Dear Orcas Island School District families,

As of May 4, 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) 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!

Orcas Island School District