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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2020)
July 31, 2020 The Columbia Press 3 Most county virus cases County unveils plan for safety routes, relocations County is working began in processing plants on Clatsop a plan to make it better ing the 14 deaths reported The Columbia Press Clatsop County saw five today (July 28), I wish to ex- more positive cases of tend sincere condolences on COVID-19 during the past behalf of everyone at OHA to the families who have lost a week. The largest percentage of loved one to this disease,” Al- infections have come from len said. “It is a stark reminder of the seafood processing plants. Cases at Da Yang Seafood in work all Oregonians need to Astoria rose to four after all do to bring this pandemic un- 160 employees were tested der control. Together we can slow this disease and prevent last week. After a worker in his 30s this terrible loss of life.” showed symptoms in mid-Ju- Counties dashboard ly, he was tested and deter- Oregon Health Authori- mined to be positive. ty published an expanded Both of Da Yang’s plants version of its “outcomes by were closed for deep county” dashboard. cleaning at that time. The dashboard in- Three additional cludes more infor- employees have test- mation on weekly ed positive in the past trends in the percent week. They are a man of COVID-19 tests that in his 40s, a woman in have been positive her 40s and a man in by county and week- his 50s. All live in the ly trends in the total Allen north part of Clatsop number of persons County. tested for COVID-19 The Public Health Depart- by county. ment is waiting for results It shows Clatsop, for in- from a few of the remaining stance, with a population of workers. 39,332, zero deaths and a 2 On Wednesday, a woman in percent positive rate on the her 60s and a man in his 40s 3,484 tests administered -- neither of them associated here. with Da Yang -- were report- The rate of infection (18 per ed positive for the virus. Both 10,000 people) in Clatsop is live in the north part of Clat- higher than its two neighbor- sop County. ing counties. As of Wednesday, the coun- Tillamook has a 9 per ty has had 73 total cases since 10,000 rate and Columbia a March 23, with 65 of them 13 per 10,000 rate. recovered. The rest are con- The local rate of infection valescing at home. still is a far cry from Port- land-area counties (51 for State figures The state’s death toll rose to Multnomah, 31 for Clacka- 311 on Wednesday, with a to- mas, 72 for Marion). A piece of good news is that tal number of cases statewide the positivity rate for testing of 17,721. Patrick Allen, director of dropped in the past week. During the week that ended Oregon Health Authority, took the benchmark of 300 July 26, 42,252 people were deaths as an opportunity to tested for COVID-19 and 5.1 percent had a positive result, reach out. “As we surpass 300 deaths down from 6.6 percent the See ‘Pandemic’ on Page 6 related to COVID-19, includ- equipped to respond to di- sasters. The Resiliency Project calls for relocating the county’s Public Works facility and es- tablishing alternative routes for emergency evacuation and delivery of vital services. The first of many opportu- nities for the community to learn about the project and provide input is during an information video confer- ence at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. County commissioners prioritized the relocation of essential county buildings and infrastructure outside the tsunami inundation zone to optimize emergency re- sponse. A top priority is the Public Works facility, which sits on low ground at its cur- rent location, 1100 Olney Ave., Astoria. In conjunction with evalu- ating the Public Works move, the county has studied po- tential evacuation and alter- nate travel routes. A major disaster could disrupt other roads and highways. The result is a multi-phase preliminary draft plan that would move the Public Works shops, equipment and ma- terial storage to the former Lewis and Clark log-sorting yard on Fort Clatsop Road, about a mile south of the na- tional park and outside the tsunami zone. The relocation is expected to take three to four years. The preliminary plan also considers using the Lewis and Clark Mainline road as a We’re online at thecolumbiapress.com. You’ll find expanded stories, more photos and a place to pay for subscriptions. Three-phase “resiliency” plan potential emergency route. Details on the Resilien- cy Plan are available on the Clatsop County website, co. clatsop.or.us. A question- naire is being sent to county residents and will also be available online. To register for the Aug. 13 video conference, go online to attendee. gotowebinar.com/regi ster/7431922756860051459. A confirmation email con- taining information about joining the webinar will be emailed to those who regis- ter.