A message from F. Milene Henley, County Auditor…

On March 17, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman formally asked Governor Jay Inslee to cancel the April special election.  On March 26, the Governor made the decision not to cancel the election.

The only measure on San Juan County’s ballot was the annexation of the Town of Friday Harbor to San Juan County Fire Protection District #3.  Despite the Governor’s decision, both the Town and the Fire District agree with the Auditor’s concern about the County’s ability to conduct the election safely. Though the voting is by mail, elections staff must be on hand to register new voters and to satisfy last-minute ballot replacement requests.  Returned ballots must be signature-verified, opened, inspected, scanned and resolved for any questions about voter intent.  Following the election, a Canvassing Board must meet to review questioned ballots and to certify the election. Continue Reading

FRIDAY MARCH 27: The San Juan County COVID-19 Response Team has been notified by Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor that an email is being forwarded within the San Juan Island Community that makes reference to “…six confirmed cases of the COVID 19 virus here in Friday Harbor. The info I have is from an employee here at Peace Health.” 

This email is COMPLETELY made up and has ZERO basis in fact. According to Peace Island Medical Center Chief Administrator Merry-Ann Keane, the situation described in the email is wrong, and none of the “facts” reported in the chain email are accurate in any way.

At this time, there are still no confirmed positive test results on San Juan Island. 

We ask islanders to please share this with anyone forwarding this particular prank email. And we ask islanders to only access and share information from trusted sources. 

This week, we announced the temporary full closure of all Washington state parks for at least two weeks. The decision follows Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order issued on Tuesday. We want to do our part to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, COVID-19. The measure adds to our March 22 decision to close state parks to camping through April 30.

As of yesterday, entrance gates and facilities are closed, and onsite public services, such as restrooms, are also closed. Parks staff will continue to work, and essential staff will be onsite to preserve and protect park resources.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding during this unprecedented time. Like you, we look forward to the day we can reopen parks and enjoy these wonderful outdoor spaces – together!

Get updates on our response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Wishing you good health!

Dr. House – Contributed photo

A message from Dr. House at Eventide Health…

Testing. We’re doing as much as we can. We’re trying to ramp up and get massive supplies in for wider testing. I think

this is key. Working with the health department daily and calling labs and suppliers from literally all over the world. We offered to help test Peace Health patients and they have been sending some of their patients to us as well, so we’re not just testing Eventide Health patients only.

Thank you to Merry-Ann Keane for escalating that request and getting some of their patients to us. Our plea to the community is that if any of you have connections to any company that produces viral nasopharyngeal swabs and universal transport medium we need as much of both as we can get. We still have a decent supply and will continue to order more.

Countries like South Korea have done well because they tested broadly and quarantined well. We’re evaluating labs daily for better response time and new testing methods. Currently it’s taking 2-7 days for results. 

COVID-19 updates from San Juan County around subjects on the minds of islanders.

This is the second in a series of articles by Nathan Kessler-Jeffrey that aim to take the abstract concept of social distancing and make it real and hopefully more meaningful for islanders. His first column is HERE.

Nathan Kessler-Jeffrey – Contributed photo

In my guest column on March 20^th, I wrote a bit about how it can be easier to consider social distancing as distancing not from, but for. I find it anxiety-inducing to think of the thousands of people whose lives can and will be impacted by the pandemic in our country. So, when I think about who I’m distancing  for, I focus on a couple individuals. One of those people is Becky (not her real name).

Courtney and I made a huge move up to San Juan Island from Seattle in 2018. I met Becky not long after that in the lobby of our Theatre. She has a huge smile and infectious enthusiasm for the performing arts. She’s the ideal audience member—someone who not only comes to exuberantly enjoy the show but encourages everyone to do the same. And there are three things I want you to know about Becky. Continue Reading

COVID-19 updates from San Juan County around subjects on the minds of islanders…

We are hearing a lot of questions about which construction activities are allowed under the Governor’s Stay at Home, Stay Healthy Proclamation (20-25) issued March 23, 2020 and his subsequent memorandum on Construction Guidance –Stay Home, Stay Healthy Proclamation (20-25). 
 
