Gresham Mayor Coping With One Of Oregon’s Highest COVID-19 Rates
GRESHAM, Ore. — Some parts of our community are suffering from higher COVID-19 infection rates.
KXL’s Annette Newell talked one-on-one with the mayor of one local city that’s trying to overcome one of the highest infection rates in Oregon.
Gresham Mayor Travis Stovall says the challenge has been hitting the city much harder than most, and worse, impacting even more of the most vulnerable.
“Our zip code was one of the highest incidences of COVID in the entire state. And so, particularly in high concentrations of people of color, sadly enough,” said Stovall.
He says he’s been working with Multnomah County and other local health experts, pushing people to get booster shots as soon as possible, and trying to make it more convenient.
“One of those efforts is a fairly large vaccination site down in Wood Village, which is just down the hill from Gresham. And so I know a lot of folks I actually got my booster there, just a great operation, no appointment required, you just roll in.”
He says the Omicron variant has forced his city to change the way it copes with the outbreak. However he does not think the city will enact any closures, and believes the city is starting to see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
