Coronavirus updates Monday: Lane County reports 56 cases over three days
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Lane County reported 56 confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 for the previous three days on Monday. The death toll remained at 155 for a fifth consecutive day.
There were 103 people reported infectious, down 7% from Friday's 111.
Nineteen people were hospitalized, down three from Friday, five were in intensive care, down one from Friday, and three were on ventilators, unchanged from Friday.
As of Sunday, 181,965 residents of Lane County have been fully vaccinated, 47.71% of the total population, with 384,024 first and second doses administered.
Oregon OSHA cites 4 employers in May for COVID-19 violations
Oregon issued citations with penalties totaling $44,600 to four employers in May for willful violations of COVID-19 rules, Oregon Occupational Safety and Health said Monday.
The citations were issued to two restaurants, a bakery and a wood products company in Deschutes, Wasco, Linn and Multnomah counties, respectively. Violations included willfully failing to ensure workers and customers wore face coverings indoors and willfully allowing indoor dining despite operating in a county that was designated as an “extreme risk” for transmission of COVID-19, Oregon OSHA said.
The following employers were cited:
- Obstructed View Incorporated (Cork Cellars Wine and Bistro) in Sisters — willfully chose to allow indoor dining despite a public health order limiting capacity to zero in Deschutes County.
- Total penalty: $17,800 (citation has been appealed)
- Loretta Birky (Country Bakery) in Halsey — willfully did not ensure face coverings were worn inside the establishment (penalty: $8,900). Also committed a serious violation by not posting the required “COVID-19 Hazards Poster” for workers to see.
- Total penalty: $9,000 (citation has not been appealed but order is not final)
- Last Stop LLC in The Dalles — willfully chose to allow indoor dining despite a public health order limiting capacity to zero in Wasco County.
- Total penalty: $8,900 (citation has been appealed)
- Creative Woodworking Northwest Inc. in Portland — willfully did not ensure face coverings were worn inside the establishment.
- Total penalty: $8,900 (citation has been appealed)
Ongoing refusals to correct violations and come into compliance with workplace health and safety standards can lead to additional higher penalties, Oregon OSHA said.
Weekly cases down 22% in Oregon
Oregon reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 1,992 new cases. That's down 22.5% from the previous week's tally of 2,571 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Oregon ranked 10th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week, coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 28.3% from the week before, with 100,804 cases reported. With 1.27% of the country's population, Oregon had 1.98% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, five states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Many communities did not report data in a timely manner around Memorial Day, making week-to-week comparisons inaccurate.
Oregon reports 3 deaths, 258 cases
The Oregon Health Authority reported three deaths and 258 confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 Sunday evening, bringing the death toll to 2,694 and the case count to 203,252.
One of the three coronavirus-related deaths was a 22-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive May 30 and died the following day. He had underlying conditions, according to health authority officials. The location of his death is being confirmed.
The other deaths reported Sunday were:
- An 84-year-old Jackson County woman who tested positive May 28 and died June 5 at Providence Medford Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
- A 57-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive May 22 and died June 4. The location of his death and the presence of underlying conditions were being confirmed.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 198, two more than Saturday. There are 58 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, two fewer than Saturday.
The total COVID-19 positive patient bed-days for the most recent seven days is 1,555 —a 15.3% decrease from the previous week.
Health authority officials said there would be no vaccination update Sunday due to the maintenance of the state's alert system. Monday's update will include data from Saturday and Sunday.
Vaccination rates fall to new lows
The rate of vaccinations around the country has sunk to new lows in recent weeks, threatening President Joe Biden's goal of 70% of American adults with at least one dose by July 4.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that 63% of adults had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, only slightly up from the 62% the week before. Twelve states, including Utah, Oklahoma, Montana, the Dakotas and West Virginia, have seen vaccinations sink to 15 daily shots per 10,000 residents; Alabama had just four people per 10,000 residents get vaccinated last week, according to data from The Washington Post.
The “low-hanging fruit – those people who absolutely want to get vaccinated without you telling them anything” have already been vaccinated, which has led to the slowdown, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-diseases expert, said on a White House-organized call with community leaders last week, according to the Post.
The White House has already made plans to combat the slowdown. Biden announced a monthlong effort to encourage more Americans to roll up their sleeves for a shot last week.
Also in the news:
►Dr. Jeff Duchin, the chief health officer for Seattle and King County, told The Seattle Times that 97% of recent COVID-19 cases there have occurred in unvaccinated people.
►A report by the Pew Charitable Trusts said after an initial sharp drop in tax revenue, 29 states recovered to take in as much or more during the peak pandemic period of March 2020 through February 2021 than they did during the previous 12 months.
►Britain’s health secretary says the delta variant, which is fast becoming the dominant coronavirus variant in the U.K., is 40% more transmissible compared to the country’s existing strains. He acknowledged Sunday that the rise in delta variant cases may delay the government’s plan to lift most remaining lockdown restrictions on June 21.
►During the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents, weary of monitoring their children's online classes, yearned for schools to reopen. Then vaccines expanded, schools reopened in many cities, and teachers returned – but huge numbers of students didn't.
📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 33.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 597,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: Over 173.3 million cases and over 3.73 million deaths. More than 138.9 million Americans have been fully vaccinated – 41.9% of the population, according to the CDC.
— From news reports and USA TODAY Network
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