Douglas County Announces 5 New Cases on Wednesday

Douglas County health officials announced 5 new cases on Wednesday, 4 confirmed positives and one more presumptive positive. Total cases now stands at 71 with 62 confirmed and 9 presumptive positives. New Workplace Outbreak in Douglas County Announced The Oregon Health Authority reported the first workplace outbreak in Douglas County today, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. An outbreak of COVID-19 cases has been linked to Romtec, Inc., a manufacturing facility in rural Douglas County. OHA started reporting workplace outbreaks of five or more cases in early June, with most cases now reporting as recovered. The OHA weekly report on Wednesday, July 8, noted that there have been 48 reported workplace outbreaks in Oregon. OHA’s policy related to workplace outbreaks is to report outbreaks with 5 or more cases and only for workplaces where there are at least 30 employees. Locally, Dr. Bob Dannenhofffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and the staff at Douglas Public Health Network have been working directly with Romtec and their employees since the first positive case result was returned. Ongoing epidemiology work including communication with contacts of positive cases and additional testing is continuing to happen on site. Both DPHN staff and Romtec officials are supporting their employees that are in isolation or quarantine. "After the last several days of epidemiology investigation, we believe the risk to the general public from this outbreak is low. Romtec has done all the right things in preparation, testing and supporting their staff in quarantine. Our experience with this outbreak is a fine example of industry and public health working together to reduce transmission and support those who test positive.” stated Dr. Bob Dannenhofffer. Romtec is a family owned and locally operated manufacturing facility specializing in innovative building structures since 1979. Romtec found its start with the simple yet innovative polyethylene toilet riser that is still used in waterless “vault” restrooms nationwide today. Today, the Romtec product line includes restroom structures of all types and designs, concession buildings, pavilions, storm shelters, urban restrooms, and much more. “The health and wellbeing of our employees is our top priority. At the inception of the state mandated COVID-19 shut downs, Romtec immediately formulated and implemented an internal COVID safety plan that included, but was not limited to: employees working remotely from home (which was 2/3 of the work force); compartmentalizing of workspace zones (10 in total); restriction of movement from one workspace zone to another; restricting the use of conference rooms and common areas and additional cleaning and hygiene protocols. As a result of our efforts, we were able to isolate and contain the recent outbreak to one workspace zone,” commented Tim Bogan, CEO, The Romtec Family of Businesses. Oregon announces 380 new cases for Tuesday and 7 new deaths. COVID-19 has claimed seven more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 244, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today. The last time Oregon saw seven deaths in a single day was on April 28. Oregon Health Authority reported 380 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 12,805. The new cases are in the following counties: Benton (3), Clackamas (21), Clatsop (1), Columbia (3), Coos (1), Crook (1), Deschutes (9), Douglas (2), Hood River (3), Jackson (7), Jefferson (2), Josephine (6), Klamath (2), Lane (8), Linn (2), Malheur (35), Marion (46), Morrow (7), Multnomah (76), Polk (1), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (76), Union (3), Wasco (3), Washington (53), and Yamhill (6). Oregon’s 238th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 3 and died on July 12 in her residence. She had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 239th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on May 5 and died on July 2 at OHSU Hospital. He had underlying medical conditions. Oregon’s 240th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Wasco County who tested positive on June 27 and died on July 8. Her place of death is being confirmed. She had underlying medical conditions. Oregon’s 241st COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Lincoln County who tested positive on June 29 and died on July 10 in his residence. He had underlying medical conditions. Oregon’s 242nd COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 24 and died on July 13 in her residence. She had underlying medical conditions. Oregon’s 243rd COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on June 26 and died on July 11 at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. He had underlying medical conditions. Oregon’s 244th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Lincoln County who tested positive on June 29 and died on July 13. Her place of death is being confirmed. She had underlying medical conditions.