Masks now required – along with shirts and shoes

WEST PLAINS – A statewide order requiring all businesses to prohibit customers from entering their facilities unless wearing a mask kicked into gear on Tuesday, July 7.

The “No mask, no service” order from Gov. Jay Inslee last Thursday, July 2, expands on a previous order issue June 26. That order required masks in businesses specifically in Yakima County, which has been dubbed the “epicenter” of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state due to a rapid increase in positive cases that maxed out available hospital space.

Inslee’s order also required people to wear masks while in public when social distancing options were not available. The July 2 order expanded on that by requiring all businesses to refuse entry to anyone not wearing a mask.

How that will be enforced has been a topic of conversation among civic, business and law enforcement around the state. Some jurisdictions have said they will take an educational approach to the requirements while others have said they don’t plan to enforce the order.

Both Cheney Police Chief John Hensley and Airway Heights Police Chief Brad Richmond said they plan to have officers take the educational route first when contacted about individuals not wearing masks. If officers receive a call, they will respond, contact the individual involved and educate them about the rules in place.

Hensley said they will document the subject information, such as name, date of birth, address, and identification information and add it to the call report, but don’t have any plans at present to issue citations. Officers do have the discretion to issue citations to individuals repeatedly violating the state order or who “simply refuse to be educated.”

If an individual not wearing a mask refuses a businessowners request to put one on or leave, both chiefs said they will take the issue a step further.

“We’ll go with the businessowner’s wants and ask them to leave, if that’s what they want,” Richmond said. It’s a position echoed by Hensley in Cheney.

“If a business calls us in regards to a customer refusing to wear a mask and refusing to leave we will respond and escort the subject from the business,” he said. “If the businessowner wants to trespass the customer, we will prepare the documents as per our routine.”

Neither chief said their departments had encountered any mask incidents yet. Richmond said he had met with officials at the local Wal-Mart on Hayford Road and discussed adopting a business-centered approach to the issue – as well as one that creates good public relations for the department.

Washington has seen an increase in positive COVID-19 cases since Memorial Day weekend. As of July 5, there had been 36,985 positive cases in the state, with 4,544 total hospitalizations and 1,370 deaths. Through Memorial Day there had been 20,483 cases, 3,561 hospitalizations and 1,099 deaths.

Most of these have occurred in four counties: King, Pierce and Snohomish in Western Washington along with Yakima in southcentral Washington although nearby Benton and Franklin along with Spokane are not far behind.

Health officials across the state have repeatedly cited wearing masks or cloth facing coverings as one of the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.