page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
section_title: School closures
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state) / Economic and social effects / School closures
caption_attribution_description: English: The school is shut down and yellow tape is placed around the playground to keep people from using it.
context_page_description: The first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was announced by the state of Washington on January 21, 2020. Washington made the first announcement of a death from the disease in the U.S. on February 29 and later announced that two deaths there on February 26 were also due to COVID-19. Until mid-March, Washington had the highest absolute number of confirmed cases and the highest number per capita of any state in the country, until it was surpassed by New York state. Many of the deceased were residents of a nursing home in Kirkland, an Eastside suburb of Seattle in King County.
  Washington had 73,879 confirmed cases and a total of 1,905 confirmed deaths as of August 29, 2020. Public health experts agree that the true number of cases in the state is much greater than the number that have been confirmed by laboratory tests. It is very difficult to know the true number since most people experience only mild illness and testing is not widely available.
  Governor Jay Inslee issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 23 to last at least two weeks.
context_section_description: On March 4, Northshore School District became the first school district in the state to announce an extended district-wide closure due to the pandemic, shifting to remote online learning. The closure was initially scheduled to last up to 14 days.
  The two largest state universities, University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU) curtailed on-campus classes during the pandemic. UW announced its closure on March 6; and on March 11, WSU announced the closure would begin after its spring break, on March 23.
  On March 11, school districts in the Greater Seattle area, including Seattle Public Schools, Lake Washington School District, and Bellevue School District, announced their closures shortly after Governor Jay Inslee's social distancing proclamation in the morning. Many school districts in Snohomish County also announced closures that would start in the next few days, including Snohomish School District, Monroe School District, Marysville School District, Everett School District and Edmonds School District.
  On March 12, the governor invoked his emergency power and mandated the closure of all private and public schools in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, from March 16 through April 24 or later; the next day, he expanded the closure to all K-12 schools statewide.
  All Thurston County schools, and Shelton School District (the largest district in Mason County) announced their closures beginning March 16, through at least April 24.
  On April 6, it was announced that all Washington State K-12 schools would be closed through the end of the school year. In July, Washington State University announced that the fall 2020 semester would offer full remote classes.
caption: Playground at a Seattle elementary school is closed due to the epidemic on March 25
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