A healthcare worker talks with Susan Hailey, 76, in her room at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, on Friday, March 13, 2020, in Kirkland.
Dorothy Campbell sits in her son's vehicle after knocking on her husband, Gene Campbell's window and speaking to him on the phone at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, the long-term care facility at the epicenter of the first coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., on Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Kirkland. There have been 46 deaths from Covid-19 associated with the facility.
Members of a Servpro cleaning crew line up before entering the Life Care Center of Kirkland, the long-term care facility at the epicenter of the first coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Kirkland. As of Wednesday, March 11, Washington state had reported 29 total Covid-19 related deaths.
Dorothy Campbell talks to her husband, Gene Campbell, on the phone through his window at the Life Care Center of Kirkland on Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Kirkland. Dorothy's son Charlie Campbell came from Silver City, New Mexico, to bring his mother to see his father. "It’s kind of tough but it’s the best we can do at this point," he said.
Kaas Tailored employees sew face masks on Monday, March 23, 2020, at the Kaas Tailored furniture factory in Mukilteo. When local furniture factory-owner Jeff Kaas heard about the need, “within less than 48 hours, he converted his furniture factory into a mask making factory, making [personal protective equipment] for us,” said Providence spokesperson Melissa Tizon.
A pedestrian crosses an empty 4th Avenue on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Seattle. On March 23, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he would sign a statewide order that requires everyone in the state to stay home in order to curb the spread of the virus. At the time, the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order was to last for two weeks and could be extended.
A swing set is surrounded by caution tape at a closed play area as a result of the coronavirus outbreak two days after Gov. Jay Inslee announced the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, at Seward Park in Seattle.
U.S. Army soldiers from the 627th Army Hospital from Fort Carson, Colorado, as well as soldiers from JBLM set up a 250-bed military field hospital for non COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at the CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle. On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that that the state would be returning the field hospital to the U.S. Department of Defense, without it ever receiving a patient.
Thousands gathered in protest following the murder of George Floyd on Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Seattle. Here, protesters run from tear gas and flash bang grenades deployed by Seattle police officers near Westlake Park. For over 150 consecutive days, protesters demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality continued to march in Seattle.
A protester has milk and water poured into their eyes after tear gas was deployed by Seattle police officers on Saturday, May 30, 2020, near Westlake Park in Seattle. Thousands gathered in protest following the murder of George Floyd, beginning daily protests that would last for several months in Seattle.
A protester wearing a respirator watches as a small American flag hangs from the grill of a burning Seattle Police Department cruiser as thousands gathered in protest following the murder of George Floyd on Saturday, May 30, 2020, near the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle.
A smiley face is shown drawn on the end of Seattle Police Officer M. Lancaster's baton while standing in a police line on Monday, June 1, 2020, at the intersection of 11th Avenue and East Pine Street in Seattle. For the next week, tense, nightly standoffs between demonstrators and a fortified line of police in riot gear took place at this intersection. On June 8, Seattle police abandoned the East Precinct.
After more than 6 hours of a peaceful protest, law enforcement released tear gas, flash-bang grenades, pepper spray, and rubber bullets on hundreds of people near Cal Anderson Park on Tuesday, June 2, on the fifth day of protests in Seattle following the murder of George Floyd.
Chazz Daniels holds a rose in the air as several hundred people gathered in a peaceful protest march from Westlake Park to Seattle City Hall on Monday, June 1, 2020, in Seattle. Protesters later marched to the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct building where tear gas and flash bang grenades were deployed.
Seattle police officers hold batons while standing in a police line over chalk writing on the sidewalk that reads 'Fuck The Police,' on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the intersection of 11th Avenue and East Pine Street in Seattle.
"Rest in power to those killed during the George Floyd Rebellion" reads the wall above a candlelight vigil honoring those killed unjustly at the hands of law enforcement on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the intersection of 11th Avenue and East Pine Street in Seattle.
