Registered nurse Megan Wilson, of St. Anthony Hospital, inserts a swab into Piper Shane’s nasal passage to collect a sample for COVID testing on Aug. 4, 2020. More than 30 current and soon-to-be members of the Oregon House and Senate, including more than two dozen Democrats and the Republican House leader, spelled out in stark terms how far Oregon’s rate of testing lags nearly all U.S. states. 

UMATILLA COUNTY — State and county officials are optimistic that Umatilla County’s COVID-19 numbers are trending in the right direction.

In the second week since Gov. Kate Brown sent Umatilla County back to the baseline of reopening, the county reported its lowest number of confirmed cases (145) and recorded its lowest seven-day average of newly reported cases (20.7) since the end of June.

“The trends, particularly over the last week or so, in Umatilla County, have been very encouraging,” Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said during an Friday, Aug. 14, call with the media. “The case numbers are still high, but they’ve come down from where they were previously.”

The county ended the hopeful week by reporting 19 newly confirmed cases on Aug. 14, its lowest daily number since 19 cases were reported on June 30.

“We’re definitely in a much better spot case number-wise than where we were at the end of July,” said Alisha Southwick, deputy director of the Umatilla County Public Health Department.

In total, Umatilla County has reported 2,262 confirmed cases. Another 134 cases are considered presumptive because those individuals are showing symptoms and have a known contact with a positive case, but haven’t tested positive yet themselves.

Three county residents diagnosed with COVID-19 died this week, and 32 total deaths of residents who tested positive have been reported so far. Ten residents are currently hospitalized with the virus, according to the Umatilla County Public Health Department.

The state cited a high rate of “sporadic cases” — 45% of new cases weren’t traced to a known source the week of Aug. 1 — as a metric that triggered sending the county back to baseline, and subsequently sent additional public health staff to assist in contact tracing and case investigations to assist locally.

This help with staffing from the state, in addition to Umatilla County continuing to bolster employment in the public health department and the decline in new cases, has helped reduce the number of “sporadic cases.”

The Oregon Health Authority reported only 27% of new cases couldn’t be traced to a known source the week of Aug. 2 to Aug. 8. The state has said counties should aim to stay under 30% of cases unable to be traced.

“Some tapering off of cases allowed us to do some catch-up data entry and be more timely in that, so these are numbers that we think are more reflective of where we have been,” Southwick said.

According to the state health authority, Umatilla County’s test positivity percentage peaked the week of July 26 to Aug. 1 at 23.6%, which was also listed as a primary factor for closing many local businesses again in the baseline phase. State data showed that the positivity rate dropped to 20.4% the following week, and Southwick said the health department saw the percent of positive tests continue to decline this week.

Positive test rate is a reflection of the amount of testing being down, and the Oregon Health Authority ranks Umatilla County fifth in the state for total tests per capita at 15,188.5 tests per 100,000 people. With more testing needed, the first government-sponsored free testing events are also coming to the county in coming weeks.

But while the data has trended in the right direction, Southwick also cautioned that more time and data is needed to make any definite conclusions.

“We’re excited by the potential with case numbers, interested to see what comes from some testing events that are coming up, and certainly looking toward moving our county off of baseline and helping schools to be able to reopen,” Southwick said. “Those are important goals that we continue to strive for.”

Umatilla County is required to stay in the baseline phase for at least 21 days, which will have expired at the end of next week. As metrics and case numbers improve, Allen said the state isn’t requiring that the county reach a specific number or percentage in order to be considered for reopening some businesses again.

“What we’re really looking for is a case rate that’s much closer to what’s seen in the rest of the state than they were at the time the governor moved them back to phase zero,” Allen said. “She’ll be looking at the metrics again early next week and reassess their status.”

SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Friday, Aug. 14, issued new guidance regarding face coverings in office spaces.

The guidance requires people to wear face coverings or face shields in private and public office spaces. Face coverings are required in any areas where 6 feet of distance from other people cannot be maintained, such as bathrooms, hallways, elevators and break rooms.

The guidance provides an exception, allowing people to remove their face coverings briefly in situations where someone’s identity needs to be confirmed — such as in banks or in interactions with law enforcement.

— Oregon Public Broadcasting