Covid in Oregon: Officials announce highest daily case count since start of pandemic

The Oregon Health Authority announced 457 new confirmed or presumptive covid cases and 3 new deaths, the highest single-day reported case count since the first Oregonian tested positive for the virus. Cases have been trending upward and were boosted by an outbreak of 79 infections at Pacific Seafood in Clatsop County. The outbreak was first detected on September 15th 2020 but did not meet the threshold for public disclosure.

The uptick was also likely exacerbated by wildfires, which forced thousands to leave their homes and come in close proximity to each other. College students returning to campuses and gatherings where people may be tempted to disregard social distancing measures. Oregon is concerned about these increases. People need to continue to wear masks, maintain 6 feet of distance from other people, and refrain from gathering in large groups.

Governor Kate Brown issued a statewide mask mandate. Oregon is prepared to combat a surge in cases through the assistance of community partners. Oregon Health Authority had awarded about $45 million in grants to some 200 nonprofits and community groups across the state. Brown announced that Lincoln County had been approved to move into Phase 2 of reopening, allowing theaters, bowling alleys, and other recreational facilities to reopen.

Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, and Malheur counties are the only ones in Oregon that remain in Phase 1.

State officials reported 426 new confirmed infections out of 12,385 people tested, equaling a 3.4% positivity rate. But the agency also said that a processing error had resulted in an additional 7,000 negative results. Excluding those negative tests, the daily positivity rate would be about 7.9%. The state reported 139 Oregonians with confirmed covid infections were currently in the hospital.

Oregon remains well below its capacity, with hundreds of hospital beds and ventilators available. Oregon has reported 32,314 confirmed or presumed infections and 542 deaths, among the lowest totals in United States. To date, 661,334 Oregonians have been tested. On September 12th 2020, firefighters in Oregon are racing to slow down two wildfires from merging into a single inferno after blazes in three West Coast states have killed at least 26 people.

Some Oregon communities burned to the ground and about 500,000 people have been either ordered to evacuate or warned to be prepared to evacuate. State officials are focusing their efforts on saving lives but they anticipate a devastating aftermath. Oregon Office of Emergency Management knows it is dealing with fire-related deaths, and it is preparing for a mass fatality incident based on what it knows and the numbers of structures that have been lost.

Wildfires have consumed more than 1 million acres and dozens of people remain missing.

As two major fires in Oregon, the Beachie Creek and Riverside fires, threatened to merge in the coming days, air quality levels have badly deteriorated from smoke. Four of the top five cities worldwide with the worst air pollution are in the region – Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Vancouver. The blazes have killed at least six people in Oregon.

Much of Blue River, a community of a few hundred people, was destroyed. In Oregon, wildfires have killed at least three people and nearly wiped out the southern cities of Phoenix and Talent, near Medford. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency, closing city parks and activating evacuation sites for people in threatened areas. About 500,000 people were under evacuation orders in Oregon – more than 10% of the state’s population.

And that number is expected to grow. Thirty-five wildfires remain active in Oregon, down from nearly fifty. The blazes have scorched about 900,000 acres across Oregon, the scope is unprecedented. For the past 10 years, Oregon has seen an average of 500,000 acres burned each year. Adding to the grim outlook, Portland has limited firefighting resources because some have been deployed to assist in other parts of the state.

Nearly 15,000 firefighters are battling at least two dozen major wildfires across California.

Many, like the August Complex, were sparked by lightning. In the Sierra Nevada range north of Sacramento, the North Complex Fire has torn through the Berry Creek community and Plumas National Forest since a lightning storm sparked it, consuming more than 252,000 acres. Seven bodies were found in areas scorched by that blaze, raising the total killed in the North Complex fire alone to at least 10.

That fire has put more than 20,000 people under evacuation orders, including parts of the city of Oroville. Residents of parts of the nearby town of Paradise devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire, have been told to be ready to leave. In the 140,800-acre Slater Fire burning in California and Oregon, at least two people were found dead on the California side, Siskiyou County.

