From San Juan County Since the last update on Friday, Feb. 8, the total cases in San Juan County have increased from 123 to 126. Two of these new cases are on Lopez Island and the third is on Orcas Island.     Approximately 43 close contacts of positive cases are currently in active quarantine. Orcas  Continue Reading

Restaurants, Gyms Open at 25% Capacity On Feb. 14 From Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee’s Office Gov. Jay Inslee announced Feb. 11 five new regions have met the metric requirements to progress to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington reopening plan, starting this weekend. The West and Puget Sound regions have maintained their metric requirements  Continue Reading

From San Juan County San Juan County Health Officer Dr. Frank James recently released expanded guidance to local school district leaders regarding the opening of schools, in particular, grades 7-12. The only modifications to the existing guidance are: -Dr. James supports school district leadership in their effort to develop plans that expand their reopening strategies  Continue Reading

From San Juan County When COVID vaccine registration opened at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10, many hundreds of islanders logged on and searched by their zip code for available clinics, just as they were advised to do in our instructional video. Unfortunately, the zip code search feature was not working. While most applicants were  Continue Reading

From San Juan County In the good news department, a joint effort between San Juan County, the Washington National Guard, and the Washington Department of Health is planning to deliver 1,900 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Feb. 15–19. The team will return 28 days later to deliver the second dose. Registration for these  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Given the recent spike in cases, this update is being provided ahead of the standard reporting schedule. The regular report will be released on Friday, Feb. 12 as usual. Since the last update on Friday, Feb. 5, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 111 to 123. Four new  Continue Reading

From San Juan County San Juan County Health and Community Services has received confirmation that San Juan County will not receive the first doses for the COVID-19 vaccine this week. This is due to a state-wide disruption to the supply chain. Reservations will NOT be available at 9 a.m., today, Feb. 8.  Read the first  Continue Reading

From San Juan County As was seen in the islands over the holidays and throughout this crisis, island residents traveling off-island or hosting guests from off-island is far and away from the most likely source of COVID transmission in San Juan County. As most are aware, several new variants of COVID are spreading rapidly across  Continue Reading

Update: San Juan County Health and Community Services has received confirmation that San Juan County will not receive the first doses this week. This is due to a state-wide disruption to the supply chain. Reservations will NOT be available at 9 a.m., today, Feb. 8.  From San Juan County The Washington State Department of Health  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Since the last update on Friday, Jan. 29, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 102 to 111. Three new cases are on Lopez Island, four on Orcas, and two on San Juan Island. Approximately 44 close contacts of positive cases are currently in active quarantine. Orcas Island There  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Watch a Q&A by San Juan Health and Community Services Director Mark Tompkins, below.   

From San Juan County As San Juan County Health & Community Services continues to provide vaccines to the islands (many other local providers are also now delivering vaccines!) the registration process has been frustrating for many. While those who can secure an appointment have had a smooth experience, those who have not are left wishing  Continue Reading

Frank James MD, health officer for San Juan County, sent this open letter to county schools on Jan. 30. I am recommending that schools consider opening grades K to 6 for in-person education. The Washington state metric for opening in-person education has not been met due to high rates of infection in our four-county region,  Continue Reading

From PeaceHealth Although the state of Washington recently expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, the demand for vaccines continues to exceed the number of doses the state has made available for eligible groups. As we receive the vaccine, PeaceHealth is reaching out to patients whose health record indicates they are eligible to schedule vaccine appointments, including those  Continue Reading

“Island Senior” is a regular column on the San Juan Update written by Peggy Sue McRae. By now you probably know a few islanders who have gotten their first COVID-19 vaccine. Once Tier 1b opened up to those over 65, there was a rush to get the shot. Because 5,000 or so county residents now  Continue Reading

From San Juan County With the governor’s recent authorization to deliver vaccines to those in the Phase 1b Tier 1 eligibility group, the level of questions and concerns from the community has understandably increased.  This situation is inherently unsatisfying and challenging. There is no perfect approach to many of the decisions being made, and the  Continue Reading