For three months in spring 2020, FHL suspended activities due to COVID-19. During that time, we developed a COVID-19 Prevention Plan, designed to to minimize the risk of disease introduction to and transmission within the FHL and greater island community while still allowing research collaborations, courses and visiting groups at the labs. The plan, written in consultation with medical and safety professionals at UW Environmental Health & Safety, UW Medicine Allergy & Infectious Diseases, and San Juan County Health and Community Services, went into effect in June 2020. It included rigorous pre- and post-arrival quarantine and testing procedures, as well as strict limitations on travel off campus and interactions with persons outside the FHL community.

With the plan in place, FHL returned in summer 2020 to holding in-person courses, apprenticeships, and an REU program as well as hosting independent researchers and scholars. At the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, we were one of the few institutions nationwide offering hands-on learning opportunities. And largely thanks to the Prevention Plan, the first known case of COVID-19 on the FHL campus (introduced by a visiting researcher and never spreading beyond) did not occur until November 2021.