Other News
Apr 25, 2025: New Daily Service Schedule, Growing Ridership & Other Insights on County’s Pilot Transport Services
Apr 24, 2025: Building and Land Use Permits, Long-Range Planning Projects, & Staff Recruitments: DCD Leadership Provides Spring Update
Apr 4, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Transportation Element, Plan Intro, & Administration Piece Ready for Review
Mar 19, 2025: San Juan County Establishes Interim Inter-Island Transportation Services as RFP Process Continues
Mar 7, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Climate Element and Draft Official Map Amendments Available for Review
Mar 6, 2025: Governor Ferguson announces plan to restore Washington State Ferries to full service by this summer
Mar 4, 2025: Public Meeting: Land Bank Using Prescribed Fires to Manage Wildfire Risks & Restore Ecosystems
Feb 19, 2025: San Juan County Seeks Proposals from Transportation Service Providers for Pilot Project
Feb 12, 2025: Call for Candidates: Three-Day Special Filing Period for Lopez Metropolitan Park District Commissioners
Jan 19, 2025: Four districts, six unions, three PTAs, and county leadership all agree: legislators must take action to fully fund education no
Dec 19, 2024: San Juan County Parks and Fair Announces New Camping Software; Delaying Reservation Availability
Dec 10, 2024: County Council Considers Extending Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste to Allow for More Collaboration
Dec 5, 2024: San Juan County to Consider Updated Interlocal Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District
Dec 2, 2024: San Juan County Council Sets Public Hearing for Cultural Access Sales Tax at Dec. 10 Meeting
Nov 25, 2024: San Juan County Celebrates Completion of Lopez Skate Park and Calls for Inaugural Skaters
Nov 7, 2024: How Has Extreme Weather Impacted You? Participate in the County’s Climate Resilience Planning Effort
Nov 1, 2024: UPDATE: Sea Wall Repairs Temporarily Close MacKaye Harbor Dock and Boat Ramp on Lopez Island
Oct 22, 2024: DRAFT North Shore Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Oct 21, 2024: Reminder: You’re Invited to Attend Open Houses for the 2025 Comp Plan Update This Fall
Oct 1, 2024: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE SAN JUANS SPONSORS OCTOBER COUNTY COUNCIL VOTER FORUMS ON SJI, ORCAS, AND LOPEZ
Sep 24, 2024: County Hosts Community Meeting on Lopez Island to Discuss Public Safety during Hunting Season
Sep 24, 2024: SJC Reviews Shoreline Habitat & Infrastructure Adaptation Strategies in the face of Sea Level Rise
Sep 23, 2024: DRAFT Watmough Bay Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Aug 29, 2024: San Juan County’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Survey Sets Baseline for Ongoing Change
Aug 27, 2024: 2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners Gardening Workshop Series, October 15-24, 2024
Aug 27, 2024: County Representatives Discuss Solutions to Ferry Service Disruptions with Governor Inslee
Aug 21, 2024: County Council’s Request to Governor for Relief from Ferry Service Disruptions Not Fulfilled
Aug 20, 2024: San Juan County Certifies Primary Election Results & Celebrates Highest Primary Turnout in Years
Aug 13, 2024: WSF Commits Additional Crews to Interisland Route to Ensure Service During County Fair Week
Aug 13, 2024: Ferry Data from Staff and Local Partners Shapes Council Request for ‘Executive Relief’ From WA State
Aug 5, 2024: The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 27th Summer Concert Season
May 2, 2024: WA State Governor and Assistant Secretary of WSF Talk Ferry Service & Solar Power with SJC Officials
Apr 11, 2024: Community Meeting: Sea Level Rise Adaptation for Outer Bay and Agate Beach Areas on Lopez Island
Mar 11, 2024: Queers in Unexpected Places: Searching for (and Finding) Gender and Sexual Non-Conformity in the Rural and Early PNW
Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Let’s Be Honest: About the Holidays and Minimizing Transmission Risk
Nov 3, 2020
By San Juan County
Everything about the COVID crisis has been uncertain and ever-changing.
Partly as a result of that, we’re all left scratching our heads wondering why some things are allowed and others prohibited. It is difficult to know what is safe vs. high risk, and many of us feel like the regulations and guidelines have lost touch with the reality of our collective needs and behavior.
Government, like all of us, is struggling to walk that fine line between minimizing risk yet allowing society to continue in ways essential for our sanity and economic survival.
All of which is to say, don’t expect the messaging below on holiday travel to be absolute or distilled down to a handful of clear guidelines that everyone will follow. Like everything these days, it is complicated.
We’ll start with the most important thing: when it comes to keeping the holidays safe, we all know what it takes: getting your flu shot, staying home with our household family, not traveling off island, not gathering indoors with others, covering our faces, and not having friends or family visit from off-island.
That is without a doubt the best way to keep you, your family, and the islands safe. Do it.
It is also true that many islanders are not going to do it. The rest of this article is for that group.
This advice is not the best advice, not the safest advice, and it isn’t even the official advice. That would be the advice above in bold. But this may be the most realistic and useful advice for some islanders.
Some best practices:
- Get a flu shot. Seriously.
- NO ONE should travel or host if they are experiencing COVID symptoms or have been close to someone who has COVID. Exposing others while symptomatic is one thing that is easy to avoid and extremely disrespectful to do. If you are having visitors, ask them directly to confirm that they’re symptom free before they travel.
- Limit the size of gatherings. This is not the year for pulling together 14 family members from 6 different households across two states. That is a BAD idea. Keep gatherings small.
- Do it outside. Yes, it is obviously going to be cold and rainy and this won’t work for many, but canopy tents, heaters (used safely), firepits, and picnic shelters are GOOD ideas. There are ways for hardy and resourceful islanders to gather outside. It is impossible to overstate how much safer being outdoors is. Still cover your face and stay six feet apart.
