Submitted by San Juan County.

Since the last update on Friday, Jan. 28, there have been 62 new confirmed or probable cases in San Juan County. The current case count is now 1048. Encouragingly, this is less than half the number of new cases reported last week.

LOPEZ ISLAND: There are seven new cases on Lopez Island since the last update.

ORCAS ISLAND: There are 17 new cases on Orcas Island since the last update.

SAN JUAN ISLAND: There are 38 new cases on San Juan Island since the last update.

The final remaining vaccine clinics being offered by San Juan County Health & Community Services are open for registration (www.sanjuanco.com/1737/COVID-Vaccine-Info). These clinics will be your best remaining opportunity to get vaccinated or get your booster. Local pharmacies and medical providers will continue to provide vaccination, and there will be additional pediatric clinics, but there will be fewer opportunities for vaccination in the islands come March.

Are you moderately or severely immunocompromised? You should talk to your medical provider about your potential need for a third primary dose of vaccine in addition to your booster. Go here for more information: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Articles/ID/3081/Some-immunocompromised-individuals-should-receive-four-doses-of-COVID-19-vaccine

Though still high, case rates have started to decline in much of Western Washington (though still on the rise in Eastern Washington). Hospitalization rates have slowed but are not yet dropping, and death rates are still increasing- both trends that make sense given the time that usually passes between initial infection and hospitalization for those with the most severe cases of COVID. With luck, current trends will hold and we’ll see cases drop quickly in the islands over the next few weeks.