that the stay at home order would be extended through at least may 4. on april 5, governor inslee announced that washington state would return 400 of the ventilators it received from the strategic national stockpile, so as to help harder hit states. on april 6, 2020, inslee announced that the school closure would encompass the rest of the school year statewide. on april 13, governor inslee, together with california governor gavin newsom and oregon governor kate brown, announced the western states pact, an agreement to coordinate among the three states to restart economic activity while controlling the outbreak. the washington state patrol asked drivers not to ignore speed limits on empty highways, two citing drivers on interstate 5 south of olympia clocked at 122 mph and 133 mph. the washington state emergency operations center's joint information center published a "risk assessment dashboard" that included inputs from epidemiological models from the institute for health metrics and evaluation at university of washington, the institute for disease modeling in bellevue, and the youyang gu covid model. wearing face coverings in public spaces to help reduce transmission was recommended since early in the pandemic. in mid-may, king county started requiring face masks in public. the state required public-facing employees to wear masks, starting june 8. the state requirement was extended to everyone in public places in late june. economic and social effects the marquee of the paramount theatre in seattle, announcing postponement of all events several national media outlets reported that fewer seattle residents were observed outside in public places in early march. local businesses, especially in tourist areas, reported fewer customers and sales. on march 10, seattle-based alaska airlines announced the company was preparing to cut its flight schedule and freeze hiring due to the sharp drop in airline bookings because of the pandemic. on march 12, the city of seattle announced that the public library system, community centers, and other recreation facilities would be closed until at least april 13. other libraries in the state followed suit, including sno-isle libraries, the king county library system, the pierce county library system, and the ncw libraries. westfield closed all its malls – including westfield southcenter, the largest shopping mall in washington state and the pacific northwest – on march 19. bellevue square and lincoln square had closed the day before. boeing announced on march 23–24 that all manufacturing facilities in the puget sound area and the grant county international airport 737 max storage and testing facility in moses lake would be closed for two weeks, starting march 25. retail closures not subject to the march 23 stay-at-home edict included retail pharmaceutical providers and retail cannabis and alcohol providers, considered an essential need by the order. breweries were also considered essential and some offered curbside pickup. a lawsuit was brought may 5 by some members of the washington state legislature and private citizens against governor inslee in u.s. district court for the western district of washington for violating rcw 43.06.010 emergency powers and abrogating citizens' rights to freely practice religion under the first amendment to the united states constitution. the lawsuit contended that invocation of emergency powers to prevent "public disorder" was unnecessary because there was no clear danger of lack of access to care due to hospital overuse or other shortages, that church closure orders were not commensurate with those of commercial facilities, and specifically noted that there had been zero serious cases in washington persons under 20 years old; and that the 1,000 covid-19 related deaths in washington was numerically comparable to flu and pneumonia deaths in other years, for example 1,037 in 2017. a separate suit was brought in state courts c. may 22 by public officials and citizens in chelan and douglas counties making some of the same claims. a third lawsuit petitioned the washington state supreme court for a writ of mandamus on the same grounds. more than 50 people held a rally on the federal courthouse steps in tacoma in support of another civil rights lawsuit on may 1. school closures playground at a seattle elementary school is closed due to the epidemic on march 25 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. sports many scheduled public events went on as planned, including a major league soccer fixture between the seattle sounders fc and columbus crew sc at centurylink field on march 7. it was played in front of a crowd of 33,080, making it the smallest crowd to ever attend a regular season mls match in sounders history. pundits attributed the lower attendance to the coronavirus as immunocompromised fans and others who did not want to attend the match due to the outbreak were offered full refunds. espn noted the effect the governor's ban on gatherings in puget sound area would have on sports, especially if it should be expanded to eastern washington; the first round of the 2020 ncaa division i men's basketball tournament was scheduled to be held in spokane in march. ncaa basketball was subsequently cancelled altogether. on march 12, major league baseball cancelled the remainder of spring training, and on march 16, they announced that the season will be postponed indefinitely, after the recommendations from the cdc to restrict events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, affecting the seattle mariners. arts and media seattle artists relief fund was established to help artists, especially in the performing arts, cope with the loss of patrons due to the pandemic-related