By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

Another COVID-19 death reported in Yamhill County

A third elderly person has died of COVID-19 in Yamhill County, which also reported 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of early Monday.

Statewide, there are 606 confirmed cases, and 17 people have died.

Yamhill County has released very little information about its COVID-19 deaths. The latest was a person older than 80, according to Yamhill County Public Health.

The other two were a 91-year-old man with underlying medical conditions who tested positive on March 20, and died Sunday at Providence Newberg Medical Center, and a 93-year-old man with significant chronic health problems who tested positive on March 18, and died Friday, March 27, at Providence Newberg, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

Oregon has tested 12,883 people so far. In Yamhill County, 384 people have been tested — just 0.36% of the county’s population, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was estimated to be 107,100 as of July 2019.

That’s slightly above the state testing rate, which stands at 0.30 percent. Statewide, 12,883 people have been tested; 2,082 by the state’s Public Health Laboratory and 10,801 at other laboratories cleared for independent testing.

The World Health Organization has said that testing and tracking the disease is crucial to keeping it contained. However, the U.S. has been slow to roll out testing.

NPR reported on Monday that the country lags far behind other nations in testing, noting that, nationwide, just 1 in 366 people are being tested. However, it reported, a new test has been approved by the Food & Drug Administration, that can provide results in minutes, and is expected to speed things up considerably.

It also reduces risks to health care workers as people can swab a sample for testing themselves.

Orders remain in place for people to stay home whenever possible, in an effort to slow the disease, and avoid overwhelming hospital capacity.

The OHA reports there are 291 adult intensive care unit beds available in the state, and another 2,059 beds not in ICUs, along with 203 pediatric beds.

The state now has 765 ventilators available overall, the OHA reported.

OHA reports that 140 people have been hospitalized at some point for COVID-19 at Oregon’s hospitals.

In Yamhill County, Willamette Valley Medical Center has 60 beds, 10 of them in an intensive care unit, while Providence Newberg Hospital has 55 beds. It has four beds in its intensive care unit, but can expand to eight when needed, according to its website.

Both hospitals have now set up rapid response tents outside their main buildings to handle any emergency room overflow.

So far, the largest number of people diagnosed with the disease in the state is those in their 40s and the next highest-group is those in their 50s.

Thirteen children have been diagnosed with the disease, and 58 people in their 20s, six of whom have been hospitalized. All of the deaths in the state so far have occurred among people 60 or older.

 

Comments

tagup

384 tests in The entire county?....that’s ridiculous!
Testing is the key.....could someone let the Feds know it important?

myopinion

What about all these drive through testing stations i keep hearing about? I called Salem hospital, because I have a friend that is, well, WAS very sick, showed all symptoms, Salem hospital said they aren't testing anyone but patients in the ICU

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