County Says Most COVID Cases In Last Two Months From Travel, Hosting Guests

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

Since the last update on Friday, Jan. 22, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 97 to 102. Three new cases are on San Juan Island, and two on Orcas.

Approximately 53 individuals who are close contacts of positive cases are currently in quarantine.

Orcas Island

There are two new cases on Orcas Island. Both of these cases are tied to hosting out of state visitors, the cases are not related, nor are they related to previous cases.

There is one positive case being actively monitored on Orcas Island at this time.

Lopez Island

There are no new cases and no positive cases being actively monitored on Lopez Island at this time.

San Juan Island

There are three new cases on San Juan Island.

One of these cases is tied to a previous positive case. One of these cases is related to returning home to the island after out of state travel. One of these cases has an unknown source of transmission at this time.

There are two positive cases being actively monitored on San Juan Island at this time. As always, please note that the number of cases actively being monitored may be lower than the number of new cases due to the specifics of onset of symptoms, date of testing, date of test results, etc. Not all cases announced as “new” are necessarily still in their infectious period.

Overall

While overall case trends in Washington and nationally continue to decline, cases tied to one of the more infectious variants are on the rise. While what those variants will mean for case numbers is still uncertain in timing or volume, islanders should expect things to get worse before they get better. Current safety protocols are not going away anytime soon.

With February break coming up for schools, staff, families, employers, and others should all review our holiday travel guidance. Almost all of the cases over the last two months have resulted from travel or hosting of guests.

Clearly, vaccine distribution is front and center. The latest information is available at https://www.sanjuanco.com/1737/COVID-Vaccine-Info

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