Wednesday, September 2, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
13
Coronavirus cases drop, but not enough for schools to reopen
S A L E M ( A P ) 4
Coronavirus cases in Oregon
have declined during the
past month, but in order for
schools to reopen the average
amount of new cases a day
needs to decrease from 250 to
60, state health experts said.
In order to reach that
goal, Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown said residents will
have to continue to follow
and enforce current state-
wide COVID-19 safety man-
dates or else bars and restau-
rants may have to close and
travel restrictions will be
implemented.
<The good news is
we9re slowing the spread of
COVID. The bad news is our
infection rate is still too high
for most in-person schools,=
Brown said Friday. <With
the course we9re on, meet-
ing our goals is just going to
take too long. We must do
better, faster. We must work
together. And we must do it
now.=
T h e O r e g o n H e a l t h
Authority reported 259 new
cases Friday as the state9s
total case count rose to
24,421. The death toll is 414.
Dean Sidelinger, the
state9s epidemiologist, said
that since July, transmis-
sion of the deadly virus has
slowed. Hospitalizations also
declined last week, from 143
to 115.
The percentage of posi-
tive tests has leveled off too
4 remaining at 5.4 percent.
<While our COVID-19
data shows we are doing bet-
ter than many other states,
the virus continues to be a
significant threat in our com-
munities, and we9re not close
to keeping the infection rate
at a level we9d need to reopen
schools across Oregon,=
Sidelinger said.
In June, Gov. Brown
issued an executive order
that allowed in-person learn-
ing at public and private
K-12 schools only if it they
met guidance issued by the
Oregon Health Authority
and Oregon Department of
Education.
One of the guidelines
requires both a statewide and
a county-wide testing posi-
tivity rate of five percent or
less, as well as 10 or fewer
new cases for every 100,000
people in the county where
the school is located.
At the current case rate,
Brown said schools would
not be able to return for in-
person learning until April.
In order to speed up the
return of students to schools,
Brown said residents will
have to strictly follow current
statewide mask mandates and
gathering limitations.
If cases do not continue
to decrease and <at a rapid
rate,= Brown said she will
have to consider closing bars
and restaurants and imple-
menting travel restrictions,
which would include people
traveling to Oregon from out
of state quarantining for two
weeks.
Brown said she has been
reluctant to order more
businesses to close because
of the economic impact.
More than 500,000 people in
Oregon have filed unemploy-
ment claims since the start of
the pandemic.
Two counties 4 Marion
and Wasco 4 were removed
from the state9s County
Watch List this week after
reducing the spread of
COVID-19. The watch list
is designed to help the state
prioritize assistance to areas
with the broadest spread of
the virus.
When a county is placed
on the list, the Oregon
Health Authority increases
monitoring and provides
additional epidemiological
support, case investigation
and contact tracing help,
officials said.
<This is yet another
example of how we can com-
bat this disease by working
together,= Brown said.
Oregon Health Authority
officials also announced that
they had secured supplies to
process more than 400,000
COVID-19 specimens tests
4 increasing the capacity of
testing by 20,000 additional
tests per week.
<This is an important step
toward securing the COVID-
19 testing capacity that our
state needs,= said Patrick
Allen, director of the health
authority. <As we9ve said for
months, without adequate
testing, we cannot truly
suppress the virus in our
communities.=
