By News-Register staff • 

First case of COVID-19 in Yamhill County announced

(Updated 3/17/20 and 3/16/2020) The first case of COVID-19 in Yamhill County was announced Sunday, a day after Oregon said it had tallied its first death from the disease.

The Yamhill County case is believed to have originated from the spread of the virus in the community, but no further information had been released. It brought the number of confirmed cases in Oregon to 39.

The Oregon Health Authority is no longer reporting whether patients with the disease are hospitalized. Health and Human Services Director Lindsey Manfrin declined to give the patient's location, age or gender.

"I am not able to give this level of detail. We are only releasing case information by county to protect confidentiality. Given small population size of many Yamhill County cities, we are releasing as much information as possible to inform and protect the public while not divulging any details that could lead to identification of a case," Manfrin told the News-Register."

Public Health began an immediate case investigation which includes a thorough interview with the sick individual to identify any potential people who may have been exposed. Those people are then notified of the potential exposure."

Currently, the state is waiting for 182 test results, and is monitoring 355 people who have been exposed to the virus. Testing has been expanded to commercial and out-of-state labs, and the state said as a result, it is no longer receiving detailed information about patients.

The city of Dayton has closed its offices to the public because of a possible exposure through an employee.

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“Right now there are no confirmed cases at City Hall but there is an employee who is voluntarily self-quarantining,” because of illness, the city announced on its website. “Anyone who has been to City Hall over the past two weeks should take precautions and follow Yamhill County Health and CDC guidance if they have symptoms.

“In an abundance of caution, City Hall will be shut down until further notice.” The notice is also posted in Spanish.

The city of Lafayette has announced it is suspending water disconnections and late fees until further notice, saying it recognizes “the economic hardship that may impact our community during the current public health emergency due to the COVID-19 virus.”

The first coronavirus-related death in Oregon was a 70-year-old Multnomah County man who had been hospitalized at the Portland Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center. He died Saturday.

Comments

tagup

Pretty lean on details....location of the patient might be helpful...

Momo

Yes...we need to know location so we know if we were around the area.

EBKittelson

The county's HHS website is of NO help at all. What's going on here? Should have been ready with its own list of helpful information, beyond just links to the CDC or WHO. Thanks to Casey Kulla for posting on his FB page.

Nicole Montesano

Tagup and Momo, we have asked county Health and Human Services for the patient's location, and been told it will not be released.

treefarmer

Nicole - Seems counterproductive to have that information withheld from the public, but thanks for trying.

myopinion

HIPAA laws .....apparently that even means location. Good chance they have been out panic shopping along with everyone else. This has been around for MONTHS. It now has a name. If we can keep the panic down, we will get through this much easier. I'm not gonna lie, I have a knot in my stomach, but we survived H1N1, we will recover from this as well.

Mudstump

Location?...please.

RobsNewsRegister

Cross your fingers, but there is some very encouraging results from France using an old Malaria drug and antibiotics.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethpfeiffer/2020/03/18/science-works-to-use-old-cheap-drugs-to-attack-coronavirus--it-might-just-work/#16ad9cd25c49

Lulu

Yet another example of "transparency" Yamhill County-style.

Mudstump

If you are interested in a live-updating coronavirus map to track the state and statistics for COVID-19, there are several coronavirus maps and dashboards from reputable sources, but most of them use data from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Computer: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Mobile App: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/85320e2ea5424dfaaa75ae62e5c06e61

I hope these work for everyone. I'm not the best with computer stuff. Stay safe!

Mudstump

It would seem that the location of the patient and where they have been would be very useful to all of us wondering if we may have been exposed. In the meantime, people exposed go on about their lives potentially exposing others. Patient privacy is important, but it is not important at all during a pandemic where so many lives are at risk. An abundance of information is what we need right now. Come on Yamhill county....you can do better.

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