Oregon Governor Kate Brown says COVID-19 cases are declining in the state, but they need to decline much faster in order to get Kindergartners through Third graders back in school.
Brown says, if Oregonians do more to limit the spread of the virus the transmission rate can be reduced to less than one. The average number of daily cases is currently 300 and that needs to be around 60.
The Governor says that if Oregonians aren't able to reduce the spread of the virus she'll need to take stricter action. That could include quarantines on people from outside of the state or renewed restrictions on businesses.
The Oregon Health Authiryt released its latest modeling update today. As with previous reports, it modeled three future scenarios with different assumptions about transmission levels. The models start Aug. 14 and project over the next month.
• The first scenario showed that if transmission continues at its current rate, the estimated number of approximately 900 new daily infections would remain steady over the next 4 weeks. The number of new severe cases would continue at approximately 19 per day, by Sept. 10. The Re is – transmission rate – is projected to remain at 1.
• In a scenario where transmission decreases by 10 percentage points and continues at that level over the next month, the estimated daily number of new infections and newly diagnosed cases would decrease. That model shows there would be 300 new infections daily and 11 new severe cases per day. That transmission rate is .75.
• In a scenario where transmission increases by 10 percentage points and continues at that level over the next month, the estimated daily number of new infections and newly diagnosed cases would increase. That model projects 2,200 new daily infections and 29 new severe cases per day by Sept. 10. That transmission rate is 1.25.
COVID-19 has claimed two more lives in Oregon, increasing the state’s death toll to 414.
Oregon Health Authority reported 259 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 24,421.
The new cases are in the following counties: Benton (2), Clackamas (16), Columbia (1), Coos (1), Curry (1), Deschutes (2), Douglas (1), Hood River (2), Jackson (18), Jefferson (6), Klamath (2), Lane (4), Lincoln (6), Linn (3), Malheur (28), Marion (55), Morrow (3), Multnomah (38), Polk (8), Umatilla (17), Union (1), Wasco (1), Washington (25) and Yamhill (18).
Oregon’s 413th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on July 24 and died on Aug. 19 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 414th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 11 and died on Aug. 19 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.