By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The coronavirus pandemic claimed its second life this week in Lincoln County, a 63-year-old Newport man who died Tuesday after being hospitalized Sunday with complications from COVID-19.
Salvador Magana Rojas died at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital.
His death follows the announcement Monday that Celerino Gamez Galicia, 68, of Puebla, Mexico, had died June 16 in Newport and was diagnosed with COVID-19 the following day during an autopsy.
Rojas’ family announced his death Tuesday in a GoFundMe message, saying his family has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in Newport.
“Salvador Magana Rojas was a father, grandfather and a friend. Our family is devastated,” the family’s statement said in asking for help to pay funeral expenses. “Our whole family has been affected by this virus and we have been unable to work for the past three weeks.”
Lincoln County officials did not say if or how Rojas’ death might be related to the massive June 7 COVID-19 outbreak at Pacific Seafood in Newport, or to other smaller outbreaks that closed at least four Newport restaurants. The Oregon Health Authority said Rojas tested positive June 11.
“This news is a sobering reminder for all of us that COVID-19 is a real threat to those we love,” Nicole Fields, deputy director of Lincoln County Public Health, said in a statement announcing the county’s second death.
With rise in positive cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, Fields urged people to follow prevention measures and guidelines to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“Our communities’ health is in all of our hands,” said Fields.
The Oregon Health Authority said neither Rojas nor Galicia had underlying medical conditions, a rarity among those who have died of COVID-19.
Galicia’s family in California said Monday that he had come to Newport to work in fish processing plants and visit a daughter and son before heading to Alaska to work there.
His family said Galicia was not among the 127 workers at Pacific Seafood who tested positive in early June for the coronavirus. Instead, they told YachatsNews, he caught the illness from his daughter, who along with her husband and Galicia’s son had all tested positive for COVID-19.
The family said Galicia’s son worked at the McDonald’s restaurant in Newport, which has been closed for at least a week. His daughter had lived in Newport for 14 years, they said.
Todd Tobey, the owner of the Newport McDonald’s, said in a statement Monday night that four restaurant employees tested positive for COVID-19 and the restaurant closed Thursday, June 18. The state only names businesses affected by outbreaks if five or more workers test positive. On Wednesday the state said there had been five COVID-19 cases — employees and their close contacts — associated with the outbreak at McDonald’s.
Tobey said the restaurant is undergoing a deep cleaning and will remain closed until Monday, June 29. He said the company is working with the Lincoln County Health Department, will implement wellness and temperature checks of employees at the beginning of each shift, and has added protective barriers to limit contact in the restaurant. The company is providing paid leave to employees during the closure, he said.
In its weekly report on workplace outbreaks, the health authority said there had been seven cases associated with the Clearwater restaurant on the Newport bayfront. The restaurant was open for business Wednesday. There are eight cases associated with the Local Ocean restaurant, which is closed until next week.
On Thursday, Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City announced that two employees from the same household tested positive for COVID-19. Both had jobs that did not bring them into contact with customers, the casino said in a news release. The casino identified seven other employees who had close contact with the two positive cases. They were sent home on paid leave and asked to quarantine.
Because it is now adding related cases to workplace outbreaks, the OHA said there were now 163 COVID-19 cases associated with the early June outbreak at Pacific Seafood, where 127 workers initially tested positive.
The OHA on Wednesday reported nine additional cases in Lincoln County for Tuesday, bringing the county’s total to 301 since March. There were no new cases reported by the OHA for Wednesday.
In a weekly analysis of COVID-19 cases by ZIP code, The Oregonian newspaper said the main Newport ZIP code of 97365 had the third highest number of any area of the state, reaching 246 and adding 59 from the previous week. The ZIP code has the most cases per capita, with nearly 22 confirmed or presumed infections per 1,000 people.
Family asks for help
Galicia was from Puebla, a city of 1.5 million in south-central Mexico, his family said, and was staying in housing provided by his Newport employer.
Galicia’s sister and niece in California have set up a GoFundMe account to help pay to cremate his body.
Lincoln County Public Health administrator Rebecca Austen confirmed to county commissioners Monday afternoon that three other people connected to Galicia had tested positive. Austen told commissioners that she did not know if Galicia had sought treatment for his condition before he died.
“This is a very sad day for all of us in the county,” Austen said in a prepared statement Monday evening. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends for their loss. This virus is extremely dangerous and despite the inconvenience it has posed for all of us, we cannot take it lightly.”
Rojas’ death was the 193rd in Oregon since the pandemic began.
In other local coronavirus news:
- Austen told county commissioners that more than 50 COVID-19 cases announced last week were mostly from a mass testing of more than 330 people conducted Tuesday. The people who participated in the mass testing were contacts from the Pacific Seafood outbreak.
- Austen was not sure how many of the county’s 292 COVID-19 were “community acquired,” meaning that the source of the illness was unknown. But she said, “Almost everything we’re doing is being traced back to the original (Pacific Seafood) outbreak.”
- It will be sometime next week before the results of a random sample of 400-450 Newport residents taken Saturday and Sunday by Oregon State University’s TRACE program are known.
- The county and state has finished testing the staffs at the five assisted living centers in Lincoln County and is considering testing residents. The state has announced it will test all nursing home staff and residents in Oregon by September.