Some people in Salem are worried that crowded outdoor events could contribute to the spread of COVID-19.
Hundreds of people have been gathering at the city’s Riverfront Park for worship services and concerts, even though Marion County has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in the state, the Statesman Journal reports.
At one recent high-profile recent event, Let Us Worship, photos showed people packed closely together and largely not wearing masks.
Under state guidelines, outdoor gatherings in Marion County are limited to 100 people and masks are required. But local law enforcement officials have said there’s little they can do to enforce those rules, the Statesman Journal reported.
The Oregon Health Authority has said another set of large-scale outdoor events — protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement — has not been linked to an uptick in coronavirus transmission. Most participants in those events have worn masks or other face coverings.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, 81 COVID-19 deaths have been confirmed in Marion County, the second-most of any Oregon county after Multnomah’s 123, according to state data.
Oregon has lost one more resident to COVID-19, state health officials said Sunday.
The state’s 481st death to the coronavirus was an 89-year-old Lane County man who tested positive on Aug. 27 and died at his home on Sept. 5. He had underlying medical conditions.
The Oregon Health Authority also reported 190 new COVID-19 diagnoses, bringing confirmed and presumptive cases in the state to 28,044 since the start of the pandemic.
State health officials plan to take Labor Day off from releasing some COVID-19 information, and will be back with full updates on Tuesday, the Oregon Health Authority said in an email.
Copyright 2020 Oregon Public Broadcasting