guidelines. Last week, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to continue wearing masks or socially distance in most public indoor settings. Shortly afterwards, Inslee said Washington would be adopting that guidance, but did not further clarify what exactly would change until this Friday's announcement.

Following the CDC's announcement, a number of businesses adopted new mask policies and lifted mask requirements for fully vaccinated customers, including:

• Target
• CVS
• PCC Community Markets
• Costco
• Walmart
• Trader Joe's
• Starbucks
• Home Depot
• Walgreens
• Aldi

Some have voiced concerns that the looser mask requirements will allow the unvaccinated to skirt restrictions and potentially endanger others — especially now that businesses can serve mask-less customers without requiring any proof of vaccination. Last week, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), a union representing 1.3 million food and retail workers across the country, issued a statement saying CDC's changes failed to recognize the challenges grocery and retail store employees will now face.

"Millions of Americans are doing the right thing and getting vaccinated, but essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local COVID safety measures. Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?" asked UFCW International President Marc Perrone.