A10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAy, MARCH 2 , 2020
ing a visit.
Leslie Shattuck, a college
spokeswoman, said she did not
know if the students and faculty
had been quarantined, noting that
they were awaiting instructions
from public health officials.
The public college decided to
close its 7,000-student campus in
Kirkland through Tuesday to disin-
fect the school out of “an abun-
dance of caution,” Shattuck said.
The school also canceled a staff
training session on diversity and
an open house scheduled for thisweek.
“The health and safety of our
students, faculty and staff are top of
mind as we work our way through
this emergency,” university presi-
dent Amy Morrison said in a state-
ment.
With a quarter of the city’s 100
firefighters under quarantine,
Kirkland city officials scrambled to
prepare amid a host of unknowns.
It remains unclear how many resi-
dents have been exposed to the
virus, though its spread seems in-
evitable.On Sunday, local police and fire
chiefs hunkered in a basement con-
trol center amid blinking television
screens and made sure that the fire
department would remain fully
staffed and that backup would be
available from neighboring towns
in case of a fire — j ust one firefight-
er remained under quarantine at
Fire Station 21 while the others
from the station were quarantined
in their homes.
Officials also urged residents to
wash their hands and stockpile
enough food for several days, asthe coronavirus outbreak
PHOTOS BY JOVELLE TAMAYO FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTTOP: Musicians perform at Northshore Community Church, which encouraged sick parishioners to
watch services from home via a live stream. MIDDLE: Kingsley Northcott was one of many shopping
for n onperishable foods at Costco on Sunday. ABOVE: Media members assemble outside Life Care
Center, where dozens of residents and staff were reportedly showing symptoms of the coronavirus.BY MARIA SACCHETTI
AND ASHLEY NGUYENKIRKLAND, WAsh. — One church
canceled Communion on Sunday
and banned handshakes and hugs.
More than two dozen firefighters,
and some police officers, are under
quarantine. The hospital urged vis-
itors to stay h ome. And Lake Wash-
ington Institute of Te chnology said
it is shutting down for two days to
disinfect the campus.
This outdoorsy city of 90,
just northeast of Seattle, known for
its piney woods, water sports and a
Google campus with a meandering
bike path running through it, has
become the epicenter of the U.S.
response to the deadly coronavirus
as it begins to spread along the
West C oast. A 50-year-old man who
died at a hospital here became the
first U.S. death linked to the virus,
and many others have been ex-
posed to it, turning Kirkland into a
test case to see how quickly author-
ities can contain the illness and the
fear that accompanies it.
Authorities reported a second
death Sunday, a man in his 70s who
died at the same hospital the day
before.
“We are gathered together today
amidst news that can make us anx-
ious or fearful. I’m sure all of our
hearts are thinking about that
word, ‘coronavirus,’ ” senior pastor
Scott Scruggs, wearing a blue
checked shirt, jeans and sneakers,
said from a stage with a live band
during services inside Northshore
Community Church on Sunday.
The crowd was thinner than usual,
and Scruggs said church members
were wiping door handles, discour-
aging touching, and urging sniffly
people to watch the services from
home online. “We’re doing what we
can and we want to invite you to do
the same.”
Officials in Seattle and King
County confirmed four new cases
of coronavirus-related illnesses on
Sunday, bringing the state total to
13.
City officials said that 25 fire-
fighters and two police officers who
were exposed to the virus at the
LifeCare Center of Kirkland have
shown no symptoms but are under
close watch, while a county health
department official said there were
more than 50 residents and staff at
the center who were reportedly ill
with symptoms. Authorities also
are worried that others — includ-
ing 17 nursing students and four
faculty and staff members from
Lake Washington Institute of Te ch-
nology — w ere exposed to the virus
at the nursing home last week dur-
they would in case of an earth-
quake.
Mayor Penny Sweet, who pre-
pared homemade peanut brittle
and toffee to deliver to quarantined
firefighters and police officers, said
the city is following the advice of
public health officials and the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Pre-
vention. She said the city is work-
ing to limit exposure and that she
hopes the spread will be contained.
“We’re being extraordinarily
cautious, but at this point in time,
we are not canceling a lot of things.
At the same time, if things go nuts... we have to be flexible,” Sweet
said. “For the most part, things are
fairly calm. Grocery stores have
been busy. People are stocking up
in case it gets worse, which is wise.
