In Washington state, the death toll from Covid-19 – the disease caused by coronavirus – has been doubling around every eight days, whereas it has been doubling every two to three days in the country’s other most infected states, such as New York, New Jersey, Louisiana and Michigan.

According to statistics from the Institute for Disease Modeling – a private research group in Bellevue, Washington – in early March, each infected person was spreading the disease to 2.7 other people, on average. Today, that number has dropped considerably to 1.4.

“There is evidence that doing the aggressive measures can have a benefit,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee told the Times on Sunday.

The Pacific northwest state was one of the first to suggest sweeping social restrictions in response to the virus, asking people to observe social distancing as early as the end of February. Within a week it was asking groups to postpone large events and encouraging non-essential employees to work from home.

On the same day that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “people should go out and continue to live life, should go out to restaurants”, Inslee was closing Seattle’s public schools and banning city events involving more than 250 people.

Seattle’s response to the crisis now stands as a model for other cities and states, and even the federal government is taking notice.

The White House had been pushing for an early lifting of restrictions in hopes of bolstering the country’s faltering economy.

By this weekend, however, President Donald Trump had dramatically changed his tune – warning the nation that it could face more than 100,000 deaths, and extending national social distancing guidelines through to the end of April.

On the streets of Seattle, the state government’s response is obvious.

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“There are very few cars on the roads, there are lots of people walking around, but all are staying more than 10 feet apart,” said Paul Fikse, a local structural engineer who is expecting his second child with his wife Marisa later this month.

Like many Seattleites, he is optimistic; but as restrictions continue, he worries about the future.

“Life is good – everyone in the family is healthy and spring is starting,” Fikse said. “But it’s also stressful because we don’t know if I’ll be allowed to be with Marisa when she gives birth to our child.”

“Yesterday we heard from our doula [a person who provides emotional and physical support during a pregnancy] that our provider no longer allows more than one support person in the delivery room,” Fikse said.

“And can we continue to rely on others braving the grocery store for us via [delivery app] Instacart? They’re on strike starting today.”

Instacart employees were poised to walk out on Monday unless the company agreed to provide them with danger money and protective gear, among other demands.

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“We’re mostly thankful for our fellow Washingtonians taking this seriously,” Fikse said of the city's restrictions. “It appears to be helping.”

In some ways, Seattle is uniquely positioned to weather a pandemic. The perpetually rainy city’s citizenry already had a reputation as homebodies, and its booming tech sector is well suited to having employees work from home.

Seattle was also ahead of the curve when it came to testing for the disease. As of last week, many of the city’s hospitals were offering drive-through testing.

Still, the struggle is not over.

Even as the spread of the disease slows in Seattle, it is picking up speed in the rest of the state amid the increasing availability of testing. There are fears that the virus is gaining a foothold in the state’s rural counties, mostly undetected, a phenomenon that mimics wider trends in the country.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government's top infectious disease expert, appeared on American television on Monday to warn that smaller towns and cities could become fertile breeding grounds for the virus.

“There are a number of smaller cities that are sort of percolating along, couple hundred cases, the slope doesn't look like it's going up,” Fauci said on ABC’s Good Morning America.

“What we’ve learned from painful experience with this outbreak is that it goes along almost on a straight line, then a little acceleration, acceleration, then it goes way up.”

“We're going to have all of these little mini-outbreaks throughout various cities in our country,” he said.

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In Seattle, there is relief but also resolve, and an understanding that life will not be returning to normal any time soon.

“It would be grossly irresponsible to stop these measures now,” Inslee said, warning that the state was “not within 1,000 miles of declaring victory”.