As the Delta variant of coronavirus rampages across the US, Governor Jay Inslee announced a COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Monday for thousands of Washington state employees, along with many private-sector healthcare workers, according to media reports.

Affected workers will have until October 18 to get fully vaccinated, and show proof, or face “non-disciplinary dismissal” for failure to meet job requirements, Inslee’s office informed during a press conference, reported the Seattle Times.

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However, the governor’s office specified that employees will be allowed to seek exemptions for religious or medical reasons.

Inslee and other state and local officials were scheduled to officially announce the mandate during a 1 pm news conference at Kaiser Permanente’s Capitol Hill campus in Seattle.

The announcement comes after the US reported 100,000 cases on Sunday for the fourth straight day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Currently, the country is averaging more than 99,000 daily cases, CDC data showed.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine also announced similar vaccine mandates for city and county employees.

Washington has more than 68,000 state government employees, excluding the higher education system. Regardless of whether employees have returned to in-person workplaces or are still working from home, vaccinations will be necessary.

King County has about 13,500 executive branch employees who would be subject to the rule, a spokesperson for Constantine said. The city of Seattle has about 12,000 employees potentially subject to the mandate.

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Health officials have said disease modelling shows the delta variant likely accounts for more than 90% of new COVID-19 cases in Washington. About 53% of Washington residents had been fully vaccinated as of last week, including nearly 64% of those 16 and older.

Inslee did not announce a new masking mandate, but a spokesperson for his office said that continues to be an option if COVID-19 infections continue to rise.