Lincoln County reports Wednesday that a sixth resident has tested positive for COVID-19

Lincoln County reported its sixth confirmed case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a person in their 80s who said they had been following the state’s orders to limit travel outside their home.

The person tested positive for the coronavirus prior to an outpatient procedure, according to the county Health Department.

As of last Friday, Samaritan Health Services had received permission from the state to slowly restart elective procedures at its hospitals in Newport and Lincoln City. Samaritan, which is the only medical provider doing coronavirus testing in the county, has also received enough test kits to loosen restrictions on who is eligible to get tested.

The county said the person with the latest case had made “minimal trips” outside their home but somehow got the virus in the community. The person did not have COVID-19 symptoms prior to the test and did not have known contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19, the county said.

The person is isolating themselves at home.

“During the last week we have seen in increase in testing for anyone one with symptoms, and also for those who will have outpatient procedures.” said Nicole Fields, deputy director of Lincoln County Public Health. “We expect to see more positive cases and are prepared to do contact tracing.

“As we look towards slowly reopening, it is important to remember that the virus is still in our community, and that we must continue to physically distance, protect others with cloth face coverings whenever possible, and wash our hands frequently.”

It was the county’s first confirmed case since April 20. All but one have recovered, the county said earlier this week.

The Oregon Health Authority reported two new deaths Wednesday from the novel coronavirus bringing statewide deaths to 115. It reported 70 new confirmed coronavirus cases and seven presumptive cases, raising the state total to 2,916.

Lincoln County, population 50,000, has once of the lowest rates of positive COVID-19 rates in Oregon and is one of 13 counties — most of the others are in eastern Oregon — with six or fewer confirmed cases. Samaritan has conducted 662 coronavirus tests since early March; the statewide testing number is almost 68,000.

The previous cases involved:

• A person in their 60s who also acquired the coronavirus in the community.
• A person in their 30s who had no known contact with a confirmed case.
• A person over 80 who had contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
• A person in their 20s who had contact with someone outside the county confirmed to have the coronavirus and then tested positive.
• A Lincoln County resident who contracted COVID-19 while out of the county and was treated outside the county.