Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is applauding numbers showing that about 94% of state employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or have received exemptions from his mandate, and 3.1% are waiting to get a vaccine or exemption. Inslee on Thursday said another 2.9% of state employees have left their jobs, either by quitting or retiring. Inslee spoke after the Washington state education department said nearly nine out of 10 public school employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Washington. Inslee said the number of COVID-19 cases in the state has been declining for the past two months, but that decline has plateaued in the past two weeks.