Governor Inslee has announced the ending of all remaining COVID-19 emergency orders and the state of emergency by October 31  While COVID-19 remains active in our community, therapeutics and knowledge have helped make this less of a threat, and we are in agreement it is time to move forward.

In July, Governor Inslee announced thirteen healthcare related emergency orders will be ending October 27^th. Although the ten remaining emergency orders will be ending October 31, the statewide Face Covering Order issued by the state Department of Health will remain in place for health care and long-term care sittings.  The governor is also looking at options to ensure there are protections for workers who choose to wear a mask in their workplace.

Vaccination requirements for health care workers will also end, but employers will continue to be able to require them if they choose. However, CMS still has the requirement for healthcare workers in skilled nursing to be vaccinated with the primary series. Since the definition of “up to date” was updated last week to include the new bivalent vaccine, CMS has stated “If resident and staff are currently “up to date” with the existing boosters, they should be considered up to date for compliance, and we’ll provide additional regarding the bivalent as we look into this more.”

We are in communication with the Governor’s office asking for clarification of this order and clear communication to skilled nursing facilities regarding vaccine requirements.

We will keep you updated as we learn more and will be reviewing the updates we do have on this Friday’s Ending of COVID-19 Proclamations call. If you need the link for this call, please reach out to Laura Hofmann at LeadingAge WA

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804