Islee Announces Statewide School Closures And Ban on Public Gatherings

Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday announced the expansion of the school closure order to all K-12 schools, both public and private, statewide.
Inslee said schools must close by the end of Monday, March 16 and will remain closed through at least April 24. The earliest possible date students could return to class would be April 27, Inslee said.
The closures will affect more than 1.2 million students.
Inslee also expanded the ban on gatherings and events of more than 250 people to the entire state in an effort to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Washington continue to grow.
The statewide case number as reported by the Department of Health and local health districts is at least 543 and the new statewide coronavirus death total is at least 37.
The Washington State Department of Health also lists 46 unassigned positive cases, which due to rapidly changing data, have not yet been attributed to specific counties.