The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

OLYMPIA —Soon, schools across Washington will be teeming with students for the first time in more than a year. Supporting the effort to get students back into schools, and formulating plans to help keep our schools open, has been a priority for the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) for months.

This year, back-to-school occurs amid a COVID-19 surge in all regions of the state. So, the strategy for a healthy return includes layered protections: encouraging vaccines for all eligible students, requiring staff to be vaccinated, near-universal masking, and regular COVID-19 testing at...