In the central California mountains northeast of Fresno, the Creek Fire has destroyed more than 360 structures. It has burned more than 175,800 acres and is 6% contained. Fire officials issued evacuation orders and warnings across several parts of the state including in Southern California, where the El Dorado Fire continues to burn parts of San Bernardino County and is 31% contained.

In San Diego County, the Valley Fire which has burned more than 17,000 acres, also prompted several evacuation orders and warnings.

Statewide, more than 3.1 million acres have been scorched. California Governor Gavin Newsom has pointed to climate change as a primary factor in the wildfires. The 16 major wildfires burning across Washington have scorched about 625,000 acres. The enormity of these fires, the geographical scope, the intensity, and the destruction are unequal in Washington state history.

About 100 large fires were burning in the United States West overall, including 12 in Idaho and 9 in Montana. The fires have burned more than 4.5 million acres in 12 states. On September 11th 2020, anti-fascists have not been arrested in connection with wildfires ravaging Oregon, and public officials are asking people to stop spreading the various false rumors.

While investigators are looking into arson as the possible cause of at least one fire, authorities say there is no evidence to suggest the arson is politically motivated. Utility providers have said some fires may have been started by downed power lines during historic winds and heat. Red flag wildfire warnings have been in effect. People pushing the conspiracy theories have largely pointed to the Almeda fire, which Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara confirmed has spurred a criminal investigation.

Rumors claiming anti-fascists were involved are 100% false information.

Ashland Police has some leads, and none of it points in that direction. Anti-fascist activism in Portland has been in the national spotlight as President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed anti-fascists for violence at nightly racial justice protests. Rumors spread just like wildfire and state dispatchers and professional staff are being overrun with requests for information and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires in Douglas County, Oregon.

FBI refuted the claims, there is no indication that the fires are the result of coordinated criminal activity. Molalla Police Department urged people to stay calm and use common sense. Looting and theft have long been issues in areas affected by wildfires, as evacuated homes full of possessions are left unattended for extended periods of time. On September 4th 2020, the Oregon Health Authority reported 268 new confirmed and presumptive covid cases and 5 deaths, bringing the state’s total to 27,601 cases and 475 deaths.

The report comes as state officials released new modeling that shows current transmission rates have fallen to the point where every covid case will generate less than one other case. This is tremendous progress, but it will only continue if Oregon keeps up the pressure. Oregon cannot ease up and allow Labor Day social gatherings to send its rate back up.

Covid remains extremely contagious and spreads very quickly.

It would not take much for cases to rise again. In a press conference, Brown and public health officials said cases in Oregon have continued to drop since late July 2020 and stressed that Oregonians need to keep wearing masks, physical distancing, and hand-washing. Brown pleaded with residents to refrain from celebrating the Labor Day weekend in ways that will fuel the spread of covid.

Gatherings on Mother’s Day, Memorial Day weekend, and the Fourth of July weekend caused new cases to spike. Oregon cannot have that happen again. Oregon simply cannot celebrate this Labor Day and all the holidays coming up in the way it has celebrated them in the past. Infections still need to drop before schools in all parts of Oregon can reopen. State officials reported that 5,792 Oregonians had been tested for covid, with 253 coming back positive, equaling a positivity rate of 4.4%.

91 Oregonians are hospitalized with confirmed cases of covid. In total, 575,596 Oregonians have been tested. In August 2020, the Oregon Health Authority reported 212 new confirmed and presumptive covid cases and 5 deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 438. Oregon also reported an outbreak of 21 new covid cases linked to Independent Transport, an employment agency in Morrow County.

State officials began investigating July 28th 2020, but the initial case count was too low to be disclosed to the public.

State officials in a press conference highlighted promising signs that transmission rates were continuing to decline, but not at the rate needed to reopen schools. State epidemiologist Doctor Dean Sidelinger also told reporters in the conference about multiple outbreaks that occurred at family parties and vacations. One outbreak, which began when nearly 20 people rented a beach house for three days, resulted in 12 people getting sick.

