45 new COVID cases on San Juan Island; County supports lifting mask requirements on March 21
Posted February 18, 2022 at 10:51 am by Jeff Arnim
The San Juan County Department of Emergency Management reports 45 confirmed or probable new COVID cases on San Juan Island since Feb. 11. The County also reports 11 new cases on Orcas Island and five on Lopez Island. This week’s 63 new cases bring the total case count to 1,175.
In their media release, the County offered the following perspective on the current case situation, including their position on Governor Jay Inslee’s order to lift mask mandates on March 21:
While case numbers continue to drop dramatically across Washington, case rates have remained elevated in San Juan County for the past three weeks. This is due primarily to a stubborn persistence of cases on San Juan Island, many of which are tied to school students or staff and their immediate families.
With many more islanders now having become sick with COVID or having close friends or family members infected, we’re all now sub-consciously drawing our own conclusions about COVID based on somewhat limited personal information. If we know someone who was vaccinated and got quite sick, we may be more careful about infection, but less trusting of vaccines. However, if we’re fully vaccinated but have avoided getting sick, we may have decided that the vaccines offer perfect protection. Everyone’s subjective experience varies and can be helpful to consider, but it’s also important to zoom out and keep the big picture in mind.
While there is reason for optimism, we’re not out of the woods yet (especially on San Juan Island), and islanders should continue to make smart decisions about hosting parties or other indoor social events, even though we’re all ready for this to be over. Hopefully in a couple of weeks things will really start to look like we’re in a good place.
The Governor recently announced that his masking order will be lifted (including in schools) on March 21. The County supports this decision but will continue to monitor care trends locally and regionally in case any adjustments are required.
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