— from State Emergency Operations Center, Camp Murray —

Guidance on Cloth Face Coverings from the Washington State Department of Health: The Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend that people wear cloth face coverings when they are in public settings where they cannot maintain 6 feet of distance from others. This might include trips to the grocery store, pharmacy, hardware store, health clinic or similar places. This recommendation is not a substitute for existing guidance to maintain 6-feet of physical distance from non-household members and performing frequent hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Wearing cloth face coverings will not prevent spread of COVID-19 without these other protective measures. This is not a mandate that you must wear a face covering. It is considered an additional layer of protection. Visit the Washington State Department of Health website for the full guidance document.

Driver license expiration dates extended 90 days: Governor Inslee has taken action to allow the Department of Licensing (DOL) to temporarily extend the expiration dates of driver licenses. The DOL will send letters to persons whose driver license is set to expire in the next 90 days (April 3 through July 3). These card holders expiration date will be extended for 90 days.

New dashboards make COVID-19 data visual: Department of Health has changed how COVID-19 information appears on our website. It is now in data dashboards with new visualizations and metrics. We hope that they make it easier for you to use our data to answer your questions. Keep checking the website — we aim to update it every day with new information that is accurate and complete as of 11:59 p.m. the previous day.

Q&A video with Superintendent Reykdal: Every week Superintendent Chris Reykdal will post an update regarding School Closures, COVID-19, and important updates from OSPI during these very challenging times.

Spread the Facts campaign: visit the Spread the Facts campaign partner toolkit for guidance, graphics and resources from Washington state agencies to help partners Spread the Facts about COVID-19. Please use any of these materials to help with your own outreach efforts. Check back often. We will post new resources as they become available.

Mortgage assistance blog: Today, the Department of Health published a blog in Spanish outlining resources available for mortgage assistance.