— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter —
Amy and Eric Lum are the owners of Lum Farm LLC, which is located on the historic Coffelt Farm Preserve and also incorporates several neighboring pastures. They released the following announcement yesterday (April 5). We appreciate their agreeing to also share this information here.
Rachel, Martha, Amy and Eric Lum
Hello Everyone,
Today we have some disappointing news for you. Eric and I have just tested positive for Covid -19, after contact with a person with the virus. We are doing well, had mild symptoms, and are quarantined and are staying home for the time being. We are following all the directions from the county health department and our doctors.
That said, we want to be sure to keep you safe as well, and will be pushing the pause button on any order pickups until Thursday. We will wait until we are completely clear, and then thoroughly sanitize our operations again before resuming sales.
The food that you may have purchased from us this past couple of weeks is safe to eat. We have been extremely cautious from the onset of the pandemic to sanitize and use safe handling methods with gloves and masks for handling. Eric and I have not entered the farm stand for the past week and a half to increase biosecurity, as we thought we had a cold. Martha has not shown any symptoms and has followed all recommendations from the health department and taken extra steps to sanitize and ensure your safety. The Department of Health has been working with us to ensure we are following all recommended protocols, and I am confident that we have gone above and beyond.
While the San Juan County Health Department has recommended that we can continue to keep the shop open, we would prefer to close until we are fully cleared. Our clear date at this time is Wednesday. We will let you know when we are up and going again, and will try to pick up where we left off.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have about your recent purchases and we will do our best to answer them.
I hope you are all staying healthy and safe, and are able to enjoy some of the sunshine that has been around.
Wear your masks when out and about!
Thank you for all of your support, and stay well,
Amy and Eric
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Amy and Eric, I want to thank you for posting this news. If you guys look at LopezRocks.org, you’ll see there’s been some discussion about releasing the names of people who test positive. I think it should be an individual decision and knowing you and Eric like I do, I’m not at all surprised to see you two once again demonstrate your integrity and commitment to community. It’s a scary time, but just looking at the photo accompanying your announcement and seeing your beautiful smiles reassures me that you will both fully recover soon and get back to everything you do every day.
Sending you lots of love from Lopez,
Jackie Wolf
our thoughts are with you, we hope the girls are OK, Bruce and Christina
Wishing you both a speedy recovery, and that the girls stay healthy!
Ann, Douglas, and Joseph Brewer
Thank you Amy and Eric. Here is wishing you a speedy recovery. We seem to be in a near total information vacuum from the county and hearing from you helps limit anxiety. The county is now reporting 10 positive test results in San Juan County, but is still posting only the old results by island on their web site. How difficult can it be to keep us informed?
Thank You for the wonderful post from the Lum family They have done Orcas another great service by sharing a problem we all are working with . Pray all get over this fast Velma
We so appreciate your willingness and integrity to come public. May your recovery be speedy.
Peggy and I (neighbors down Grindstone Harbor Road) are so happy that your symptoms are mild and you’ll soon be coming out of quarantine. And congratulations on all the precautions you have been taking and on going public — it’s educational and inspiring.
Thank you for sharing and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
Miles and I are thinking of you and sending our Best . We think that the farm couldn’t be in better hands that with your family.
A heads up: COVID-19 has been found in human feces and can become aerosolized when flushed – up to 15’ – CLOSE THE LID!!