There are many construction activities authorized by the order, such as: 
• work that supports essential public works facilities and operations, 
• construction of fiber optic cables; 
• construction of essential facilities such as grocery stores, hardware stores, transportation infrastructure and publically financed low income housing; 
• plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who are providing services necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences; and
• work that supports road and line clearing to ensure the availability of needed facilities, transportation, energy and communications Continue Reading

COVID-19 updates from San Juan County around subjects on the minds of islanders

By Mark Tompkins, SJC Health and Community Services Director, and Dr. Frank James, SJC Health Officer

As San Juan County begins to see positive COVID-19 test results in our community, we want to explain how San Juan County Health and Community Services staff respond to all positive tests and our efforts to keep the islands safe.

We want to highlight that COVID-19 is here in our community and is likely already being spread. The lack of testing supplies and the number of asymptomatic patients means that testing is not as reliable an indicator as we would like. No matter the test results, we all need to be focused on keeping our communities safe. The best way to do this is to stay at home, and minimize contact with others.

When our health department is notified of a positive case of coronavirus, our Health Officer (Dr. James) and public health nursing staff immediately reach out to the patient and the patient’s medical provider to gauge the risk and identify any and all people who may have had close contact with the patient. For COVID-19, close contact is more than 10 minutes of time less than 6 feet apart. That definition is based on our current understanding of the disease and how it is transmitted. Continue Reading

Thursday March 26, 2020 – The third confirmed positive COVID-19 test result in San Juan County was reported to San Juan County public health staff today. This result is the first confirmed positive case on Lopez Island.

As with previous positive results, public health staff have conducted contact tracing to identify close contacts of the patient and instruct them to quarantine for 14 days and monitor for symptoms. The patient is not currently hospitalized and will be isolated at home.

San Juan County Health Officer Dr. Frank James highlights the seriousness of this situation, “This illness spreads easily, and we need to do everything we can to keep it from getting established in our community. We need to assume that there are infected patients on all of the islands and we each need to do our part to minimize social contact and maximize distancing.”

Added Dr. James, “The Governor’s order limiting non-essential travel and the County Health Officer order restricting non-essential lodging are critical tools in this fight. I truly appreciate the sacrifices the islands are making.” Continue Reading

Frequently Asked Questions: What do these orders mean for the San Juan Islands?

On Monday, March 23, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee issued a “Stay at home” proclamation, an order for all of us to limit our daily exposure due to COVID-19. On March 25th, the San Juan County Health Officer issued an order restricting some activities to better fight the COVID-19 virus.

What is allowed:

• You can still go to the store for groceries
• You can still go to restaurants for take out orders
• You can go to the pharmacy
• You can go to medical appointments
• You can go out and get exercise

Our Governor and Health Officer are reinforcing what health experts the world over are telling us. We need to stay at home, we need to avoid contact with others. We have cases here in the islands and we should behave accordingly to limit the spread. All gatherings of people for social, spiritual and recreation activities are banned. This applies to public and private gatherings — everything from weddings to funerals.

What will likely stay open?
We all need basic food and supplies to stay safe in our homes. Some examples: Continue Reading

San Juan County Health and Community Services is monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in the islands. The health and safety of our Land Bank staff, volunteers, supporters and partners is paramount, as is the public health of our community, particularly those most vulnerable to this illness. Following the guidance of our county public health staff, and Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” proclamation on March 23rd, 2020, we have taken the following steps:

• Required staff to work from home, restricting access to offices to those performing essential on-site activities. To contact us, you can call the office at 360-378-4402 and leave a message, or if you know who you’d like to contact, you can find our individual email addresses on our staff page.
• Postponed or instituted teleconferencing options for all meetings.
• Cancelled all events scheduled for March and April. We will post updates to public events on our events calendar.
• Suspended monthly Salish Seeds Project Work Parties.
• Suspended opening the gate for driving access to Mount Grant Preserve summit.
• Instituted guidelines for stewardship fieldwork to practice social distancing and taken additional measures to protect employee health and safety.

