Oregonians stood in long lines Thursday seeking $500 in emergency funds, after the rollout of a lawmaker-approved relief fund aimed at helping people caught in unemployment limbo. People had claimed close to half of the $35 million allocated by the end of just the second day of the program’s operation.
These one-time payments are available through a number of banks and credit unions, but are restricted to people whose pre-tax income was less than $4,000 per month when they were working, and who are not presently receiving unemployment benefits. Full details, including eligibility requirements and a list of banks and credit unions processing the payments, are available on the state’s Emergency Checks website.
“Financial institutions went to great lengths to meet the goal that there would be access points for these funds in every region of the state,” Danny Moran, spokesman for Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said Thursday in an email.
“There are more than 150 locations providing this service across the state,” he continued, noting that applications are being accepted only on weekdays, and that people must wear face coverings and observe physical distancing to apply.
OnPoint Community Credit Union said Thursday that it funded 40% of all distributions made on the program’s first day, Wednesday, making payments to 5,000 Oregonians.
With coronavirus diagnoses climbing, Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday added Jackson County to the state’s COVID-19 watch list — a warning sign that infections there are spreading more rapidly than public health officials can track them.
At the same time, Brown removed Marion and Wasco counties from the list, and praised them for efforts to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.
Counties are placed on the watch list when five or more cases cannot be traced to a specific source over a two-week period and when too great a share of the total local population has untraceable COVID-19 diagnoses.
Watch-list counties are subject to increased monitoring from the Oregon Health Authority, and may receive additional state-level support with epidemiological needs, case investigation and contact tracing. Once added to the list, counties remain there for a minimum of three weeks, and can only be removed if they reduce their rates of untraceable transmission.
In addition to Jackson County, Baker, Hood River, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Multnomah and Umatilla counties are on the watch list.
Oregon reported 4 deaths to COVID-19 on Thursday and 301 diagnoses, bringing the novel coronavirus’ toll to 412 lives in the state. Health officials say 24,165 people have either tested positive in Oregon, or have been diagnosed preemptively based on symptoms and exposure, and 4,535 have been confirmed as recovered.
The most recent death were an 86-year-old Washington County man, an 82-year-old Baker County woman, an 80-year-old Douglas County man and a 60-year-old Linn County man. All had underlying medical conditions, the Oregon Health Authority said.
Close to half of the new diagnoses were in the three counties around Portland, with 57 in Multnomah County, 50 in Washington County and 32 in Clackamas County. In Marion County, officials reported 54 new diagnoses.
Health officials in Clark County, Washington, reported Thursday that another 48 people tested positive for COVID-19, and none died. Since the start of the pandemic, 2,378 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the county, and 45 have died.
Statewide, Washington has confirmed 68,689 COVID-19 diagnoses, 1,822 deaths and 6,388 hospitalizations linked to the virus, according to the latest figures available.
Copyright 2020 Oregon Public Broadcasting
