Choose carefully | Going maskless is now possible starting tomorrow

||| FROM BRENDAN COWAN for DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT |||

Since the last update on Friday March 4, there have been 23 new confirmed or probable cases in San Juan County.
Current case count is now 1247.

• LOPEZ ISLAND: There are no new cases on Lopez Island since the last update.
• ORCAS ISLAND: There are no new cases on Orcas Island since the last update.
• SAN JUAN ISLAND: There are 23 new cases on San Juan Island since the last update.

Reminders on Masking:

• When we wake up on Saturday morning, masks will no longer be required in public settings, including schools- but please note that some locations, including healthcare and long-term care facilities will still have masking requirements in place. There are also federal requirements for transportation systems, including ferries and air travel that will continue to require masking.
• There will still be families, individuals, and businesses that choose to keep masks on. That’s a perfectly reasonable approach and should be met with understanding.
• Please be patient as businesses, individuals, and organizations work to adjust to the lifting of masking requirements.

Going Forward:

• While many of us will be excited to take our masks off, we should remember that the masks we wore dramatically reduced disease spread by protecting both ourselves and those around us. With masks off, there will likely be a resurgence of flu and other respiratory illness and possibly a bump in COVID cases as well. Let’s all wear masks if we’re sick and in a public setting, including school. It’s pretty much common sense and basic decency at this point.
• Testing will be an important part of minimizing COVID risk going forward. Tests are available free online
  (www.COVIDtests.gov or www.sayyescovidhometest.org) and are readily available at many pharmacies and
  supermarkets. Make sure you have a supply on hand and use them before spending time with anyone high risk or after engaging in higher risk activities. As always, if you do test positive, please report it here to help local health authorities track disease trends.
• If you are unvaccinated or otherwise high-risk due to age or medical conditions, testing is even more important. And if you do test positive, contact your healthcare provider immediately to discuss readily available treatments that can drastically reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and/or death.
• Assuming you are vaccinated and boosted, it still makes sense to mask up if you’re going to interacting closely with someone who is high risk or are in a setting (indoors with large numbers of people) in a higher risk setting.