COVID


COVID-19 Daily Update, March 5, 2020

More information continues to come out concerning the spread of the novel coronavirus disease – or COVID-19 in our county and community. 

The Snohomish Health District released new recommendations today, which we are implementing accordingly. 

The Marysville School District will be supporting the prevention strategy used for many other illnesses called “social distancing”.

All persons absolutely need to continue regular hand washing, avoid touching our eyes, mouth, and nose and clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. These are all strategies currently being employed in our school district. 

Those who are ill should continue to stay home and away from others.

The Snohomish Health District now recommends people avoid non-essential gathering in large groups to the extent possible. 

Large groups were defined loosely by the Health Department as meetings, events, or spaces with 50 or more people. The larger the group, the higher the risk. The closer the contact to others, the higher the risk of transmission.

As a result, effective Friday, March 6, we are suspending field trips, and scheduled evening events such as concerts, performances, and facility utilization through at least March 22.  Planned after-school activities considered an extension of the student day such as athletic practices, Century 21 Program, YMCA daycare, will still be held. We will continue to monitor and adjust as necessary. 

These measures are being taken to minimize risk by suspending all non-essential gatherings in our district in accordance with the Health Department’s guidance. Additionally, our custodial staff can then keep their time focused on the additional duties to disinfect frequently touched surfaces. 

The Snohomish Health District does NOT recommend closing all schools at this time, because schools are considered essential gatherings. Athletic practices and other school-based activities that are considered an extension of the school day as outlined earlier will continue at this time. We will continue to mitigate the risk through disinfection of frequently touched surfaces, deep cleaning when necessary, and practicing universal prevention measures. We will close schools out of an abundance of caution when deemed necessary as is the case with news received late this afternoon:

We learned late this afternoon of a community member report of a positive test for the COVID-19 virus, which has been confirmed by the Snohomish Health District. As the individual may have come into regular contact with children who attend Pinewood Elementary, Sunnyside Elementary, and Marysville Getchell High School, out of an abundance of caution, we will be closing the schools for disinfecting tomorrow, Friday, March 6. This information has been communicated directly to the families who have students who attend these schools.

Additionally, we continue to monitor our daily attendance. We are not seeing a dramatic drop in attendance over the last 7-10 days since this event began to escalate. We are meeting daily and adjusting as more information is known and the recommendations from the Health Department change. 

For people who are at higher risk from COVID-19, extra precautions should be taken. We encourage these individuals to follow the advice of their personal healthcare professionals and make informed choices about mitigating their own risk. 

This includes individuals who are:

  • over 60 years of age;

  • have an underlying medical condition, like heart disease, lung disease or diabetes; 

  • have weakened immune systems;

  • or are pregnant.

We will continue to monitor and adjust our district response as more information is known. There will be continued daily updates for the foreseeable future. 

Please visit the district website at www.msd.25.org for additional information and resources.