By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

Yamhill County COVID cases exceed 950

Cases have been recorded throughout the county, though than half of the cases are in the McMinnville area, which has 494 as of Tuesday.

Oregon was at 39,794 cases and 627 deaths as of Monday. Fifteen people have died of COVID-19 or its complications in Yamhill County.

The Oregon Health Authority released a new modeling update on Friday that examined three scenarios: One in which transmission rates remain unchanged over the next several weeks, and one each in which they increased by 5 percentage points or decreased by 10 percentage points.

If they remain unchanged, the state said, “cases will increase substantially,” and the state could see new daily numbers nearing 570. Currently, they range from about 220 to more than 400. In addition, the OHA warned, hospitalizations would increase to 40 a day.

If transmission rates rose, the state said it could tally up to 740 new cases per day.

Under the most optimistic scenario, in which transmission rates drop, the state would continue to see about 220 new cases per day, and hospitalization rates would drop to 20 per day, OHA said.

Over the past few months, rumors have spread about how the state counts COVID deaths.

On Friday, OHA Director Patrick Allen said that the agency relies on several different data sources to report COVID-19 related deaths accurately, including reports from hospitals, long-term care facilities, local public health authorities and death certificates. In many instances, there are several information points that lead OHA to denote a death as COVID-19 related, Allen said.

“The goal in noting that a person died with COVID-19 is to ensure that we’re tracking the data, and to ensure that people who were in contact with the person with the COVID-19 diagnosis are clear on steps they need to take to protect themselves from the disease. This is standard practice in infectious disease reporting,” Allen said.

Reaching the 600th death last week was a “sorrowful milestone,” Allen said. “For each person who passes away, a life is cut short and a community of loved ones, friends and neighbors is left behind grieving. We send our condolences to all those who have lost someone to COVID-19.”

The state warned that COVID-19 is dangerous even to healthy people who have no underlying conditions.

 

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