Oregon Gov. Kate Brown may have lifted all coronavirus restrictions across the state Wednesday, but Lincoln County saw a rise in COVID-19 cases in June including a recent outbreak of staff at a summer camp in Lincoln City.
Lincoln County had 57 reported cases in June, including 25 last week, acting health department director Florence Pourtal told county commissioners on Monday. The total for May was 47.
Seven staff members at the B’nai B’rith summer camp on Devils Lake in Lincoln City were diagnosed with COVID-19, Pourtal said. All seven had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, she said, but caught the virus before the vaccine became fully effective after 14 days.
The county said that in 14 of the 25 cases the person getting sick had not received a vaccination, one had a medical exemption, and the others had either received the first of two doses or got sick within 14 days of being fully vaccinated.
The health department said four of the 25 cases involved hospitalizations.
Other than restrictions being lifted Wednesday, if there was good news this week is that Lincoln County reached the 70 percent vaccination threshold, according to the OHA. The county has the fifth highest vaccination rate of Oregon’s 36 counties.
The OHA said 29,105 of 41,620 county residents over the age of 16 had received vaccinations.
The county will have a vaccination clinic Friday at the opening day of the Lincoln County Fair and another on Saturday at the Beachcomber Days celebration in Waldport – and offering a $25 gift card as an incentive. It has also scheduled a clinic from 2-6 p.m. Thursday, July 8 at Don Lindly County Park in Tidewater, where the vaccination rate in that Zip code is 41.5 percent.
