— from Gregory Oaksen —

Residents are reporting that the tourist onslaught has begun on Orcas. Tourists coming here now are thoughtlessly exposing locals to the virus. Where are these people staying? They can’t all be “essential” workers.

In spite of the downturn in vacation rentals, many are still active. Airbnb continues to offer listings on Orcas leaving it up to the individual owner to meet local regulations. Many local owners are responsible and are following the rules. However, as we know, the majority of vacation rental owners in San Juan County live outside the county.

In a recent article about Airbnb in Wired on-line magazine, James Temperton cites the fact that “…of the 1.1 million Airbnb listings in the U.S., some 600,000 are from hosts that have at least two other listings.” Futhermore, Airbnb “…isn’t a holiday rental company, it’s a hotel chain.” And it’s the world’s biggest. (www.wired.co.uk/article/airbnb-coronavirus-
losses
).

Absentee owners don’t live here and do not participate in the
community. Income generated here goes elsewhere. It’s a business.
The more that off-islanders come here without self-isolation for two
weeks, the more likely we are open to a more serious second wave
of the virus as happened with the Spanish Flu. Temperton describes
the serious financial problems facing Airbnb due to the virus, but I
don’t think Airbnb is going away. There’s just too much money to
be made. For the current and long term health of our island
community we must enact real controls on vacation rentals.

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