After 18 days with no confirmed COVID-19 cases, a fifth Lincoln County resident has tested positive for the disease, the county’s public health agency announced Monday.
The Lincoln County case was one of 47 new cases announced Monday by the Oregon Health Authority, bringing the statewide total to 1,956. One more person died from the disease, bringing the Oregon total to 75.
The Lincoln County Health Department said the new case involves a person in their 60s who did not have contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19, which means the person caught it from someone who did not know they had the virus. The person is not hospitalized and is self-isolating, the agency said.
“We have had 18 days with no confirmed cases, but today’s announcement is an important reminder that the novel coronavirus is still active in Oregon,” said health department director Rebecca Austen. “We urge our community members to continue to follow the stay home, save lives order from Gov. Brown. Only go out if you must, and when you do, stay at least 6 feet away from others, wear a mask, and wash your hands frequently.”
The county and its seven cities still have a ban on recreational visitors using motels and vacation rentals and all federal, state and county parks and day-use areas are closed. Hundreds of businesses have closed countywide as they and local residents follow Brown’s executive order on coronavirus restrictions. More than 2,800 people in the county have lost their jobs.
While Samaritan Health Services has expanded their testing capacity, Austen said, limited supplies still mean is has to prioritize tests for people at highest risk and that tests still require a clinician’s order.
Samaritan has set up a single testing site in Lincoln County – a drive-through operation at its outpatient clinic in Depoe Bay. As of Monday it had conducted 356 tests in Lincoln County, a substantial increase from the 272 it had done last Wednesday.
Statewide in the last 24 hours, about 1,000 new people received coronavirus test results, down from 1,455 tests announced Saturday, according to figures published on the health authority’s website. More than 40,000 Oregonians have been tested for the illness since the state confirmed its first case Feb. 28.
The four previous Lincoln County coronavirus cases are:
- A person in their 30s who had no known contact with a confirmed case so it is considered as community-acquired. The person was not hospitalized and is following medical guidelines to self-isolate.
- A person over 80 who had contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. This person is not hospitalized and is self-isolating.
- A person in their 20s who had contact with someone outside the county confirmed to have the coronavirus and then tested positive. This person self-isolated.
- A Lincoln County resident who contracted COVID-19 while out of the county and was treated outside the county.
