MRC and VashonBePrepared urge Vashonites to continue the practices that have helped keep the island safer than the surrounding region for the past two years.
As the Omicron threat eases, King County and state officials have set dates for relaxing requirements for indoor masking and checking proof of vaccination.
Starting March 1, King County will end the requirement that bars, restaurants, and gyms require proof of vaccination to enter.
On March 21, the mask requirement will be lifted for schools, child-care facilities, grocery stores, bars, and gyms. Masking will still be required for health care facilities, long-term care facilities, school buses, and public transit.
According to Inslee, schools will still be required to report cases and outbreaks of COVID, and there will be requirements for testing and quarantining of those who have symptoms or test positive.
In just more than one year, the Vashon Pharmacy/VashonBePrepared COVID vaccination partnership has administered over 19,300 shots — equivalent to two shots for everyone 5 and older on Vashon.
More than 100 human and canine volunteers supported Vashon Pharmacy employees at the Pharmacy drive-through vaccination operation, the schools, the Methodist church, and house-call vaccinations for those who were home-bound.
The MRC, Emergency Operations Center , and VashonBePrepared have launched a planning process to improve the vaccination levels in the island’s population of school-age youths.
Now that we are almost two years into the pandemic, the Vashon MRC’s COVID Task Force wants people to understand that proven treatments have been developed and authorized for use.
“That means high-risk patients need to know they need to act quickly to get one of the treatments, just as soon as they get a positive test.
The risk of severe COVID illness increases if you are unvaccinated, older than 65, have an illness, or are receiving treatment that impairs your immune system.
These statistics may not include all recent Vashon cases, due to the lag in posting of data to PHSKC.