Continue Reading

The Food Bank, SJ Update file photo

We hear from the Food Bank…

We have had a few patrons tell us they’ve seen our hours posted online as 10:30-2:00 so I’m emailing today to let you know that our hours HAVE NOT changed…

We are open Wednesday and Saturday from 11:30 to 2pm

and are offering pre-packaged bags according to household size. Patrons are still only allowed one visit per week and are asked to remain 6ft. away from others. We are still accepting food donations but it’s much easier for us to accept financial donations at this time.

Today, Wednesday March 25, 2020, San Juan County Health Officer, Dr. Frank James, MD, issued an immediate order to restrict non-essential travel to San Juan County, control contact with playgrounds and playground equipment, and limit transient accommodations and camping. Travel and lodging for individuals engaged in essential activities or providing essential services may continue. The full order can be found here: https://www.sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/20042/San-Juan-County-Health-Officer-Order-2020-1

The order effective immediately and is set to expire on April 30, but will be revisited on April 6 and may be extended or amended as dictated by the situation.

“This order is necessary to control and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in San Juan County. This order has been made to protect all citizens but especially our most vulnerable islanders,” said Dr. James.

Dr. James added, “This was an extremely difficult decision and one I do not take lightly. This will impact many of our local businesses and our islands’ residents. In my professional judgement, it is necessary to reduce the spread of this infection and move toward ending this pandemic. Every case prevented now is magnified into the future. Those individual cases will multiply many times and each one we prevent will save many lives as the exponential growth in cases occurs.” Continue Reading

Here’s this month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society and Museum…

San Juan Islands Cannery Label – Contributed image

Here’s a little trivia question for you: When did farming first begin on San Juan Island? If you said “about 1850” or “with Hudson Bay Company’s Belle Vue Sheep Farm” you would not be alone, but that’s not quite early enough.  Too often overlooked is the earlier history of Native American camas cultivation in this region, including on San Juan Island.

Coast Salish farming operations, traditionally inherited and maintained by women, also included other edible roots such as wild carrots and rice root. Meadows under cultivation were well established by the time Euro-American trading posts were built in the early 1800s and began to influence Native farming methods in the Pacific Northwest. Then, with cross-cultural marriages between Coast Salish women and men of European descent, newly arrived settlers learned proven farming techniques for this climate and soil from their wives. To read about the history of Coast Salish root crop cultivation, check out an excellent History Link article by Russel Barsh and Madrona Murphy. Continue Reading

Dr. House – Contributed photo

A message from Dr. House…

Our initial selection of VSee as a client to host our telemedicine proved to be the wrong choice as they couldn’t keep up with our demand or needs. As such we’ve switched our Telemedicine service to Zoom. Please download the Zoom client onto your phone or tablet. It’s also available as a web-based client but only if your computer has a webcam.

We’re very happy to offer this service especially in light of the current problems with COVID-19. We have patients scheduling every day for telemedicine. Many types of office visits can be done easily via Telemedicine. Some visits will continue to require an actual office visit. Call our office to schedule at 360-378-1338.

Ferry – Update archive photo

Washington State Ferries will extend its current winter sailing schedule through the end of next month due to declines in ridership from COVID-19. The spring sailing schedule will now tentatively begin on April 26 rather than March 29. Customers should continue following the winter schedule.

All vehicle reservations made for dates between March 29 and April 25 will automatically be cancelled. Customers still looking to travel during those dates will need to rebook new reservations based on the extended winter sailing schedule. Because WSF will need to reprogram its reservations system, it will take several days for those extended winter season reservations to be available; WSF will notify all customers as soon as they are able to rebook their travel. Even without reservations, all passengers seeking to travel should be able to do so due to declines in ridership increasing the amount of available standby space.

Continue Reading