A tear falls from Dr. Hayden Hamilton's eye while kneeling with Dr. Jennifer Hamilton, right, during a moment of silence on Saturday, June 6, 2020, outside of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Thousands of nurses, doctors, and health care workers came together to protest police violence with a march to Seattle City Hall. "We need to think of racism as a disease,” said Organizer Dr. Estell Williams, a general surgeon at the University of Washington.
Seattle police officers deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and flash-bang grenades on protesters shortly after midnight on Sunday June 7, 2020, in Capitol Hill. The next day, after a week of tense, nightly standoffs between demonstrators and a fortified line of police in riot gear, the police line moved out and the precinct windows were boarded up. Over the PA system, protest organizers called for a peaceful gathering and reiterated the overall goal: to defund the Seattle Police Department.
Members of the Everyday March light candles and place them in the shape of a heart to honor John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver who was unjustly shot and killed by Seattle Police in 2010, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, near the home of Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez in Seattle. "It is on us," said TK, an organizer, to the crowd. "It is our duty, our obligation, our responsibility to come out here and stand up for the next generation."
Organizer TK leads a group of people protesting for racial justice and against police brutality back to the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone from the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct building on the 18th day of protests following the murder of George Floyd, on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Seattle.
Roller skaters skate along Alki Avenue Southwest during a Seattle Skates meet up as the sun sets on Wednesday, September 30, 2020, in Seattle. “We definitely have a genuine care for each other and it’s not just random people I like skating with,” said Artemis Peacocke, co-founder of Seattle Skates. “It’s genuinely a community. I love it so much."
Artist Future Crystals repaints the letter E in the Black Lives Matter street mural on Friday, October 2, 2020, on East Pine Street in Seattle. The 15 artists who created the original mural formed a plan with the City of Seattle's Office of Arts and Culture to preserve it after parts became faded or chipped. "We're just digging in to even further this message — this idea, the movement, making it really permanent," said artist Takiyah Ward
A large crowd of demonstrators marched from Cal Anderson Park to Westlake Park on Monday, October 26, 2020, in Seattle. Six different groups joined together to commemorate 150 days of fighting for Black liberation and justice in Seattle. "You can't go back," said River, an organizer, to the crowd. "You took a step, you took a stand, you basically took an oath: to protect and to stand with Black people, forever."
From left, registered nurse Shu Kuang, registered nurse Tina Nguyen and patient services representative Denny Ho stand for a portrait following a shift of Covid-19 testing on Friday, November 20, 2020, at the International Community Health Services drive thru testing site on 8th Avenue South in Seattle's International District.
It was an extraordinary year unlike any other. The first Covid-19 outbreak in the United States stopped Seattle in its tracks. Toilet paper, hand sanitizer and masks vanished from store shelves. Streets were eerily empty. Spouses separated by panes of glass. The boarded up businesses of the newly unemployed became a canvas for the city's muralists to offer some degree of hope. It was a surreal new reality with no end in sight. And then came May. Following the murder of George Floyd at the end of the month, thousands poured into Seattle’s streets to continue a fight that’s hundreds of years old. Demanding justice for Black Americans and an end to police brutality, protesters were met with tear gas and flash bang grenades on Capitol Hill. For months, every single day, throughout the region — people marched. By October, a tumultuous presidential election began to reach a crescendo. And within weeks of Joe Biden being elected came the arrival of the first Covid-19 vaccines. As frontline workers received the first shots, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. In a year marked by unrelenting tragedy, heartbreak and loss – it was also one marked by resilience. Individual people saw in the devastation an opportunity. Hand-sewn masks were delivered to healthcare workers risking their lives. Volunteers handed off boxes of produce at drive-through food banks. Mutual aid networks replenished the swept away tents and sleeping bags of the unhoused. On a recent December morning at Cal Anderson park, one protester yelled, "We're all we got!” The crowd answered: "We're all we need."