||| FROM BRENDAN COWAN for DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT |||
Since the last update on Friday February 25, there have been 22 new confirmed or probable cases in San Juan County. Current case count is now 1224. This is a slight drop from last week and reflects a continued downward trend in island cases, though case numbers on San Juan increased slightly.
LOPEZ ISLAND: There is 1 new case on Lopez Island since the last update.
ORCAS ISLAND: There is 1 new case on Orcas Island since the last update.
SAN JUAN ISLAND: There are 20 new cases on San Juan Island since the last update.
Note that the San Juan County Health Department was notified by WA DOH of the death of an unvaccinated San Juan County resident that has been attributed to COVID. Our thoughts are with the family as they grieve their loss. To protect patient privacy, we are unable to release any further details. This is the second COVID fatality in San Juan County.
Notes on Masking and Moving Forward:
- The Governor has moved up the timeline for the lifting of his masking orders to March 12 th . San Juan County Health Officer Dr. Frank James is in support of this move and assuming current trends hold, will lift all current San Juan County orders on masking at the same time as the Governor’s order.
- This will eliminate indoor masking requirements, including in schools- but please note that some settings, including healthcare facilities and long-term care facilities will still have masking requirements in place. There are also federal requirements in place for transportation systems, including ferries and air travel that may 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.The first couple of days of any transition are always a little clunky and it will take time for signs to come down and everyone to recalibrate.
- COVID is still present. Everyone should have testing supplies on hand (go to https://sayyeshometest.org/ to order more free test kits). Test if you’re sick. If you’re unvaccinated or high risk, contact your healthcare provider immediately if you test positive to discuss treatment options.
- If you’re feeling sick and need to go out in public, mask up.
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I notice from the latest state DoH weekly variant report that omicron variant BA.2 is gaining strength (as of mid-Feb), and I hear that it is substantially different from the original (South African) omicron—perhaps worthy of a new name. We should keep a wary eye on it.