By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

COVID-19 ramping up in county

It took about a month and a half — from Oct. 27 to Dec. 9 — for it to mark 2,000, with a total that day of 2,034.

And it took just one month — from Dec. 9 to Jan. 10 — for it to reach 3,000. Numbers went from 2,958 cases on Saturday, Jan. 9 to 3,014 on Sunday, Jan. 10.

A week later, Jan. 17, the county had reported 3,182 cases, and had added another eight deaths to its toll. To date, 46 county residents have died of the disease.

The county is reporting between 20 and 50 new cases per day.

Statewide, 1,800 people have died of COVID-19, and 133,205 people had been infected, as of Sunday.

In its weekly report, released on Wednesday evenings, the Oregon Health Authority said during the week of Jan. 4 to Jan 10, the state saw a 3% increase in new cases, and an increase in deaths; 107 Oregonians died, compared to 73 the previous week.

The state has seen a case fatality rate of 1.3%.

As of Wednesday Jan. 20, the county had administered at least one dose of vaccine to 3,773 people, a rate of 349.2 people per 10,000.

Gov. Kate Brown on Friday announced she was angry to learn that promises of additional vaccine from the federal government had proven false.

“To further expedite vaccinations, just a few days ago we heard from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the federal government would be releasing its entire supply of COVID-19 vaccines to states. With this news, we announced plans to begin administering vaccines to Oregonians 65 and older, as well as educators and child care providers, beginning January 23. But yesterday we received the disturbing news that this federal reserve of vaccines does not actually exist,” Brown said in a press release.

Brown said Oregon has now reached a vaccination rate of 12,000 people per day, and she remains committed to having the state’s population vaccinated as quickly as possible.

However, she said, the lack of doses is causing a delay. Brown announced that everyone over the age of 65 would be eligible for vaccines starting Jan. 23, but the news has forced the state to revise its plans. Now, Brown said, people 80 and older will be able to start obtaining vaccinations beginning Feb. 8.

In addition, teachers and other school staff will be eligible for vaccination starting Jan. 25, she said.

Yamhill County Health and Human Services Director Lindsey Manfrin did not respond to questions from the News-Register on Friday about how the county would address the shortage.

She said last week that how the county distributes vaccines will be dependent on how many doses it receives from the state. She did not respond to a question about the county’s distribution for this week. The county was closed on Monday, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Comments

@@pager@@
Web Design and Web Development by Buildable