Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

The Snohomish County Vaccine Taskforce is closely monitoring the weather forecast, and updates point to freezing temperatures, some windy conditions, and the chance of snow, though it appears the greatest accumulation is likely to be south of Snohomish County as the weather system moves in Thursday and Friday.

The Snohomish Health District reports that there are no plans to close the mass vaccination sites in Snohomish County, but that may change as it watches the forecast and as the weather arrives. The taskforce is making every effort to minimize disruption to vaccinations, but must prioritize the safety of patients, staff and volunteers at the sites.

All five community-based COVID testing sites will be closed Thursday through Sunday. People with appointments have been notified and encouraged to seek testing through their healthcare provider or to schedule another appointment for next week.

The vaccine task force is continuing to update contingency plans around the upcoming weather systems as more information is available. Staff plan to be on site at all of our mass vaccination locations early morning starting Thursday to assess and report conditions.

If site closures are needed, the task force plans to get that information out by 7 a.m. the day of the closure via web, social media, and the call center team. If you have a scheduled appointment at one of the sites Thursday, Friday or Saturday, check your email and phone messages before you leave for the appointment.

If your appointment is canceled or modified due to weather, you will receive an email or message with details on rescheduling your vaccination. If the sites are open and operating but patients need to cancel their appointments, they can reschedule when the next round of appointments are available.

The task force is now able to provide general timing for when appointments are likely to be posted as well as when sites are open, if they have doses. Appointments for the Edmonds and Everett sites, when doses are available, typically open for a week at a time, posting over the weekend or early in the week (Monday or Tuesday).

Appointments for the Arlington and Monroe sites, when doses are available, typically open for one or two days at a time, posting around 2 p.m. Note that exact timing for opening appointments is still likely to vary based on vaccine availability. Visit http://bit.ly/snocovaccine to get directly to the page with the registration links.

For those who do not have internet access or are otherwise unable to register online, the COVID-19 call center for Snohomish County is available at 425-339-5278.

The team involved in planning for weather has extremely limited availability as their focus remains on that planning effort. Therefore, we do not have anyone available at this time for media interviews on this topic.