Visitors can continue to use their Washington state driver’s licenses to access Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and other naval bases in the Pacific Northwest — for now.

Base officials sent out a release correcting what they described as misconceptions created by a Seattle TV news report.

“Currently, nothing has changed regarding access to Navy installations in the Pacific Northwest. Recent news reports suggest that Navy bases will not allow access to people from states that are not in compliance with the Real ID Act,” according to the release.

In addition to Washington, those states and territories include Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and American Samoa. Once the Navy receives more guidance on changes, the public will be informed, said NAS Whidbey spokesman Mike Welding.

The confusion may have occurred because of a statement released by the Department of Defense last week which said its installations will no longer accept driver’s licenses from states not in compliance, including Washington, as proof of identity.

Apparently, that policy doesn’t apply to Pacific Northwest Navy bases.

“There’s been a lot of churn about base access, but nothing has changed for us yet,” said Navy Region Northwest spokeswoman Sheila Murray.