The latest news stories and stories of interest in Eugene-Springfield area and around the state of Oregon from the online digital home of the valley, WillametteValleyMagazine.com.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Willamette Valley Weather
TODAY Mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67.
Friday A chance of rain, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68.
Saturday Rain likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 63.
Today’s Headlines
COVID-19 has claimed nine more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 581. Oregon Health Authority reported 301 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of yesterday, bringing the state total to 35,340.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (9), Clackamas (28), Clatsop (3), Columbia (3), Coos (7), Crook (1), Deschutes (12), Douglas (3), Hood River (1), Jackson (8), Jefferson (2), Josephine (1), Klamath (1), Lane (52), Lincoln (3), Linn (7), Malheur (9), Marion (34), Morrow (1), Multnomah (51), Polk (11), Umatilla (9), Union (1), Wallowa (1), Wasco (1), Washington (30), and Yamhill (11).
Lane County Public Health added 54 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and one more death.
The new cases bring the total of confirmed and presumptive cases to 1,570. Of those, 262 are considered infectious. Officials said 10 people are in the hospital, and the death toll has risen to 21.
Health officials remind you to please continue to:
- Wear a mask
- Remain physically distant from other people (especially older people)
- Avoid large gatherings and
- Wash hands frequently
As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that the state’s testing capacity is expanding from 60,000 to 80,000 tests per week.
Health officials said that with Oregon’s jump in testing capacity, they recommend people who have symptoms of COVID-19 not only be tested but also people who have been in close contact with an infected person, regardless of whether they show symptoms.
The rapid antigen tests, which are being provided by the federal government each week through the end of 2020, can diagnose COVID-19 in 15 minutes.
Pat Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, said that testing will first be distributed to counties with long-term care facilities and areas affected by the recent wildfires.
While testing will help in the fight against COVID-19, people must remain vigilant, officials said. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Oregon have been going up during the past few weeks. Tuesday, the total number of cases in Oregon since the pandemic began reached 35,340. The death toll is 581.
The University of Oregon is reporting that dozens of students have tested positive for COVID-19.
All of those cases involve students, but only one of the students lives in on-campus housing. The rest live off campus. The surge in cases comes at the beginning of the school year according to a new report.
Cases have been climbing since about Sept. 22, when the university reported 15 cases. Every day since then, at least six additional cases have been reported. Officials said students who live on campus and test positive for the disease are “in isolation” while they recover. University of Oregon has reported a total of more than 200 cases since June 1.
Voter pamphlets and ballots will be arriving to registered Oregon voters soon, according to state officials.
Voters’ pamphlets are expected to be delivered to every household between Oct. 5-9, while ballots will be mailed on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election is Tuesday, Oct. 13. Online registration is available at oregonvotes.gov .
Eugene city police and other first responders are up against a street drug that’s having severe reactions and police are prompting a warning to all residents.
Officials said the drug, possibly methamphetamine, is causing profuse sweating, violent outbursts, elevated vital signs and causing people to have unusual behavior.
The odd response was noticed by Eugene-Springfield Fire EMS and Eugene police over the past couple days, a news release said.
Anymore with information or encountering this behavior is asked to call 911.
Winter term at Oregon State University looks like it will be online and remotely learning according to officials on the campus in Corvallis.
As with the fall term, courses offered on-site in winter term will be primarily those that have a heavy experimental learning component, such as labs, field courses and some graduate courses.
“As we plan for spring term, OSU will closely monitor COVID-19 conditions and, if possible, provide increased in-person instruction and additional on-site extracurricular and experiential learning opportunities for students,” says the University’s President F. King Alexander.
Residence halls, dining centers, the Memorial Union and Valley Library are among the buildings that will stay open in the winter.
School officials will announce winter term plans for the OSU Cascades campus on October 15th.
Around the state of Oregon
Major testing increase will bolster Oregon’s strategy to contain COVID-19
The Oregon Health Authority announced a major expansion of testing for COVID-19 in Oregon that will strengthen the state’s strategy to suppress the virus. Starting this week, Oregon will receive between 60,000 and 80,000 Abbott BinaxNOW rapid point-of-care antigen tests per week through the end of December. Oregon will receive the new tests as a result of a time-limited supply of testing capacity federal officials have allocated to states.
