Washington Governor Jay Inslee has announced that the state will be mandating that people wear masks or face coverings when in public.
The new, statewide public health order comes into effect on Friday, June 26.
Non-medical face coverings will be required for anyone indoors in a public area and outdoors in public spaces when two metres of physical distancing can’t be maintained.
In a press conference Tuesday, Inslee said that the state has seen another “uptick” of COVID-19 and that “the number of people that one person infects is now going up.”
Washington currently has over 4,000 hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19 and has seen over 28,000 confirmed cases of the virus over the course of the pandemic.
“I think of these face coverings, in some sense, as a statement. It’s a statement that when you wear it, it means you care about people because it means you want to reduce the risk that you are going to infect another person,” said Gov. Inslee.
Masks are required to cover the nose and mouth for anyone over the age of five when in public spaces, according to the Washington health order.
“We’re just appreciative if everyone could think of this as the new part of etiquette in our state,” added Inslee.
Washington joins several other states who have already mandated masks, including California.
A spokesman for Inslee said that violation of the statewide mask order is a misdemeanour, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and up to a $1,000 US fine. Violation of the Yakima County proclamation is a gross misdemeanour, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and up to a $5,000 fine.
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 2.3 million people have been infected with coronavirus in the United States and almost 121,000 have died.
Graham Cox
