CDC Updates COVID Mask Guidelines: What It Means For Washington

OLYMPIA, WA — The Biden administration dramatically loosened federal COVID-19 mask guidance Friday as infection rates return to pre-omicron variant levels around the country.

The big takeaway for Evergreen State residents: The federal mask mandate is ending, but Washington's mask mandate remains. Friday's update means federal guidelines have been loosened so that almost 70 percent of Americans will no longer be required to wear masks indoors. Washington state, however, has its own masking regulations which remain in effect, at least for now. The state had already been set to remove statewide masking requirements for most public indoor spaces, including schools, on March 21. The CDC's update Friday doesn't speed up that process, but it may inspire more businesses to lift their own mask requirements, once they can.

Once the state lifts its masking requirements, local health districts will have the option to require masks if they so choose. For example, Pierce County's top health official has said his mask order will lift when the state's does, but King County has said it is still independently evaluating the "appropriate time" to loosen its COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Previously, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people wear masks in areas with substantial or high transmission — roughly about 95 percent of U.S. counties, according to the latest data. The new guidance instead uses three metrics to determine when COVID-19 restrictions can be lifted: COVID hospital admission rates, the number of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and the 7-day COVID-19 case count per 100,000 people.

The new framework categorizes counties by “low,” “medium” or “high” risk. The CDC isn’t recommending mask-wearing in the first two categories, except among people who have underlying health conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19. In schools, masking is only recommended in counties with a high risk of infection.

The change in policy comes as the virus becomes endemic, and the Biden administration shifts focus towards preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19 rather than all instances of infection.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tweeted Thursday that the agency is shifting its focus to concentrate on preventing the spread of COVID-19 to minimize the strain on the health care system.

In a White House briefing last week, she said hospital capacity is an “important barometer.”

“Our hospitals need to be able to take care of people with heart attacks and strokes,” she said. “Our emergency departments can’t be so overwhelmed that patients with emergent issues have to wait in line.”

In her Thursday night tweets, Walensky said community infection rates will determine when and where extra precautions such as mask wearing and testing should be targeted.

“Moving forward, our approach will advise enhanced prevention efforts in communities with a high volume of severe illness and will also focus on protecting our healthcare systems from being overwhelmed,” she tweeted.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus is highly contagious, but generally causes less severe COVID-19 illnesses than other variants, especially among people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, data shows.

Daily U.S. COVID-19 infection rates are down to about 82,000 cases nationwide, according to a database kept by The New York Times, and hospitalizations are down about 44 percent. However, about 2,000 people a day still are dying of the virus, The Times reported.

In Washington, the omicron wave has been on the decline for several weeks now after peaking in mid-January. According to the latest-available Department of Health data, as of Feb. 10 Washington had a 7-day average of 4,087 COVID-19 cases a day, down from 19,005 on Jan. 13.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.