Over 300 cases and 5 workplace outbreaks have now been linked to that group. These examples show that even a small number of people, if they have multiple exposures, can lead to large numbers of cases. Disclosure of the new cases comes a day after the University of Oregon (UO) announced that fall classes will be conducted primarily online. UO has watched other institutions abruptly shift gears and decided that the potential for disruption to its students and campus community was just too high.

It is far more prudent for the UO to take a more phased approach. The disclosure also comes as officials with the Oregon Department of Corrections announced that another inmate at a prison in Pendleton died after testing positive for covid, which was the second such death that day. Five inmates who have tested positive have now died since the pandemic began.

State officials reported results for 5,981 covid tests, with 193 coming back positive.

That is a positivity rate of 3.2%. 118 Oregonians are hospitalized with covid. The state health authority has reported 25,761 confirmed and presumptive covid cases since the pandemic began. In total, 537,437 Oregonians have been tested. On September 1st 2020, the man who was fatally shot during a skirmish with counter protesters in Portland, Oregon, was a supporter of a far-right group that participated in a pro-Trump caravan.

Joey Gibson, founder of the group, which is called Patriot Prayer, said the shooting victim was a resident of Portland who was part of the motorcade that clashed with crowds of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other protesters on city streets. The Portland Police Bureau identified him as Aaron Danielson. An autopsy listed his cause of death as a gunshot wound to the chest.

Gibson has regrets about Danielson’s shooting. Danielson was in his hometown walking around, and he got attacked. The caravan of hundreds of vehicles began in Clackamas, a suburb of Portland, a city that has been a hub of anti-police brutality protests for weeks since the death of George Floyd. The planned route, as organized by police, was to have driven around Portland, but a key off-ramp had mistakenly been blocked off, forcing the fleet of trucks and cars onto city streets.

Portland police tried to take precautionary measures to prevent the caravan from reaching downtown but were unsuccessful.

All the trucks, no one knew where to go, so everyone was just going into random places. There were more protests and at least 29 people were arrested. Wheeler denounced the violence and blamed Trump for creating the hate and the division that led to the unrest. Wheeler also called on those who might seek retribution to stay out of the city. Trump continued to seize on the turmoil in Portland, offering to send federal forces into the city.

Portland is a mess, and it has been for many years. In August 2020, a study intended to track covid in Oregon and understand its impacts on minorities is now dead because Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), which led the research, failed to ensure enough minorities would sign up to participate. The Key to Oregon study, which had been projected to cost $24 million over a year, was to track 100,000 people’s covid symptoms and regularly test 10,000 Oregonians who volunteered.

One of its original goals was to make sure people of color signed up to participate, but that did not happen. OHSU realizes that this research cohort does not currently represent Oregon in the way that is necessary. With a 2.4% random sample of Oregon’s population, the study was expected to help the state understand where covid is most prevalent, catch new cases and outbreaks early, open schools faster, and help prevent future outbreaks.

Brown called the program a “game changer” when it was announced in May 2020.

The program’s failure is a major hit to Oregon’s effort to monitor, study, and ultimately curb the pandemic. The pandemic has affected Black people, American Indians, and Pacific Islanders particularly hard, with case rates many times higher than those for whites. But in OHSU’s attempts to enroll Oregonians, the university struggled to enroll those and other underrepresented populations.

That happened because OHSU did not make sure those communities’ representatives participated in designing the study. OHSU later realized some of the study’s flaws and, in June 2020, pulled in outside experts to help redirect the study. One of those experts, Doctor Frank Franklin, knew immediately the study would not reach enough people of color. In a state like Oregon, where people of color represent just a sliver of the population, mass-mailing postcards to a random slice of the population would get proportionately few people of color to enroll.

Instead, researchers could have targeted the communities directly, even if that would have changed the fundamental structure of the study. Direct outreach might not meet the gold standard of a randomized study, but it is better than not studying the communities at all. Asking people to participate is particularly important in the case of minority communities because of the historic distrust those communities have of medical officials.

Even if the researcher had the best methodology, they need to develop trust.