Submitted by San Juan County.

Note: Current positive case numbers are available online at the County Case Data Dashboard at sanjuanco.com/1682/COVID-19-SJC-Data-Dashboard.

Since the last update on Thursday, Aug. 5, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 213 to 237.

Of these 24 new cases, nine appear to have occurred in fully vaccinated individuals — a number that is expected given the overall high rate of vaccination in San Juan County.

There are approximately 20 unvaccinated close contacts of positive cases who are currently in two-week quarantine. Note that vaccinated close contacts do NOT need to quarantine. The number of individuals needing to be in quarantine would be many times higher were it not for the high vaccination rate in the islands.

The transmission sources for these new cases vary widely. Many appear related to travel. Some are connected to large gatherings or known exposures to positive individuals. Some have no clear cause and are presumably due to community spread. Three distinct household clusters make up more than half of the 24 new cases.

LOPEZ ISLAND: There are two new cases on Lopez Island since the last update. There is one positive case under active monitoring on Lopez Island.

ORCAS ISLAND: There are two new cases on Orcas Island since the last update. There are three positive cases under active monitoring on Orcas Island.

SAN JUAN ISLAND: There are sixteen new cases on San Juan Island since the last update. There are fourteen positive cases under active monitoring on San Juan Island.

SHAW ISLAND: There are four new cases on Shaw Island since the last update. There are four positive cases under active monitoring on Shaw Island.

OVERALL PICTURE:

• The Delta variant is FAR more infectious than previous strains of COVID. A clear example of this is the way that the disease appears to be quickly infecting all members of a household- something that was not occurring regularly in earlier phases of the pandemic.

• Due to increasing hospital admissions of COVID patients, almost exclusively in unvaccinated individuals, the strain on regional healthcare services is increasing, and disruptions to care should be expected if current case increases continue.

• The San Juan County Health Officer has reinstated the masking requirement for businesses as of 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13. Details are available at sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/23859/210813-Reinstatement-of-Mask-Order.