Health & Medicine

Lane County Public Health has announced 20 more positive cases of COVID-19, one new death, and a new workplace cluster.

Lane County has seen a spike in new cases of COVID-19. There are 23 new cases of the virus as of Thursday. Lane County Public Health Spokesperson Jason Davis said many of the new cases come from small gatherings, often with family, when people let their guard down.

[Updated 9/17/20, 1:30pm]- Linn County Emergency Management officials received information late this morning that the positive test result received for a shelter resident on Wednesday, September 16th, was in error.  A second test performed on the individual, at a different facility, confirmed the negative result.  Linn County Public Health officials are investigating the reason for the false positive result.

Original Story: Linn County Emergency Management officials disclosed Wednesday that one individual who was sheltering at the Linn County Expo Center tested positive for COVID-19. They say the person is completely asymptomatic and was being tested as a normal precaution before being relocated to another facility. 

Wildfires and hazardous air conditions have affected COVID-19 testing in Oregon. Over the past several days, statewide testing numbers appear to have dipped. This could be due to widespread hazardous conditions causing people seeking testing to be declined.

While new confirmed cases of COVID-19 are at their lowest levels in months in Oregon, the ongoing wildfires could affect efforts to slow the spread of the virus that causes it.

As communities reel in the midst of evacuations and devastating fires in the region, Lane County Public Health reports COVID-19 continues to claim lives and sicken people.  Meantime,  in neighboring Douglas County, health officials report zero new cases. 

Regional fires have filled the skies with smoke and particulates. Throughout the Willamette Valley and in spots along the central coast, air quality can range from unhealthy to hazardous.

The staff of caregivers and hospice nurses at a Eugene long term care facility continue to work in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak. So far, 19 residents and 8 staff at Evergreen Memory Care have been infected with the novel coronavirus, two elder residents have died.

Lane County Public Health announced Friday an additional 22 cases of COVID-19. Nine of these are attributed to the Evergreen Memory Care outbreak. The outbreak now stands at 27 cases.

The facility in northwest Eugene reports two residents have died of COVID-19 related causes. Both elders reportedly had underlying conditions.  

In a statement, Evergreen staff offered condolences to the deceased residents’ families and friends and said it was a privilege to care for them.

A Lane County Public Health official, Jason Davis, said the daily rate of COVID-19 cases and rate of infection are still trending downward. And Davis said they want those to keep going down, especially as college students return to the area for fall term. 

A landmark hotel in Lincoln City is the site of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Lincoln County Public Health Department says up to four residents of a Lincoln City assisted living home died of COVID-19 over the weekend.

The agency says two of the deaths at Hillside Place are confirmed cases: a 90-year-old man and a 97-year-old woman. Two more deaths are suspected cases, but test results are still pending. Those include a 66-year-old man and a 93-year-old woman.

The county also announced nine new confirmed cases since Friday, with the bulk of them suspected to be community spread.

Lane County Public Health reported another staff person at a residential care facility has tested positive for COVID-19. The new case prompted immediate testing of all residents at Spring Valley Assisted Living, some of whom have memory loss. The Springfield facility is in the process of testing staff.

Lane County Public Health reports new COVID-19 cases have raised the overall count to 597. One of them is a staff person at Oaktree Residential Living in west Eugene.

Lane County Public Health reports there have been an average of 70 COVID-19 cases per week-- for the last five weeks. The rate of positive cases has risen to 2%-- the highest so far in the outbreak. But that’s well below the state’s threshold of a 5% positivity rate, one of the requirements for allowing in-person classes to resume.