SALEM — Umatilla County will be placed in a “two-week caution period” for moving back to the high coronavirus risk category starting Friday, April 23, amid a sharp case spike over the past two weeks, according to a press release from Gov. Kate Brown’s office.

The county has reported 84 cases over the past two weeks, a total that would qualify it for high risk, bringing increased restrictions on indoor activities and commerce county-wide.

“It’s very disappointing and very disturbing,” Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock said of the announcement.

The state determines a county’s risk level every two weeks, but will allow a county to remain at its current level in a “two-week caution period” if it moved down in the most recent assessment.

Umatilla County moved to moderate risk on April 9 after reporting some of its lowest COVID-19 totals since last spring, according to data from the county health department. Last week, however, the county reported 54 new cases, showing concerning signs that, like counties across Oregon, cases are rising yet again.

“It isn’t just a little bit of an increase,” Murdock said. “It’s enough of an increase that, when you’re flirting with moderate (risk) versus high (risk), you can’t afford a week like that. Because of the two-week rolling average, it hurts you for the long run. Hopefully, we can get the numbers down next week, but they would have to go down a lot.”

Murdock said contact tracers from the county’s health department have reported cases predominantly stemming from social gathering, including weddings and family get-togethers. He added that the majority of cases are being reported from young people between the ages of 20 and 40.

“People are wanting to open up and everything else, and we have a perfect driver for that in getting vaccinations,” Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer said. “Then we see how many people are coming to the vaccination sites, it kind of surprises me. Everybody wants our county to open up fully and they want to have Round-Up and Whisky Fest and all these things, and yet there’s not a very big showing at the vaccination sites.”

Ten counties in Oregon will move to high risk this week after reporting increased rates of infection. Two other counties — Malheur and Grant — will join Umatilla in the “two-week caution period.” Cases and hospitalizations statewide are continuing to trend upward, according to state data.

“We simply have to get our numbers back down,” Murdock said. “We’re having too many gatherings. People are kind of letting their guard down, if you will, and up go the numbers. And that’s going to have a long-term impact. So we thought we were escaping what was happening (in Western Oregon), but apparently not.”