Two new positive COVID-19 cases have been reported on San Juan Island. These cases were identified through testing of close contacts of a previous case. All three individuals are self-isolating at home. Total number of cases in San Juan County to date is now 24. This is a good opportunity to emphasize the following critical  Continue Reading

The Orcas Women’s Coalition (OWC) announced their endorsement of Christine Minney for San Juan County Council (District #1, San Juan Island seat). Christine went through the OWC endorsement process and attended two ZOOM teleconference interviews with members. In an email to OWC members shared with Christine, they reported, “The strong majority of votes submitted were  Continue Reading

San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1 is giving formal notice of a Special Board Meeting on July 18th, 2020, at 9:00 am, via MS Teams. Members of the public should call 509-824-1884 and enter 588 227 188# in order to attend. An Agenda is attached. This meeting on July 18th is for strategic  Continue Reading

Micro-loans available for local farmers In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FARM Fund is partnering with the San Juan Island Community Foundation (SJICF) and the Orcas Food Co-op to meet essential food needs of San Juan County residents. The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild’s FARM Fund will offer $15,000 in zero percent interest loans  Continue Reading

Digging Deeper into Contact Tracing A more detailed look at how public health staff work to limit the spread of COVID in our community. This is by no means our most concise Hot Topic, but does contain useful info for those looking to understand a bit more about the public health response. As of July  Continue Reading

Local photographer John Miller shares this photo he shot the other morning. And here’s what he has to say about it: “I was sailing back from Stuart Island and came upon this unusual sight – looked like three houses barging away from San Juan Island, and all seem to be practicing social distancing?” Thanks for  Continue Reading

As the islands enter the 6th month of the COVID crisis, the likelihood of local families, individuals, and businesses being connected to someone with a confirmed positive test result continues to increase. We created this FAQ to highlight answers to likely questions in the event of a positive test result in either an employee, or  Continue Reading

In the mailbag this morning we have this letter from Katie Fleming… Dear Editor, I support Ryan Palmateer for the County Council District 1 position. I have worked with Ryan for 3 years on energy conservation, renewable energy promotion, and climate action programs in the San Juan Islands. Ryan is very committed to the resiliency  Continue Reading

San Juan Island Library District Assistant Director / Adult Services Manager The San Juan Island Library District (www.sjlib.org) is seeking a highly capable, enthusiastic, creative, and customer service-orientated individual to develop, manage and implement library services for adults. The successful candidate will also assist the director with library administration.   Complete job description available at  Continue Reading

As I’m sure you all know we have a few new cases on the island. We had an exceptionally busy day Monday with testing. Our focus this week will be with the following priority: symptomatic patients contacts of known cases asymptomatic essential workers Opening businesses via testing has obviously dropped in priority in light of  Continue Reading