4 Wednesday, January 27, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Sisters continues to navigate pandemic Sisters continues to ride a rollercoaster of ups and downs in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Sisters students returned to in-person edu- cation at local schools as Governor Kate Brown adjusted the rules under which students could return to class. The surge in cases that has battered Oregon since the fall appears to have been abated, with daily case reports in Deschutes County declining from peak levels 4 though they continue to add up. The Sisters 97759 zip code has seen 161 total cases as of January 20. The region is not out of the woods. Last week, St. Charles Health System reported an outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the St. Charles Redmond hospital campus. An outbreak is defined as a cluster of cases that are related. To date, 33 caregivers had tested positive for COVID- 19, their cases are investi- gated in collaboration with Deschutes County Health Services and the Oregon Health Authority. The hos- pital later announced that the source of the outbreak had been traced to a single patient. According to the hospi- tal, the patient 4 who had underlying health condi- tions that at times made it difficult to wear a mask 4 was admitted to St. Charles Redmond on December 31 and was initially tested twice for COVID-19. Because both tests resulted negative, St. Charles caregivers continued to wear droplet precaution personal protective equip- ment (PPE). On January 6, the patient was tested a third time for COVID-19, and that test resulted positive. After performing an inves- tigation with the assistance of Deschutes County Health Services and the Oregon Health Authority, St. Charles9 Infection Prevention team determined the Redmond caregivers9 droplet precau- tion PPE was overwhelmed by prolonged exposure to the highly-symptomatic COVID- positive patient.