As always, our office is here as a resource to you. You can also find me online on Facebook and Twitter. My office is committed to being responsive and helpful. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org. You can also call my office at 425-388-3494. 

Be Well, 

Megan 

I am honored to have been selected by my fellow councilmembers as Chair of the Snohomish County Council for 2022. In just the third year of my first term in office, it’s an honor to move into this role. I am grateful to have been entrusted with this leadership role and look forward to working with my colleagues as we continue to respond and recover from the pandemic, address climate change, and work to provide better opportunities for the people of Snohomish County. 

I’m excited that Councilmember Jared Mead has been selected as Vice Chair and I look forward to working with him this next year. 

With the emergence of the highly contagious variant, Omicron, our situation with COVID has been evolving quickly. Updates from our Health District and local hospitals are showing that our hospital and care system are maxed out and have again put non-emergency procedures on hold to make space for COVID patients. Of the patients who are currently in our ICUs due to COVID, 80-90% are unvaccinated. The vaccine continues to show that it not just protects people from getting COVID, but for those who do contract it as a break through case, the severity is low.  

Our Health District and Department of Emergency Management have responded to the increased need for home testing, mass testing and increased access to boosters and vaccines. Here are some ways that you can either get the vaccine, or get tested: 

Vaccine Access: 

• The Snohomish Health District just announced a new vaccination site at Everett Mall which has vaccines available for kids aged 5 and older. Vaccines are available Tuesdays through Sunday, and appointments are required.  
• The Ash Way Park & Ride vaccination and testing site offers vaccines for those 12 and older on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9-4 by appointment. 
• For other vaccine locations, please visit this Snohomish Health District website for more info. 

COVID Testing Access: 

• For those wanting to receive at-home COVID-19 tests, the federal website is now live: https://www.covidtests.gov/. 
• Testing is available in Everett at the Longfellow Building near Memorial Stadium (3715 Oakes Avenue). This location is open Monday through Friday from 9-4p.  Appointments are required. 
• The Ashway Park & Ride vaccination and testing site has testing available on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-4p. Appointments are required.  
• The county has plans to open another mass testing site later this week. Please watch my Facebook or Twitter page for an announcement. 
• Caution: Only visit testing sites from reliable and licensed providers. A list of those places which have been vetted and verified can be found on the Snohomish Health District website here.  

We are all in this together (but 6’ apart!) and can each do our small part to get this pandemic behind us. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.  

On January 25 from noon-1 I will be hosting a Housing in Snohomish County Panel Discussion. The panel will be addressing the current status of housing needs, barriers to access housing, and solutions to this crisis. I hope you can join! Here’s the link to attend: https://zoom.us/j/91358108084  

Panelists joining include: 

• Chris Collier – Affordable Housing Alliance Program Manager with Housing Authority of Snohomish County.  
• Beth Doglio – Former Washington State Representative 
• jacque julien, Executive Director of Communities of Color Coalition (C3)  
• Mindy Woods – Washington Low Income Housing Alliance and National Low Income Housing Coalition board member

It should be incredibly informative and I am grateful for the panelists who are sharing their time. Here’s a link to the Facebook invite if you’d like to share with your networks. If you have any questions ahead of time, please submit them to my aide at Paula.Rhyne@snoco.org.  

Following the volcanic eruption in Tonga over the weekend, a Tsunami advisory was issued across our area. The state has a tsunami siren warning system across our coastlines, but these sirens are only activated if a tsunami of 3 feet or greater is expected, and the prediction for this tsunami showed a maximum of 2.5 feet along the shores of Puget Sound. Additionally, there is no modeling for volcanic-triggered tsunamis, just earthquake-triggered tsunamis. Because of the proximity of Snohomish County, a tsunami like this one which originated from so far away would have greatly dissipated by the time it got to our coastline, and San Juan Islands would tamper any waves that did make it through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I'm glad to know that we have the sirens up and running, and I'm sharing this information to help answer questions about why our siren system was not activated. 

My thoughts are with the Tongan people, their devastated islands, and their families still trying to reach them. 

After the snow event that we just experienced, the cold and then warmth can lead to potholes in our roads. The County’s Public Works Team has a crew that can repair potholes and other road defects in unincorporated Snohomish County. If you spot a pothole on an unincorporated Snohomish County Roadway, please email the crew at contact.PWRM@snoco.org, or call 425-388-7500 and be ready to share: 

Many thanks to the hard work of our roads team for keeping us safe! 

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. It’s important to me to keep you updated on my work at the County and updates from my district. If you are in need of any assistance or if there is any county information that I can help to provide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org, or with my aide at Paula.Rhyne@snoco.org. You can call our office as well at 425-388-3494 to leave a message and we’ll return your call.  

Stay Well, 

Megan