After midnight tomorrow night, Washington residents and school children will be free to remove their masks indoors. This follows a brief lift of the mask mandate in the summer of 2021 prior to the rise in Delta variant cases.

Masks will still be required in hospitals, healthcare facilities, public transit, and correctional facilities. However, individual businesses and local governments will have the freedom to enforce mask-wearing by their customers and residents, if they so choose.

In a recent written statement, Governor Inslee said, “While this represents another step forward for Washingtonians, we must still be mindful that many within our communities remain vulnerable. Many businesses and families will continue choosing to wear masks because we’ve learned how effective they are at keeping one another safe.”