Lane County sees 116 COVID-19 cases in two days, seven long-term care outbreaks

Lane County Public Health reported 116 more cases of COVID-19 at Thursday morning’s semiweekly press conference. 

Wednesday was Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday, so the added cases are combined over the last two days. Even so, local spread of the virus has notably increased this week. 

Lane County’s seven-day average number of COVID-19 cases set a record high Wednesday of 51, according to a Register-Guard analysis of Lane County Public Health data. The previous high was an average 49.3 cases in the previous seven days, set Oct. 8.

As of Thursday, 17 county residents were hospitalized for the virus and 253 remain infectious, meaning they are within 10 days of their symptom onset and are considered by officials as capable of passing on the virus.

Public health staff are monitoring 743 people for symptoms of the virus. There have been a total of 3,057 cases in the county. 

At Thursday’s news conference, Jason Davis, public health spokesman, said the county is monitoring 80 active outbreaks that have 506 cases associated with them. Outbreaks are considered active for 90 days. 

About 39.2% of the outbreaks are tied to college-age people, 18% are tied to long-term care facilities and 21.9% of outbreaks are workplace related. Three outbreaks are related to Halloween parties that took place two weeks ago. Davis added that public health will likely see more Halloween gathering-related cases in the coming days.

The average age of a person associated with those outbreaks is higher than weeks past.

“We are seeing a general rise of non-college age related social gathering cases,” Davis said. “This is something that we enjoyed several weeks of progress on and we’re starting to see that slip.”

The county also reported two new Coronavirus deaths in the community Thursday. An 87-year-old man from the Eugene-Springfield area died on Nov. 9 from complications due to COVID-19. He was not hospitalized prior to his death. A 62-year-old gentleman from the Eugene-Springfield area died on Nov. 11 due to complications from COVID-19. He was hospitalized at the time of his death. 

The University of Oregon reported seven new cases from within the university community Thursday. The UO’s numbers are part of the county’s total and are often a day behind, meaning Thursday’s numbers account for Wednesday’s reported cases. UO had 26 cases in the past seven days and 574 total cases since June 1.

Current long-term care facility outbreaks:

• Hillside Heights Rehab Center, 12 cases
• Koza home care, seven cases
• River Run Place, two cases
• Avamere Rehabilitation of Eugene, 25 cases
• Gateway Living, 12 cases
• Farmington Square Eugene, 22 cases
• Valley West Health Care Center, three cases

“Long-term care facilities are really Ground Zero in our fight against the mortality and COVID-19,” Davis said. “There’s a direct correlation between our community increases in long-term care facility increases.”

Public Health and University of Oregon analyze local mask usage

LCPH and UO partnered to analyze how many residents are wearing masks in public spaces. 

Davis said initial research found 63.7% of Lane County residents are wearing masks properly in a given time in a public place. Researchers looked at a variety of public areas.

“Not surprisingly, our outdoor spaces and recreational spaces have lower percentages of mask wearing than indoor spaces,” Davis said. 

Alton Baker Park had about 57% of people wearing masks properly, Amazon Park had about 50%, and Dorris Ranch had about 37%, Davis noted that Dorris Ranch is fairly spacious.

“(Mask) guidance has changed somewhat with the increasing cases. We advise people to mask up whenever they’re in a park or any other common space, and just proactively wear that mask,” Davis said. 

The Bob Keefer center had about 5% of people masking up, the Gateway Mall had 85% proper mask usage, KidsSports was at 90%, Saturday Market was at 90%, and the Valley River Center was 93%. 

Information about this research will be available to the public on the county’s website on Wednesdays starting next week.