Weekly Covid Case Update

CORRECTION — This arti­cle has been cor­rect­ed since it was first published…

Since the last update on Fri­day Octo­ber 29th, there have been 4 new con­firmed or prob­a­ble cas­es in San Juan Coun­ty. Cur­rent case count is now 357. This means that approx­i­mate­ly 1 of every 48 island res­i­dents have become infect­ed with COVID since the start of the pan­dem­ic. Note that approx­i­mate­ly 1 of every 7 Amer­i­cans have con­tract­ed COVID so far-stark evi­dence of the remark­able job the islands have done stay­ing rel­a­tive­ly safe.

Of these 4 new cas­es, ini­tial inves­ti­ga­tions indi­cate that 0 appear to have occurred in ful­ly vac­ci­nat­ed indi­vid­u­als. There are approx­i­mate­ly 22 unvac­ci­nat­ed close con­tacts of pos­i­tive cas­es cur­rent­ly in quar­an­tine in the islands.

• LOPEZ ISLAND: There are no new cas­es on Lopez Island since the last update. There is one pos­i­tive case under active mon­i­tor­ing on Lopez Island.
• ORCAS ISLAND: There are 2 new cas­es on Orcas Island since the last update. There are four pos­i­tive cas­es under active mon­i­tor­ing on Orcas Island.
• SAN JUAN ISLAND: There are 2 new cas­es on San Juan Island since the last update. There are 2 pos­i­tive cas­es under active mon­i­tor­ing on San Juan Island.

HOSPITALIZATIONS: 2 of the 4 new cas­es are or were hos­pi­tal­ized due to their symp­toms. In the midst of a politi­cized land­scape that often leaves log­ic and sci­ence behind, it is easy to for­get that COVID is a seri­ous ill­ness with dra­mat­ic impacts on fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. Since the begin­ning of the pan­dem­ic, COVID has killed 1 in every 438 Americans.

MODERNA and J&J BOOSTERS: Near­ly 2500 islanders have signed up for their Mod­er­na or J&J boost­ers. These clin­ics are hap­pen­ing the week of Novem­ber 15th, and there is still space avail­able for Lopez and Orcas (reg­is­ter here). Note that oth­er boost­er clin­ics will be offered in Decem­ber in case you are not able to secure an appoint­ment. Many local providers are also offer­ing boost­ers (details at bot­tom of this page). As a reminder, here are details on the select groups eli­gi­ble to receive an addi­tion­al dose of vaccine.

PEDIATRIC DOSES FOR CHILDREN AGE 5–11: Turn out has been great so far and hun­dreds of island kids are signed up to receive their Pfiz­er pedi­atric dos­es at upcom­ing clin­ics. There is still lim­it­ed space avail­able, and par­ents are strong­ly encour­aged to sign their chil­dren up now. This will be the eas­i­est oppor­tu­ni­ty to get your child immu­nized and will allow for a sig­nif­i­cant lev­el of pro­tec­tion as we head into the hol­i­day trav­el sea­son. Reg­is­ter here.

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