Multnomah, Marion, Hood River Counties Added To Oregon’s Covid-19 Hot Spot Watch List

Multnomah county, Ore. – Today Multnomah, Marion, and Hood River counties were added to a special Covid-19 watch list. Current outbreaks and rising cases have health officials pretty concerned. During the Oregon Health Authority’s weekly Covid-19 update today, Dr. Dean Sidelinger announced that Multnomah, Marion, and Hood River counties are the latest hot spots where cases are growing the fastest, and there’s an alarming rate of community spread. Now officials will prioritize resources in these three counties, to try to control the spread. Counties have to stay on the watch list for three weeks. Dr. Sidelinger did have some good news: Lincoln and Union counties are back under control and they’re off the list today. Several counties across Oregon remain on the hot spot watch list including Baker, Jefferson, Lake, Wasco and others.

Also during today’s OHA update Director Patrick Allen highlighted some other good news on coronavirus in Oregon. Last week there was a decline of 7 % in weekly cases. The rate of positive tests also declining down to 5.1%. That’s among the lowest in the nation. He says they still don’t see outbreaks tied to the protests in Portland, and capacities at hospitals are okay. But the concern remains as the virus is still actively spreading and young people are reportedly still the highest percentage of cases in the state.

Listen to some of today’s news conference here: