Kelly Kenoyer
Linn County was set in the “extreme risk” category through Dec. 31, and it is likely to remain in that category through at least Jan. 14.
That’s because Linn County had approximately 553 cases between Dec. 12 and 26, or about 426 per 100,000.
Larger counties with more than 200 cases per capita over a two-week period are considered to have “widespread” covid infections and are considered “extreme risk,” according to the Oregon Health Authority.
Although Linn County’s numbers are somewhat improved from the previous two weeks, it remains well above the permitted infection levels which would allow for loosened restrictions under current state regulations.
Under “extreme risk,” restaurants are limited to outdoor dining, indoor fitness and entertainment facilities are closed, long-term care visits are limited to the outdoors, and remote work is required when possible.
According to the CDC, Oregon has had the second lowest average daily case rate out of all fifty states, with only Vermont doing better. Oregon had an average of 22.1 new cases per 100,000 people from Dec. 20 to 27. Tennessee, which is doing the worst of any state, had 119.7 cases per 100,000 during the same time period.
Oregon has done relatively better than most states throughout the pandemic.
The relative death rate from COVID in Oregon is the fifth lowest of any state since the beginning of the pandemic, and the fourth lowest infection rate.
New York has the worst rate of death, with 297 deaths per 100,000 since the start of the pandemic.
That means nearly three in every 1,000 people in New York have died of COVID-19. Oregon is much, much lower, at 33 deaths from COVID per 100,000. The disease became the country’s third leading cause of death in October, outpacing car crashes, respiratory diseases, drug overdoses, and suicide, according to a report the medical journal JAMA.
Linn County did record one new death from COVID-19 this week – a 92-year-old woman with underlying conditions who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 15 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Her death brings the county’s COVID death toll to 32. The state’s total death count was 1,433 as of Dec. 28.
Oregon has administered 20,298 first doses of the COVID vaccine as of Dec. 28. As of Christmas Eve, 203 residents of Linn County had been vaccinated with the first dose. More than two million first doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered in the U.S. so far.