As surge of COVID-19 cases pushes Lincoln County into tighter state restrictions, health director pleads with public to follow guidelines

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com

A two-week surge in COVID-19 cases has pushed Lincoln County into the state’s new “high risk” category Thursday, resulting in tighter limits on social and business activities than forecast last week.

The statewide two-week “freeze” on many activities instituted Nov. 18 by Gov. Kate Brown ended Wednesday.

But the growing number of cases not seen since a massive outbreak last June at Pacific Seafood in Newport, led the county’s health director to issue a plea Thursday for people to follow guidelines on wearing masks and social distancing.

“While I am worried about what may come our way as a result of Thanksgiving, I know we can buckle down today,” Lincoln County Public Health Director Rebecca Austen said in a special statement and YouTube video released by the county. “We all need to reassess what areas of protection have slipped and go back to how we were in March and April with severely limiting our socializing and traveling and re-commit to wearing masks, re-commit to physical distance, and re-commit to good hand hygiene. By doing this, not only can we protect our medical system, we can get our children back into school.”

In the past seven days, the county has reported 71 COVID-19 cases for a total of 665 since March. There have been 122 new cases during the 14 days between Wednesday and Nov. 18

In other coronavirus developments this week:

• The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz’ Chinook Winds operation in Lincoln City abruptly closed its casino at 4 p.m. Tuesday because 10 positive COVID-19 cases have been connected to an outbreak there. The casino’s motel and golf course are also affected, the motel closing Wednesday morning.
• The Lincoln County School District said there has been an outbreak among “some” bus drivers working for First Student, the district’s transportation provider. While the district provided no other details, Lincoln County Public Health said six First Student employees had recently tested positive for COVID-19.
• Seven employees at Avamere Rehabilitation in Newport have tested positive for COVID-19 but no patients yet. Seven residents of the nursing facility died there this summer after testing positive.
• On Wednesday, Lincoln County Public Health launched a new website displaying all the rules and guidance for the state’s four risk levels.

On Thursday, Oregon began a new county-by-county set of restrictions, setting up four levels of limits. Counties land in “lower,” “moderate,” “high,” and “extreme,” risk categories based on their number of COVID-19 cases the past 14 days. Once in a category a county must stay there for at least two weeks.

Lincoln County had 80 new cases for the two weeks ending Sunday, then added another 21 cases on Monday for a 14-day total of 101 from Nov. 17-30. That compares with 22 the first two weeks of November, when the state’s estimates were released last week — and pushed the county from the moderate category into the high risk category.

While that means restaurants in Lincoln County can offer outside dining and reopen for inside dining when the “freeze” ended Thursday, inside seating is limited to 25 percent of capacity. Before the freeze, restaurants were limited to 50 percent of capacity – and struggling to make ends meet.

Retail stores in Lincoln County – including grocery and malls – will be limited to 50 percent of occupancy limits established by building size and fire marshals. There had been no such limits prior to November’s two-week freeze. Under the freeze such limits were 75 percent of capacity and would have stayed there if Lincoln County was in the “moderate risk” category.

Lincoln County’s “high risk” designation means restrictions on social and at-home gatherings should be limited to eight people from two households indoors and eight people if outdoors.

Without the county’s latest surge, those limits under the “moderate risk” category would have been 50 percent capacity for inside dining, 75 percent for store occupancy, and eight people for social gatherings.

Austen told county commissioners Monday that no single event in Lincoln County is driving the number of COVID-19 cases higher. She said there are “15 outbreaks” in the county now related to social gatherings or businesses.

“It’s bad decisions for the most part,” she said of the new cases. “Everybody is just exhausted from this … they’re throwing caution to the wind, getting exposed and not quarantining.

“It’s just a whole bunch of things that are going awry,” Austen said.

The casino and school district

Chinook Winds announced Tuesday morning it was shutting for up to two weeks. The casino closed at 4 p.m. and its adjacent motel at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the casino announced. General manager Michael Fisher said the time would be used to deep clean and sanitize the casino and motel properties.

The casino — which is operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz — does not come under state or county regulations for dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks or restrictions, Austen told county commissioners Monday. While the tribe reports COVID-19 cases to the Oregon Health Authority, a spokeswoman for the state agency said it cannot release those numbers or other information because the tribe is a sovereign nation. A county public health official later said there were 10 cases connected to the casino.

The Lincoln County School District said it was aware of “some cases” occurring among First Student bus drivers and the company was working with county health officials so that the county “can make contact with the close contacts of those employees.” The county Wednesday said six employees tested positive. A spokesman for First Student said the company had informed others who had close contact with the infected employees and asked them to quarantine, but would not say how many people that involved.

Superintendent Karen Gray said the surge in local COVID-19 cases had also pushed the district into an area where the state could restrict its use of even “hybrid” classes for kindergarten through third-grade students and make the district return to all online instruction. Only weeks ago the county’s case numbers were so low that the school district could have brought all its students back for some in-school instruction.

The latest surge has put the district into a category where it is supposed to discuss about closing schools and returning everyone to full-time online instruction.

Fourth- through 12th-graders are currently doing online-only instruction through January. In an email to district staff and parents, Gray said district administrators were talking to county health officials about the possible next steps. The district’s winter break begins Dec. 21.

Gray also said in her email that the district is “also aware of some staff and student COVID-19 cases” and is working with the county to help trace close contacts. Gray said cases involving staff and in-person students “have been minimal.” However, there have been three staff members at Waldport Middle/High School who tested positive for COVID-19 since early November and 17 other staff and students who have been asked to quarantine for 10-14 days because of their contact with the staff. On Wednesday, the Oregon Health Authority said one student there had a positive COVID-19 test.

A worry about hospital space

In her statement Thursday, Austen stressed that keeping COVID-19 cases and possible hospitalizations low was important because the two hospitals in the county have limited bed space and may not be able to transfer more serious patients to hospitals in the Willamette Valley if they too are full.

“Fortunately, we have not seen a rise in admissions to our local hospitals yet, however they have been rising across the state,” she said. “In about 10 days we will have a better understanding of how much the Thanksgiving holiday has affected our county and if we too are going to see an exponential increase in hospitalizations.”

“To keep our medical system working and prevent deaths, we need to prevent a sharp rise of COVID-19 patients. We are seeing this play out in other states right now – Rhode Island is full and is opening a field hospital. New Mexico is almost full. Nevada has a COVID unit in a parking garage. Why does it matter to Lincoln County what is happening in other states? It is a warning to us. A warning that if we choose to not wear masks and physically distance, our hospitals will be overrun soon. It also means we can’t ask for help from other states – they do not have the space or the medical professionals available to come to our aid. We will have to take care of this on our own.”