27 New Positive Cases, 8 Douglas County Residents Remain Hospitalized

(DCCRT) From all of us at the DCCRT, we wish you a safe and merry New Year’s eve! Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Thursday, December 31, 2020, there are TWENTY-SEVEN (27) people with new positive test results to report since our noon case update yesterday. The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,394*. Currently, there are EIGHT (8) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, seven locally and one out-of-the-area. Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response. Goodbye 2020, Happy New Year’s Eve and Welcome 2021! As 2020 comes to a close and we gladly get ready to ring in a New Year, we want to take a moment and reflect the moments that have shaped our lives in the last year. We are reminded about the tremendous courage, strength and adaptability of our residents, communities and businesses during this worldwide health crisis. We are reminded of the personal and business struggles, the sacrifices made and the painful loss of residents to this unrelenting virus. We are reminded of the importance of family, friends and communities supporting each other. We are reminded of the perseverance and dedication of our local healthcare heroes, our first responders and our workforce. We are thankful for the creative ingenuity of our local businesses, and our local leaders and citizens who continued to support them. We are thankful for our Douglas County Board of Commissioners for leading the charge for our local COVID response. We are thankful for the amazing diverse group of community members that make up our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team. We are reminded of the many firsts and benchmarks Douglas County has achieved, such as the first county to offer drive-through testing clinic in Oregon; the first local COVID hotline in Oregon; the nearly 400 COVID updates and press releases sent out; having the lowest positivity and death rate for a county with 100,000+ in population in the United States; the first and maybe only county to host weekly Facebook Live talks with our Douglas County Public Health Officer and one of the first in Oregon to begin Phase 1 vaccinations. We are also very thankful for the many blessings we have here in Douglas County. We know that 2020 will be remembered as being an especially difficult year for most of us. It has tried our patience and dampened our spirit on more than one occasion. But, in light of the trials and tribulations, the pandemic has really brought out and reaffirmed the incredible adaptability that we possess as human beings. We hope that as the New Year rings in you will see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, and make 2021 a year to rejuvenate and fill your life with faith, hope, family, friends, patience and above all kindness towards others. Reminder: State of Oregon Lowered the Risk Level for Douglas County Starting Tomorrow, January 1, 2021 As we reported yesterday, the good news for Douglas County residents and businesses is that we have succeeded in getting our COVID case numbers down, and the State of Oregon notified Douglas County that we are among a small group of counties that will be moving to a lower risk level based on COVID-19 spread beginning Friday, January 1, 2021. Douglas County is being lowered to the High Risk Level from the Extreme Risk Level. The new risk levels will be in effect from Friday, January 1, 2021 to Thursday, January 14, 2021. We encourage you to support our local businesses, while still continuing to follow the widely proven safety guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19. We want to again extend our thanks and praise to our residents and businesses for following the recommended guidelines and for making good decisions in order for our communities to start opening back up. The new risk level will allow restaurants and bars to open for limited indoor dining; gyms, dance studios, bowling alleys and indoor recreation to reopen; indoor sports to resume; theaters and museums to reopen; and indoor and outdoor businesses, services and activities will see some capacity levels increased. The new risk level does not affect the latitude recently given by the State of Oregon for faith based organizations and local school districts to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. Click here to view the State of OHA’s recommended sector risk level guidance chart. Click here for the State of Oregon and OHA’s sector specific recommended risk level guidelines. As a reminder, the risk level and subsequent state recommended sector guidelines are a part of the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon COVID campaign which is monitored, accessed, implemented and enforced by the State of Oregon and OHA. For more information on the State of Oregon and OHA’s COVID Sector Risk Levels and Recommended Guidelines, please contact the State of Oregon directly or log onto the OHA COVID Website. 2021 Is Just Around the Corner! Remember You are the KEY to COVID Safe New Year! Keep up the good work. It is no secret that the key to stopping the continued spread of the coronavirus is, YOU, our residents, our families, our communities and our businesses. Please celebrate safely this New Year. Prevention is the best medicine, and not just to help stop the spread of COVID, but for your overall health and wellbeing as well. We need each and everyone one of our residents to take the necessary steps to minimize the spread of germs and contagions. You can help by staying home this new year’s, keeping gatherings to just your household, maintaining healthier eating habits; incorporating exercise and good hygiene routines; being cautious and keeping distance from others; making modifications to how you socialize with others; choosing no contact deliveries and services; and staying home if you are sick. The suggestions we make and the guidelines presented by public health are not just for your health and safety, but for the health and safety of everyone, including our kids, our grandparents, our coworkers, our first responders, our teachers and our businesses. We know we sound like a broken record, but our primary focus is to do everything we can to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our residents. Please, if you are sick, even if you just have a runny nose or stuffy head, do not got to work or attend any social gatherings, church services or meetings, birthday or holiday parties, indoor or outdoor celebrations, family dinners, weddings, game or poker nights, prayer groups or indoor workout sessions, and expose others to your illness. The DCCRT team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, along