||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT ||
Dear OISD Families,
As of today, WED 5/4/22, we know of 11 positive cases on the OISD campus. Our OISD healthcare team is doing all they can to mitigate the spread. We need your help.
Please see the health advisory below from SJC Public Health:
We have seen very significant increases in cases for the past 2 weeks – 41 each week. That calculates out to be 236 per 100,000 and is the highest rate of infection in the state. That is a long way from the lowest infection rate in our nation; where we were previously for 2 years.
- We also have the highest vaccination rate in our state.
- As well, we have reasonable access to antivirals for treatment; however, we are very vulnerable right now.
- The state is actually getting positive tests on about one in 5 actual cases occurring.
What we need to do now is:
- Test before you are around new people, or those that are high risk.
- Those tests should be given 2x – 24 hours apart. Be sure to follow the directions.
- Please mask around high risk folks- elders (especially over 70 where most cases that are severe occur) and unvaccinated school kids and all the kids under 5 are in this group.
- Of course, high risk people should be masking to protect themselves, especially those with compromised immunity.
Thank you!
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Why are we just learning about this outbreak now — and from the Orcas Island School District, not the SJC Health Department???
Seems like the department has been asleep at the wheel recently, or maybe exhausted from all the prior work.
According to my running tally based on the SJC data tables, there have been 57 new reported cases of Covid-19 in the past week thru May 4, with 15 of those on Orcas Island and 24 on Lopez. The county-wide total corresponds to about 315 per 100,000 individuals, which is indeed high. This morning the NYT Coronavirus Tracker put us at 5th place statewide in terms of infections and showed 41 new cases—although that may represent a few days worth of data. There was also one new hospitalization this week, according to the state DOH tabulations. These are indeed worrisome trends.