Fiumara

UMATILLA COUNTY — Morrow County reported its first death due to COVID-19, and Umatilla County confirmed 21 additional cases of the virus on Friday, June 19, marking the end of another week of cases surging locally.

After entering Phase 2 of reopening on June 6 with 130 total cases, Umatilla County reached 243 cases on June 19, representing an increase in new cases of nearly 90% in that time and including a weekly record increase of 85 new cases in the last seven days.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anything that was shocking,” Umatilla County Public Health Director Joe Fiumara said of the local increase. “We feel confident that we’ve positioned ourselves well, but this is not over. This is Phase 2 — this is not business as usual.”

Fiumara said that health department’s contact tracing investigations continue to attribute many of these new cases to instances of employees going to work with minor symptoms that they don’t believe are COVID-19 at the time. Other employees feel either external pressure from their employer or internal pressure of losing hours, but Fiumara said their best guidance is to be careful and stay home at first sign of any symptoms.

“One or two days home sick from work is way better than 10 to 14 days home sick from work for all of your colleagues,” he said.

Graduation parties have also shown up in the county’s tracing, he said, though those cases have been difficult to track because people have opted to withhold the names of their friends and those who may have attended. While frustrating, Fiumara said that’s their right though it does impact the county’s ability to meet the state’s contact tracing standards.

According to data from the Oregon Health Authority collected between June 8 and June 14, Umatilla County has been unable to track 45% of its new cases in that span to a known source. The state has asked counties to keep that number below 30%, but Umatilla County has also failed to meet its standard of a downtrend in positive test result rates.

That number is on the rise, and Fiumara said it can be attributed to more and more close contacts of known cases being tested along with the county keeping its focus on testing individuals with symptoms even though the virus can be spread by those without any.

But with testing accessibility still relatively limited in Eastern Oregon — the county has run 2,674 tests as of June 19 — and the fact that evidence of the virus can linger and lead to a positive test result after an individual is no longer contagious, Fiumara said it’s still most effective to target those outwardly sick.

“If an asymptomatic person gets a test and it’s negative, it tells us nothing because tomorrow they may be positive if we test again,” Fiumara said. “And if it’s positive it actually tells us very little because we don’t know if they’re positive right now or were 10 to 20 days ago.”

The pattern of close contacts being tested and resulting in more positive test results has also likely led to Hermiston being the virus’ local hotspot, Fiumara said, as more than 100 cases have now been identified and more people in the city are aware if they’ve potentially been exposed and need to be tested.

“It takes cases to make cases,” Fiumara said.

In addition to its first reported death, Morrow County also reported its largest single-day increase in cases, with five more confirmed on June 19.

According to a Morrow County news release, a 53-year-old man who tested positive for the virus on June 12 died at his home in north Morrow County on June 18. He had existing health conditions, the release stated.

“This is an incredibly sad announcement and one that we had hoped not to make in Morrow County,” the release stated. “We encourage everyone to be respectful as a family in our community grieves.”

The county also has community counseling services available at 541-676-9161.

The five cases confirmed on June 19 are all in the Irrigon area and bring Morrow County’s total to 27. Fifteen of those cases are considered active and 12 are considered recovered. None of the active cases are currently hospitalized, the release stated.

As case totals continue to rise in Umatilla and Morrow counties and their surrounding areas, Fiumara said it’s critical that people continue to be cognizant of the threat the virus poses and take what precautions they can to reduce that threat.

“I think there was a little sense as we got into Phase 2 that this is kind of a step back to normality, and the problem is it’s just a step,” he said. “If we let our guard down, this thing is going to spread like fire and we’re going to spike hard.”