The new additional rapid antigen tests will nearly double Oregon’s testing capacity, which will help physicians and health officials identify more people who are infected with COVID-19 and – over time – reduce transmission, prevent new cases (and hospitalizations) and sustain the state’s reopening.
OHA also broadened its testing guidelines to supplement the added testing capacity. The new guidelines recommend testing for anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 regardless of the severity of those symptoms, along with testing of all close contacts of those individuals, regardless of whether they shown symptoms.
The tests yield quick results, in as little as 15 minutes. But there are limitations. The rapid antigen tests must be administered by a trained professional or at a location that meets certain federal standards for laboratory testing. As in other forms of COVID-19 testing, positive results are considered reliable. However, false negative tests are common, even among asymptomatic individuals.
The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA) have completed initial baseline COVID-19 testing of staff and consenting residents in 683 long-term care facilities statewide, achieving the first of two objectives set by Governor Kate Brown’s testing plan.
Baseline testing found that the overall rate of COVID-19 infections in nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities is 2.2 percent based on preliminary results. Facilities were required to complete administration of tests by September 30 and follow up by submitting results. With baseline testing complete, the plan calls for facilities to test all staff at least once a month on an on-going basis.
“We took quick action in the first days of this pandemic to protect the residents and staff of long-term care facilities by enacting some of the strictest visitation policies in the country, but with that protection has come great sacrifice. One of the most heart-wrenching aspects of this crisis is the reality that, to keep our vulnerable long-term care residents safe, so many Oregonians have not been able to visit their loved ones, to sit with them, to hold their hands,” said Governor Brown. “With this first phase of long-term care testing complete, we are one step closer to finding a way to strike the balance between keeping our long-term care facilities free of COVID-19, and making sure residents are able to have the family time that is so critical to their wellbeing and health.”
In addition to providing information about COVID-19 cases, the baseline testing requirement provided facilities with the opportunity to develop the capacity to quickly and regularly test residents and staff.
Facilities are required to report any positive test result immediately to their local public health authority and ODHS. ODHS conducts at least weekly onsite visits to facilities with COVID-19 cases and collaborates with OHA and the facility’s local public health authority to monitor how the outbreak is being managed.
To ensure individuals’ privacy, the only publicly released information from the testing will be aggregate data. Positive test results are included in OHA’s Weekly COVID-19 Report, if the facility has three or more cases or one or more deaths. In addition, facilities with cases are included in ODHS lists published twice weekly.
Portland liberal mayoral challenger Sarah Iannarone is leading incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler in a new poll of Portland voters. Iannarone backs the nightly protests that have plagued the downtown area yet the poll from DHM Research shows Iannarone leading by 11 percentage points. The poll was funded by the Portland Business Alliance. It has a margin of error of four points.
A Portland stand-up comedian is pleading not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assaulting a federal officer during demonstrations downtown.
The Oregonian reports 24-year-old Christian Burke, who performs under the stage name Creme Brulee, appeared in court yesterday. He’s accused of throwing a rock toward a federal police officer during protests on August 22nd.
Burke has agreed not to participate in any counterprotests as part of the conditions for his release pending trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman was hesitant to impose the condition, saying it was arguable a violation of Burke’s First Amendment rights. However, she accepted Burke’s waiver of the right as part of negotiations between his defense lawyer and the prosecution.
The Oregon Department of Administrative Services last week published the annual maximum rent increase allowed by statute for calendar year 2021. The DAS Office of Economic Analysis has calculated the maximum percentage as 9.2%.
Following the passage of SB 608 in the 2019 legislative session, Oregon law requires DAS to calculate and post to its website, by September 30 of each year, the maximum annual rent increase percentage allowed by statute for the following calendar year. Per statute, OEA calculates this amount as 7% plus the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, West Region (All Items), as most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The allowable rent increase percentage for the 2021 calendar year is 9.2%. DAS will calculate and post the percentage for the 2022 calendar year by Sept. 30, 2021.
Information about the maximum annual rent increase percentage, as well as the provisions of ORS 90.323 and 90.600 (statutes governing rent increases), can be found on the OEA website.
For information on the new law, please see the full text of SB 608 at the link below. DAS does not provide legal advice regarding other provisions of SB 608.
| Links: |
| OEA website: https://www.oregon.gov/das/OEA/Pages/Rent-stabilization.aspx |