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 on April 10, 2020. Many of the deceased were residents of a nursing home in Kirkland, an Eastside suburb of Seattle in King County.
Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency on February 29, 2020, which was followed by a statewide stay-at-home order on March 23 that would last at least two weeks.
Washington had 1,989,477 confirmed cases and a total of 16,100 confirmed deaths as of September 6, 2023. 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.
, Washington has administered 16.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, and has fully vaccinated 5.69 million people, equivalent to approximately 77 percent of the population. Approximately 15 percent of Washington residents have received the updated booster vaccine released in September 2022 and formulated for the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
On June 30, 2021, the state officially lifted capacity restrictions on businesses and most other activities, with the exception of large indoor events. Businesses were previously required to keep occupancy under 50 percent and maintain social distancing between patrons. Public transit systems were also permitted to operate at full capacity. The state of emergency declared by Governor Inslee expired on October 31, 2022, months after other restrictions had been lifted by state and local governments, particularly the City of Seattle.
Timeline
2020
January
On January 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first U.S. case in a 35-year-old man living in Snohomish County. He had returned from Wuhan, China after visiting his family there, to the U.S., landing at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport on January 15, without any symptoms. He reported to an urgent care clinic with symptoms of pneumonia on January 19 and was transported to Everett's Providence Regional Medical Center the following day. He was released from the hospital on February 3 after two weeks of treatment, including the use of the anti-viral drug remdesivir, and went into isolation at home. Some earlier cases, not confirmed by PCR, have also been reported as far back as December 2019.
February
On February 19, 2020, a resident of a Life Care Centers of America nursing home in Kirkland, an Eastside King County suburb of Seattle, was transferred to a local hospital and later tested positive for COVID-19. On February 24, a 54-year-old man was transferred from the Life Care Center of Kirkland to Harborview Medical Center and died there on February 26. Also on the 26th, a woman in her 80s from the center died at her family home. Both were found to have had COVID-19 and in one case this was discovered in post-mortem testing. The two deaths were announced on March 3.
On February 28, a high school student at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington was confirmed as having the virus causing the school to be closed immediately; Mariner High School in Everett was also closed because a student's parent had the virus. The following day, researchers confirmed the coronavirus strain in the student's case may be related to the coronavirus strain in the first confirmed U.S. case from January 19, suggesting that the virus may have been spreading in the area for up to six weeks. Also on February 28, a woman in her 50s who had recently returned from South Korea and who was an employee of the United States Postal Service at its Network Distribution Center facility in Federal Way, King County, tested positive.