- Don’t cook inside with a group. Sharing tight kitchen space, rubbing shoulders, sharing hand towels, etc. is a BAD idea. Like really, really BAD.
- Have any visitors stay in a hotel and not in your house. This is a really GOOD idea.
- People might want to consider getting tested before traveling, or leaving early, testing on arrival, and then quarantining until results are in. This won’t work for many due to cost or availability and this is NOT a fool proof approach. Timing of disease onset and test results might not line up. But it can be another tool to help protect yourself and the community from the risk of your decisions. Some medical providers may offer this, or there are at-home testing options available that can be utilized for this sort of thing.
- Don’t travel in ways that are going to expose you or others, and be especially wary of guests who fly or take other public transport to visit you. Driving is best, so long as the only other people in your car are people you live with. Driving with people outside of your household is a BAD idea.
- If at any point you or someone you are with starts to experience symptoms, contact a healthcare provider immediately and discuss getting tested. Do not expose yourself to others until those test results get back and are confirmed negative.
- Take special care to protect those who are high risk. We all have a desire to keep close to our family, but visiting in small, safe, and well controlled ways is far better than having three generations of the entire family together all at once.
- If you have college students coming home to visit, please do all you can to have them be thoughtful about how they socialize. It is almost certain that we will see cases in the islands resulting from young adults returning home.
- If you do choose to interact closely with others, quarantine when you return home or your guests leave. Take a week and stop contact with other friends, family, co-workers, and the community at large. This includes children. When possible, employers and co-workers can help make this happen by insisting that those who have traveled or hosted off island visitors be respectful and stay home to minimize the risk.
We live in a time where nothing is truly risk free, but rather than operating with an approach of either follow the rules, or don’t follow the rules- instead recognize that there is a spectrum of behavior, and even if you are going to increase your risk, you do not need to throw caution totally to the wind.
Thank you, islanders. We’re all fed up with this, but cases are increasing everywhere. Let’s do all we can to keep the islands’ good track record going strong.
Government, like all of us, is struggling to walk that fine line between minimizing risk yet allowing society to continue in ways essential for our sanity and economic survival.
All of which is to say, don’t expect the messaging below on holiday travel to be absolute or distilled down to a handful of clear guidelines that everyone will follow. Like everything these days, it is complicated.
We’ll start with the most important thing: when it comes to keeping the holidays safe, we all know what it takes: getting your flu shot, staying home with our household family, not traveling off island, not gathering indoors with others, covering our faces, and not having friends or family visit from off-island.
That is without a doubt the best way to keep you, your family, and the islands safe. Do it.
It is also true that many islanders are not going to do it. The rest of this article is for that group.
This advice is not the best advice, not the safest advice, and it isn’t even the official advice. That would be the advice above in bold. But this may be the most realistic and useful advice for some islanders.
Some best practices:
- Get a flu shot. Seriously.
- NO ONE should travel or host if they are experiencing COVID symptoms or have been close to someone who has COVID. Exposing others while symptomatic is one thing that is easy to avoid and extremely disrespectful to do. If you are having visitors, ask them directly to confirm that they’re symptom free before they travel.
- Limit the size of gatherings. This is not the year for pulling together 14 family members from 6 different households across two states. That is a BAD idea. Keep gatherings small.
- Do it outside. Yes, it is obviously going to be cold and rainy and this won’t work for many, but canopy tents, heaters (used safely), firepits, and picnic shelters are GOOD ideas. There are ways for hardy and resourceful islanders to gather outside. It is impossible to overstate how much safer being outdoors is. Still cover your face and stay six feet apart.
- Don’t cook inside with a group. Sharing tight kitchen space, rubbing shoulders, sharing hand towels, etc. is a BAD idea. Like really, really BAD.
- Have any visitors stay in a hotel and not in your house. This is a really GOOD idea.
- People might want to consider getting tested before traveling, or leaving early, testing on arrival, and then quarantining until results are in. This won’t work for many due to cost or availability and this is NOT a fool proof approach. Timing of disease onset and test results might not line up. But it can be another tool to help protect yourself and the community from the risk of your decisions. Some medical providers may offer this, or there are at-home testing options available that can be utilized for this sort of thing.
- Don’t travel in ways that are going to expose you or others, and be especially wary of guests who fly or take other public transport to visit you. Driving is best, so long as the only other people in your car are people you live with. Driving with people outside of your household is a BAD idea.
- If at any point you or someone you are with starts to experience symptoms, contact a healthcare provider immediately and discuss getting tested. Do not expose yourself to others until those test results get back and are confirmed negative.
- Take special care to protect those who are high risk. We all have a desire to keep close to our family, but visiting in small, safe, and well controlled ways is far better than having three generations of the entire family together all at once.
- If you have college students coming home to visit, please do all you can to have them be thoughtful about how they socialize. It is almost certain that we will see cases in the islands resulting from young adults returning home.
- If you do choose to interact closely with others, quarantine when you return home or your guests leave. Take a week and stop contact with other friends, family, co-workers, and the community at large. This includes children. When possible, employers and co-workers can help make this happen by insisting that those who have traveled or hosted off island visitors be respectful and stay home to minimize the risk.
We live in a time where nothing is truly risk free, but rather than operating with an approach of either follow the rules, or don’t follow the rules- instead recognize that there is a spectrum of behavior, and even if you are going to increase your risk, you do not need to throw caution totally to the wind.
Thank you, islanders. We’re all fed up with this, but cases are increasing everywhere. Let’s do all we can to keep the islands’ good track record going strong.