I’m very confident that we’re doing
everything that we can.”
Lines formed at shopping cen-
ters across the city as residents
bought paper towels, disinfecting
wipes and hand sanitizer amid re-
ports of the virus spreading
through parts of California, Ore-
gon and Washington state. Some
people rushed to big-box stores to
stock up on medication, jars of
pasta sauce and cleaning supplies.
Instead of shaking hands, people
waved at one another, attempting
to stand a respectful six feet apart
— CDC’s suggested distance to
avoid possible transmission.
The Costco in Kirkland opens at
10 a.m. on Sundays, but a line be-
gan forming at t he door a half-hour
early.
Julie Larralde, 60, wore a mask
as she stood in line. She lives close
by and has been stocking up on
food during the past few weeks.
“I worry more about the panic,”
she said. “If we didn’t panic, I
wouldn’t be here this morning.
This would not be what I would do
normally.”
Wentao Chen, 49, lives in nearby
Bellevue. He came to Costco early
to beat the crowd.
“I want to get in and out quick,”
he said. “I heard that the line might
be long.”
While Chen is worried about his
parents and sister, who live in Chi-
na, he says there’s not much he can
do. Before his wife flew their chil-
dren to Northern California in ear-
ly February, she asked him to buy
masks there. He couldn’t find any
at stores nearby, so he eventually
bought some online.
Others here say people are over-
reacting, and they went about the
mundane tasks of a late-winter
weekend. They pumped gas,
walked their dogs and jogged amid
the blossoming cherry trees, deter-
mined to enjoy the sun-splashed
day ahead of a rainy forecast.
Kelley Voss, 29, and Bryce Wood-
land, 30, who were heading to
breakfast in downtown Kirkland
on Sunday, said they were not wor-
ried about coronavirus.
“I guess we haven’t been that
concerned because there haven’t
been that many cases among peo-
ple who are healthy and young,”
Voss said. “It hasn’t been worse
than the flu, really. Of course, I have
concern for people who aren’t
young and healthy.”
At the Fred Meyer, a sprawling
store where shoppers can buy en-
gagement rings, clothing and gro-
ceries, shoppers perused flowers
and Easter candy while Girl Scouts
hawked cookies a t the entrance.
One couple stared at the empty
shelves where the anti-bacterial
wipes and lotions normally sit.
Their two sons, ages 10 and 8, de-
cided to stay home because they
said they were afraid of catching
the virus.
“There’s n othing left,” s aid Erika
Vences, 27, a house cleaner from
Mexico, standing with her partner,
Manuel Cruz, 42, a construction
worker. They s aid they are trying to
ward off the virus here while field-
ing phone calls from worried rela-
tives back home in Aguascalientes.
“We’re trying to keep the house
even cleaner t han usual.”
The lobby and cafeteria were
empty at a local health center on
Sunday morning, though a couple
of men walked past a sign on a large
easel that said: “To help ensure the
health and safety of our patients,
staff and community, we are dis-
couraging visitors from coming to
the EvergreenHealth Kirkland
Campus.”
One man shrugged and said he
was going to visit his father, who
just had surgery. An elderly man in
a baseball cap waved and walked
in, saying, “I don’t c are.”
City Manager Kurt Triplett said
come Monday, Kirkland residents
will see some new signs encourag-
ing elbow bumps o r waves.
“We all need to adjust to this as
the new normal,” Triplett said. “We
may be seeing the end of the hand-
shake.”
But others said the spread of
coronavirus, like the flu, is inevita-
ble. A school nurse said it will be
difficult to stop small children
from coughing on one another. At
City Hall, some people touched one
another or shook hands.
At Northshore Community
Church, parishioners couldn’t s top
themselves from hugging a man
who recently returned after brain
surgery.
As K ing County Sheriff’s Deputy
David Easterly supervised traffic in
the church’s parking lot, he said he
felt lucky to be in a country where
the response to the disease has
been swift and transparent. He
lives near the Mill Creek area,
where a high school student fell ill
last week, but he said the virus felt
“well-contained so far.”
“I don’t go around licking door-
knobs and such,” he said with a
laugh. “I’m not really worried.”
mar [email protected]A ‘new normal’ in Kirkland, Wash., as cases spread
Residents are avoiding
contact and stockpiling
food and supplies