shutdowns. included in the closures were the pacific northwest ballet and the seattle symphony. most of the state's newspapers removed paywalls for covid-19 information, including the seattle times, the tacoma news tribune, bellingham herald, peninsula daily news, the olympian, tri city herald, wenatchee world, the columbian, the spokesman-review, and the yakima herald-republic. the seattle times was praised for its early coverage of the outbreak, including public service announcements and question-and-answer sessions with readers. the stranger, an alt-weekly newspaper in seattle, announced a temporary layoff of 18 employees to offset ad revenue losses due to the closure of restaurants and entertainment venues. on march 24, a public radio station in the state, kuow-fm, announced it would no longer broadcast the white house press briefings on the coronavirus "due to a pattern of false or misleading information provided that cannot be fact checked in real time." nevertheless, kuow stated that it will continue to provide relevant information and news regarding the pandemic from the press briefings. tourism and entertainment interior of vancouver, washington restaurant open for takeout only on march 16 the economic loss to the region due to canceled cruise ship visitors to seattle was unknown as of mid march, with the port of seattle "exploring options." the industry brings in nearly one billion dollars annually to the puget sound area, with the alaska cruise season considered to start april 1. on march 11, 2020, the port of seattle announced the cancellations of april 1 and 5 planned cruise ship sailings. on march 13, 2020, the government of canada deferred the start of their cruise ship season to july 1, 2020. as noted by the port of seattle, "united states maritime laws require foreign flagged vessels, which include many cruise ships, to stop at a foreign port on a u.s. port to u.s. port itinerary. this is why most seattle to alaska cruise itineraries visit victoria, and changes in canada can impact seattle-based cruises." on march 14, 2020, the centers for disease control and prevention issued a 30-day no sail order impacting all cruise ships subject to u.s. jurisdiction. the landmark space needle closed on march 13 through march 31. many of the vendors at pike place market—those who sell nonessential items—closed on march 23 following the statewide stay-at-home order, but some food vendors remained open as of march 31. several major conventions, including the emerald city comic con at the washington state convention center in seattle, were cancelled or postponed in response to the coronavirus crisis. many western washington tribal casinos announced their closures on march 16, although not subject to the state government proclamations. closures were at the muckleshoot, puyallup, snoqualmie, suquamish and tulalip casinos in king, kitsap, pierce, and snohomish counties. travel and transportation most of the passenger cabin of mv spokane was closed off to encourage passengers to stay in their cars. several public transit agencies in western washington announced cuts to service and free fares to avoid contact between passengers and drivers. king county metro, the largest operator serving seattle, will reduce service and suspend the south lake union streetcar. large agencies in the puget sound region are also anticipating a decline in revenue from sales taxes, which would cause delays or changes to major projects. sound transit announced in early april that it would suspend construction on most of its light rail expansion projects due to high absenteeism among workers and difficulty meeting social distancing guidelines at worksites. on march 24, 2020, the port of seattle stated that a transportation security administration security officer working at seattle–tacoma international airport had tested positive for covid-19. the officer had last worked on march 21 at checkpoint 5 which would be closed for cleaning. nearly all washington state ferries routes had significant service reductions due to lack of ridership, and those taking a car on the ferry were encouraged to stay in their vehicle. service to southern british columbia was canceled. the closure of the canadian border isolated point roberts, an pene-exclave of washington connected by land to british columbia. a temporary ferry service was established in august 2020 to link point roberts to bellingham. restarting the economy the cities of bellevue, kirkland, issaquah, redmond, and renton launched (re)startup425 as an initiative to restart the eastside economy after the covid-19 shutdown. models of infectious disease from institute for disease modeling, institute for health metrics and evaluation, and others guided washington state government decision-making concerning how and when to lift emergency restrictions. reactions to november 15 restrictions issued by governor jay inslee hospitality industry leaders have voiced their concerns over the new restrictions. prior to the restrictions being enacted the washington state hospitality association estimated that hospitality sales was down 45%. reacting to the new restriction, wsha president anthony anton stated "this is devastating news, this leads to 100,000 workers out of work right before the holidays. this will lead to more permanent closures and end more dreams. what makes it frustrating is we believe we could have worked together to make good decisions." restaurant owners have been pushing back on the claims made by jay inslee that data supports the decision to close indoor dining. the ceo of fire and vine hospitality, which owns a group of restaurants in the seattle area, chad mackay, says the data doesn't support such strict measures on