By the San Juan Coun­ty Agri­cul­tur­al Resources Com­mit­tee The San Juan Coun­ty Agri­cul­tur­al Resources Com­mit­tee was able to respond to the chal­lenges of 2020 with cre­ativ­i­ty, resilience and col­lab­o­ra­tion. The coor­di­na­tor and vol­un­teers on this com­mit­tee worked hard to address the ongo­ing pol­i­cy and out­reach work of the ARC, the emer­gent chal­lenge of COVID-19, and  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Courts On Fri­day, Nov. 20, San Juan Coun­ty Supe­ri­or and Dis­trict Courts entered emer­gency orders post­pon­ing all jury tri­als until after Jan. 15, 2021, due to the nov­el coro­n­avirus, COVID-19. San Juan Coun­ty has expe­ri­enced a resur­gence of COVID-19 cas­es since late Octo­ber when COVID trans­mis­sion rates began dra­mat­i­cal­ly increas­ing across  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Since the last update on Fri­day, Nov. 20, total cas­es in San Juan Coun­ty have increased from 59 to 63. Two of these new cas­es are on San Juan Island, the oth­er two are on Orcas Island. Cur­rent pos­i­tive case num­bers are avail­able online at the San Juan Coun­ty Case Count page.  Con­tin­ue Reading

The San Juan Update appre­ci­ates the oppor­tu­ni­ty to reprint this sto­ry about Hos­pice North­west, writ­ten by Hay­ley Day for the Sal­ish Cur­rent. We also refer you to a recent sto­ry about Hos­pice San Juan at this link in the San Juan Update. These two Hos­pice groups fre­quent­ly col­lab­o­rate in serv­ing the needs of their patients…  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Since the last update on Mon­day, Nov. 16, the total cas­es in San Juan Coun­ty have increased from 56 to 59. Two of these new cas­es are on Orcas Island and the oth­er is on San Juan Island. Orcas Island There are a total of three pos­i­tive cas­es being active­ly mon­i­tored on  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty From the begin­ning of the COVD-19 cri­sis, an effec­tive and safe vac­cine has been seen as the ulti­mate solu­tion for end­ing the dis­rup­tion and impacts of the pan­dem­ic. As we head into our ninth month, numer­ous vac­cine devel­op­ment efforts are under­way, with many giv­ing us rea­son for opti­mism. The intent of  Con­tin­ue Reading

Sev­en New Cas­es On Orcas, No New Hos­pi­tal­iza­tion in Coun­ty By San Juan Coun­ty Orcas Island Since the last update, sev­en new cas­es have been iden­ti­fied on Orcas Island. This brings the total num­ber of cas­es in San Juan Coun­ty to 56. All of these new cas­es are tied to a nine-case clus­ter on Orcas  Con­tin­ue Reading

Most Restric­tions Start Nov. 16; For Restau­rants, Nov. 18 By Wash­ing­ton’s Governor’s Office On Sun­day, Nov. 15, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a four-week statewide set of restric­tions in response to the recent rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus in Wash­ing­ton and across the coun­try. The new restric­tions come as Wash­ing­ton sees con­sis­tent increas­ing dai­ly case counts,  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Island Pre­ven­tion Coali­tion The 2020 Wash­ing­ton State Pre­ven­tion Summit’s Award of Excel­lence for Life­time Achieve­ment goes to San Juan Island Pre­ven­tion Coali­tion’s own ded­i­cat­ed and car­ing Exec­u­tive Coor­di­na­tor Cyn­thia Stark-Wick­man. Cyn­thia has cul­ti­vat­ed an uplift­ing and inclu­sive envi­ron­ment so our com­mu­ni­ty can grow in hope, sci­ence, and pos­i­tive outcomes.

By San Juan Coun­ty As we head into what may be the most chal­leng­ing time yet in the COVID cri­sis, we want to share infor­ma­tion about at-home test­ing options. To begin, a few key points: 1. If you are symp­to­matic, con­tact a local health care provider and talk about get­ting test­ed. Stay home until you  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Two new pos­i­tive COVID-19 test results have been report­ed for San Juan Coun­ty. One each was found on Orcas and San Juan. The total case count for the islands is now 49. Both cas­es are close con­tacts of pre­vi­ous cas­es. If we change our behav­ior, we can stop this recent surge of island  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Four new pos­i­tive COVID-19 test results have been report­ed for San Juan Coun­ty. The total case count for the islands is now 47. Three of these cas­es are on San Juan Island, and one is on Orcas. Though inves­ti­ga­tions are ongo­ing, ear­ly results sug­gest that that two of the San Juan cas­es  Con­tin­ue Reading

By Wash­ing­ton Health­Plan­Find­er Wash­ing­to­ni­ans seek­ing health cov­er­age can shop for more options this year along with finan­cial assis­tance by vis­it­ing Wash­ing­ton Health­plan­find­er to sign up for health and den­tal cov­er­age. New for 2021 will be Cas­cade Care offer­ings that enable con­sumers to shop, choose and save from more options in all coun­ties. “As more Wash­ing­to­ni­ans  Con­tin­ue Reading

By San Juan Coun­ty Four new pos­i­tive COVID-19 test results have been report­ed for San Juan Coun­ty, as of Nov. 9. Three of these cas­es are on San Juan Island, and one is on Lopez. Though inves­ti­ga­tions are ongo­ing, ear­ly results sug­gest that these cas­es are not related.

Mem­bers of San Juan Coun­ty Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict 1 have each signed this let­ter regard­ing the poten­tial sale of the Hos­pice of the North­west. One copy is being sent to Unit­ed Gen­er­al Dis­trict 304 and the oth­er to Skag­it Region­al Health. Dear Com­mis­sion­ers, We write to you as con­cerned cit­i­zens of San Juan Coun­ty and  Con­tin­ue Reading

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae. How are we doing? Eight months into this pan­dem­ic and we are all tired of it; tired of stay­ing home, tired of wear­ing masks, tired of wash­ing our hands all the time. It is easy to get lulled into feel­ing  Con­tin­ue Reading