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Lane Co. Public Health Asks Community To Stop COVID-19 Shaming

Lane County Public Health Facebook

 

As more COVID-19 cases roll in, Lane County Public Health is cautioning the community against shaming individuals who’ve tested positive.

Public Health spokesperson Jason Davis said at Tuesday's press conference, chastising people can be counterproductive, as it may discourage people from sharing contacts, or quarantining.

“If we’re going to normalize the effort of slowing the spread, we have to normalize that fact that we’re going to have a lot of community members who get COVID," he said. "This is a highly contagious virus, the CDC has let us know that it’s possible that it is airborne and that means you can get it pretty easily.”

Davis adds the community should focus instead on their own behaviours and encourage their peers to follow health guidelines. 

 

There were 54 additional positive COVID-19 cases announced Tuesday, bringing the total up to 1,057 since the pandemic began. 262 people are currently infectious and 10 individuals are hospitalized.

 

One new death was also announced. A 94-year-old woman from the Eugene-Springfield area, who was not hospitalized, died on Oct. 4 from complications related to COVID-19, according to LCPH. There have been 21 COVID-19 related deaths in Lane County this year.

 
 

Copyright 2020 KLCC

 

Melorie Begay is a multimedia journalist for KLCC News. She was the Inaugural KLCC Public Radio Foundation Journalism Fellow. She has a bachelors in Multimedia Journalism from the University of New Mexico. She previously interned at KUNM public radio in Albuquerque, NM and served as a fellow for the online news publication New Mexico In Depth.