At last evening’s special board meeting, the San Juan Island School District Board of Directors approved a fall reopening plan for schools.  After several months of planning with the district workgroups and steering committee, Superintendent Fred Woods recommended to the Board that the San Juan Island public schools begin the 2020-2021 school year under a  Continue Reading

COVID-19 updates from San Juan County around subjects on the minds of islanders To be clear: Face shields have absolutely no ability to minimize the spread of droplets from someone infected with COVID. There is simply too much air flow around the shield for them to be effective. They are not an acceptable alternative to cloth  Continue Reading

Governor Inslee announces education recommendations for 2020-2021 school year… San Juan County is among 5 counties in Washington State that are considered “Low Risk” for COVID-19. Plans regarding school reopening are made by the local health jurisdiction and school district. Gov. Jay Inslee, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and DOH’s state health officer, Dr.  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Department of Emergency Management… San Juan County is shifting to a weekly roll-up of new cases. This is the first of those reports. Going forward, the report will be issued on Thursday of each week. In addition to providing for additional time to review results of case investigations and draft releases,  Continue Reading

The San Juan Update is pleased to reprint this interview by Minor Lile with San Juan County Public Health Officer Dr. Frank James as published 7.30.2020 in Orcas Issues News & Views… As Public Health Officer for San Juan County, Dr. Frank James has played a prominent role in the community response to the Coronavirus  Continue Reading

Since March, OPALCO has helped more than 450 members to pay their bills. Other members have given generously to the member assistance programs: donating solar production credits or directly to the low-income programs. Many other members have benefited by not accruing fees or being disconnected for non-payment during these difficult times. OPALCO is closely monitoring  Continue Reading

San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1 is providing notice of a Special Meeting to be held jointly with San Juan Island Fire and Rescue on Tuesday July 28, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. This meeting will be online due to COVID-19: members of the public may call 509-824-1884 and enter 919 848 360# This  Continue Reading

As positive test results continue to occur in San Juan County, the County COVID-19 Response Team is going to adjust the reporting strategy and schedule. Going forward:   – The Case Count Page will be updated when positive test results are received and initial investigation has confirmed the result.  – A weekly summary of positive  Continue Reading

On July 23, Governor Inslee issued new requirements for all of Washington State in response to increasing infections. In addition, Washington Secretary of Health Wiesman added additional requirements to the existing face covering order. Below is some preliminary information on what the new requirements mean for San Juan County. This summary is based on initial  Continue Reading

One new positive COVID-19 case has been reported on San Juan Island, which brings the total number of cases in San Juan County to date to 26. The initial case investigation is complete. A small number of close contacts have been identified and are in quarantine and the patient is isolating. The findings from the  Continue Reading

One new positive COVID-19 case has been reported on Orcas Island, which brings the total number of cases in San Juan County to date to 25. The initial case investigation is complete. Close contacts are in quarantine and the patient is isolating. The findings from the case investigation suggest the transmission source was a large  Continue Reading

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

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

Island Senior is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae… According to Wikipedia, cabin fever refers to “claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended period of time”. Anybody relate? They go on to say…  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

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

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

July 13, 2020: Over the weekend of July 11th-12th, three new positive COVID cases were reported on San Juan Island. Two of these cases were close contacts of each other. In total, over 20 close contacts of those two positive individuals have been identified and contacted by the San Juan County Health Department surveillance team.  Continue Reading

On Monday July 6 ,2020, the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) announced the release of detailed loan-level data regarding the loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  This program was launched as a way to retain workers by providing funding to businesses impacted by the Covid-19 downturn.  Our local banks, the EDC and other entities worked  Continue Reading

John Geyman, M.D. announces the publication of his new book: Profiteering, Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Health Care. He raises questions that we have to ask and answer: Who is the health care system for – profits for health care corporations, their shareholders and Wall Street traders and investors? for corrupt and fraudulent scammers? or for  Continue Reading

Friday Harbor business owners are encouraged to apply to the Town for assistance with business rent and mortgage payments to be awarded through the Friday Harbor Business Rent Relief Grant Program. Grant requests of up to $2000 per business will be funded with monies received from the state under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic  Continue Reading

July 6, 2020: Over the weekend, the San Juan County Health & Community Service Department was notified of a new positive test result from a resident of Orcas Island. The patient has been asymptomatic and was tested as part of a routine medical screening. The County team has been actively investigating over the holiday weekend,  Continue Reading