with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network encourage residents to make prevention measures a priority in their everyday routines. Help STOP the Spread of COVID • Make a habit of washing and sanitizing your hands, regularly. • Please wear a mask when you are around others not from your household. Not just for your protection, but for the protection of others. • Stay at least six feet apart from anyone that is not from your immediate household. Please be respectful, kind and polite, by giving people ample space. • Stay home from work, school and play if you are sick. This includes not running errands or going shopping or inviting visitors to your home. • Minimize travel, especially out of the state and limit visitors to your home. • Minimize attending social gatherings or going places where there are large groups of people. Getting Tested & Testing Clinics The next drive-through testing clinic will be Tuesday, January 5, 2021, in Roseburg. Please note that with Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both falling on Friday’s, we will only be hosting our drive-through COVID testing clinics on Tuesdays for the weeks of December 21 and December 28, 2020. As a reminder, if you are having symptoms of COVID-19 including cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches and pains, diarrhea, sore throat or decreased sense of smell and taste, talk to your health care provider about being tested for COVID-19. Patients without a Primary Care Provider that are looking for a COVID-19 test should contact the Sutherlin Aviva Health Clinic at (541) 459-3788. The first drive-through testing site was piloted in the county on March 17, 2020. Since then, there have been 2,164 tests performed in local drive-through clinics, while additional testing continues in hospitals, urgent cares and clinics. The drive-through clinics are led by DPHN, in conjunction with partner agencies including; Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Public Works, local volunteers and local health professionals. Oregon COVID-19 Case Update Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports new cases once a day on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus. OHA also releases a daily situation status report and a weekly report that details the overall picture of the COVID-19 outbreak within our state. The daily report details positive and presumptive cases, as well as deaths by county and statewide, while the weekly report is more in depth and includes statistical data related the severity of cases by age, gender, zip codes, ethnicity, as well as information on workplace and senior care facility outbreaks in Oregon. Find additional information on the state or Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and 211Info. Oregon COVID-19 Presumptive OHA expanded their reporting for COVID-19 case management to now include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case number. DPHN is reporting the number of people with new positive test results and any new presumptives and uses the OHA’s definition of presumptive as having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19. Testing continues, as DPHN has been holding 2-3 clinics a week and hospitals, urgent cares and clinics continue to test. DPHN continues their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive for COVID-19, advising and supporting quarantine and isolation. OHA Reporting and Definition for Recovered As per the Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 Investigative Guidelines, the number of recovered cases is no longer being assessed or reported by OHA. Up until May 1st, 2020 recovery from COVID-19 was defined as being afebrile (not feverish), without the use of antipyretics (medicine to reduce a fever), and having resolution of cough, shortness of breath and diarrhea for at least 72 hours. As more was learned about symptoms, recovery and contagious period, the definition of recovered changed. Beginning May 1st, OHA stopped reporting recovered cases while also separating recovery from contagious or isolation period. Many cases were no longer contagious, as they were outside of the contagious period, but still having lingering symptoms. To be consistent with OHA and to adapt as we learn more about this new virus, we removed the column in our chart listing recovered cases. At that point, we added the number of those in isolation, roughly indicating active or infectious cases of COVID-19 in Douglas County. Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Please join us on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 6:00 pm for our next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer, hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page. Please note that with New Year’s Day falling on a Friday, we will not be hosting a Facebook Live this Friday, January 1, 2021. Happy New Year! Residents are still encouraged to submit their COVID-19 questions to Dr. Bob during the live shows, but you can also email your questions to: Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org. Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during their Facebook Live updates. ACCESS LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION Stay Informed with Accurate Local Information Stay up to date on COVID-19 in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or the DPHN website. Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team (DCCRT) have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT. Douglas County Resource/COVID-19 Hotline: (541) 464-6550 Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and Douglas Public Health Network continue to offer a local resource and referral service via our COVID-19 hotline for Douglas County residents. The Hotline helps residents get answers to questions, provides up-to-date COVID information and helps residents get connected to resources and services related to COVID-19. The Resource/COVID-19 Hotline is (541) 464-6550. It is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week until further notice. ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION To access information for the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info. Questions about Governor’s Statewide Metrics and Risk Level Guidelines? If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880. For information on COVID-19 in other counties and around Oregon, call 211 or visit 211info. Who Do You Contact to Report Compliance Issues with the Governor’s Statewide Guidelines? Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders. The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines. For more information or to report compliance issues contact these state agencies directly: OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000