SPOKANE, Wash. — COVID cases are once again climbing in Washington state and so are hospitalizations.
However, despite guidelines from the CDC urging masking, Gov. Jay Inslee says he isn't going to reinstate mask mandates. At least not yet.
According to the Washington State Department of Health's Covid-19 Data Dashboard, out of all of the counties in the state, only two aren't rated as having high transmission rates: Whitman and San Juan counties.
The dashboard shows the rest, including Spokane County, are considered high.
According to the CDC, people who live in counties with high COVID rates should mask indoors whether they're vaccinated or not.
COVID hospitalizations also increased with 11% of hospital beds in Washington occupied by COVID patients. But the numbers aren't anywhere near what we were seeing back in January.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D- Wash.) says as long as hospitalization rates don't reach critical levels, mandates are not needed.
"We are not there and we're not approaching that position. So we think this is the moment for people to make individual decisions as they can and get a booster shot."
Right now, about 69% of the state's population is completely vaccinated for COVID, according to the state's COVID-19 data dashboard. That number drops to 58% for Spokane County.
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