One person presents his vaccine card at the Liberty Theater in Camas, Washington. (Photo by Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
Jefferson and Clallam County Health Officer – Dr. Allison Berry – issued a new public health order on Thursday that required a vaccination test for all customers entering an indoor restaurant or bar.
Masks will be needed at large outdoor events in King County
Children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination may enter without proving the test. Employees of companies that continuously mask while in the building also do not have to provide vaccination tests.
The requirement goes into effect on Saturday, September 4th.
“Indoor bars and restaurants are known to pose a high risk of COVID-19 transmission, as they encourage the unmasking of large groups of people inside,” Dr. Berry said in a statement. “Our goal is to make these places safer and reduce transmission to our communities, allowing our hospitals to continue to operate and our schools to open more safely this fall.”
The health department says 495 outbreaks of COVID-19 have been located in restaurants and bars across the state since last month.
“Given the ability of the delta variant to spread beyond 6 feet when people were unmasked indoors, we believe a vaccine requirement will be more effective and less costly than the capacity limitations we saw l ‘last year,’ Berry said. “We want to keep companies open while protecting the public. That’s how we do it. “
Acceptable forms of vaccination include a complete vaccination card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a state certificate from the COVID-19 Vaccine Department of Health, a hard copy from the State Department of Health vaccine registry, a photograph of any of these documents, or an application-based vaccine passport.
A person is considered to be fully vaccinated when he or she has received all necessary doses of a vaccine during COVID-19 and 14 days have elapsed since the final dose. Moderna and Pfizer are two-dose vaccines, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one dose.
Find a place to get vaccinated here.
According to a state directive from the Inslee government, masks are required in all public indoor settings, regardless of the state of vaccination. This includes grocery stores, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, indoor music venues and nightclubs, as well as any other business that is “generally accessible” to the public.