A spike in cases of COVID-19 in Lane County has public health officials reminding people of the basics. 72 new cases were announced after the weekend, bringing the total of positive cases countywide to 1,009.
Lane County Health spokesperson Jason Davis said he knows it’s not easy. It’s no fun to stay 6 feet apart from our friends and loved ones and wear a mask. And while for some people who get COVID-19, it’s not a big deal, for others it can be a long term illness or death.
”We really want to drive down the message of the connectivity and the transmission of COVID, that it’s a highly infectious illness.” Davis said. “It has an R-rate, an reproductive rate of 4 to 5. So every one case causes 4 to 5 if left unchecked. And we don’t have a vaccine right now. So, the only thing we have going is masking and distancing.”
There are 125 people in Lane County considered infectious with COVID-19, according to public health officials. This is the highest number of infectious individuals since the start of the pandemic. Davis said the majority of new cases are in younger people, in their 20s, who’ve gotten together for informal social gatherings.
“Just gatherings at someone’s house either for a movie or just to get together, not a large group of people,” Davis said. “So, on the surface, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to cause case transmission because it’s only 5, 6, 7, 8 people, but it is.”
Davis said people aren’t social distancing and wearing masks in those situations. And that’s really the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Davis says the new cases aren’t connected with incoming students at the University of Oregon.
There are also three new cases associated with long term care facilities in Lane County.
1) 1 staff member from Hillside Heights Rehab Center in Eugene. The facility completed a testing event on 9/15 and will be testing weekly and complying with all Oregon Health Authority Long Term Care Guidelines and Lane County Public Health Guidance.
2) Churchill Estates Assisted Living Facility in Eugene. The facility completed a testing event on 9/15 and will be testing weekly and complying with all Oregon Health Authority Long Term Care Guidelines and Lane County Public Health Guidance.
3) Valley West Health Care Center in Eugene. The facility completed a testing event and will be testing weekly and complying with all Oregon Health Authority Long Term Care Guidelines and Lane County Public Health Guidance.
To see data related to COVID-19 in Lane County, visit www.LaneCountyOR.gov/data.
There have been 15 deaths related to COVID-19 in Lane County.
Statewide, COVID-19 has claimed three more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 529, the Oregon Health Authority reported Monday.
OHA reported 201 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. bringing the state total to 30,995.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (2), Clackamas (16), Clatsop (2), Columbia (2), Coos (4), Curry (3), Deschutes (8), Douglas (2), Hood River (1), Jackson (18), Josephine (3), Klamath (2), Lane (28), Lincoln (1), Linn (1), Malheur (12), Marion (18), Morrow (2), Multnomah (35), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (4), Wasco (10), Washington (25), and Yamhill (1).
Oregon’s 527th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 21 and died on Sept. 6, in his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 528th COVID-19 death is a 54-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 16 and died on Sept. 20, at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 529th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 18 and died on Sept. 19, at OHSU. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
