Contact Tracing Finds Another COVID-19 Case On Orcas

By San Juan County

One new pos­i­tive COVID-19 test result has been report­ed in San Juan Coun­ty, for an Orcas Island res­i­dent. This is the 37th case report­ed in San Juan County.

Based on com­pre­hen­sive inter­views, it appears there is a con­nec­tion between this test result and a pre­vi­ous­ly con­firmed case. Test­ing and mon­i­tor­ing are ongo­ing for all iden­ti­fied close con­tacts of this most recent case.

Now is not the time for the islands to relax. Cas­es are increas­ing dras­ti­cal­ly across the Unit­ed States, and the long-expect­ed win­ter­time surge is upon us. San Juan Coun­ty Health and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices Direc­tor Mark Tomp­kins empha­sizes how crit­i­cal our indi­vid­ual deci­sions are.

“As we are see­ing, the risk is not only ini­tial trans­mis­sion to the islands, but the poten­tial for com­mu­ni­ty spread when a local case occurs,” he said. “Our only way to min­i­mize that risk is by mak­ing care­ful deci­sions on how we inter­act with others.”

“Giv­en the lack of cas­es since August, many of us have relaxed our pre­cau­tions,” said Tomkins. “Unfor­tu­nate­ly, we are now enter­ing a peri­od where grow­ing cas­es in the coun­try and in our state, as well as loos­ened safe­ty pre­cau­tions, may lead to local out­breaks. If we want to hold onto our suc­cess as a com­mu­ni­ty in keep­ing case num­bers at bay, being safe and thought­ful has to be the priority.”

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.