School campuses are closed, but many daycares are open.
For Puget Sound parents, the option to send children to daycare is making a huge difference in their start to the school year.
"It kind of turned out better than expected," Renton parent DonYell King said.
Bellevue parent Sita Mani is in a different situation.
"I am the primary caregiver for him, so it's challenging," Mani said.
Mani is working full-time at home in Bellevue with her son by her side.
"I need to babysit him because it is too much to ask for a 6-year-old to sit in front of a computer for three hours straight," Mani said.
King is also working full-time at home, but her 7-year-old son Dante' goes to daycare.
"They have their laptops with them and are able to learn there," King said. "If daycares can be open, why can't schools be open?"
State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said there are differences between what schools and childcare providers can do.
"You're talking about 16, 18, 20 kids per classroom. That is not your typical daycare facility by any stretch," Reykdal said.
That is echoed by Linda Tepper. Tepper is the executive director of Country Village Day School.
"I think the issue is also being able to get the necessary equipment and sanitizer, gloves. Being able to do those temp checks. I think it's really difficult from a school perspective to be able to facilitate it," Tepper said.
Tepper says she is able to facilitate it at Country Village Day School on Mercer Island.
Tepper and the staff have worked quickly to change the pre-school's business model to accommodate older children and to adopt new health and safety measures.
Parents are not allowed past the entryway. Temperature checks, masks, and hand sanitizer are a regular part of each day. There is a remote learning room for the K-5th graders.
Some other childcare providers have not fared as well during the pandemic, according to Deeann Puffert, CEO of Child Care Aware of Washington.
"Most of the providers we talked to are operating at less than 50% capacity. Just to put a finer point on it, many providers were barely able to operate financially with a full capacity," Puffert said.
According to Child Care Aware of Washington, at the end of last year there were 5,434 licensed child care providers in the state. As of Aug. 31, at least 958 programs closed. Those places had a combined capacity to serve 43,145 children.
"My fear is that we will decimate this market of quality childcare, and then six to eight months from now, there won't be enough when everybody's ready to come back," Puffert said.
The reality right now is parents are pushing forward.
"I will say the first two months, it was quite an adjustment. I went through a depression phase," King said.
This school year, daycare has made it less difficult for King, but Mani is still pulling double duty.
"Where do I say this is where the office starts and this is where home starts," Mani said.
It's a question many families are facing as another round of remote learning gets underway.