The same day Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said that COVID-19 case numbers needed to drop to 60 per day to allow schools to resume regular operations statewide, the Oregon Health Authority reported 259 confirmed and presumptive cases, including at least one positive test result in 24 different counties. Marion County reported the most — 55 cases, or more than one-fifth of the state’s total.

State officials announced two additional deaths from the virus, bringing Oregon’s total since the pandemic began to 414. Both died Wednesday and had underlying health conditions. One was a 79-year-old Lane County man who had tested positive July 24 and died at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Riverbend. The other was a 96 year-old woman in Marion County who died at Salem Hospital after testing positive Aug. 11.

The Oregon Health Authority also announced additional testing capacity for the virus. Through an agreement between the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory and ThermoFisher, Oregon will be able to process an additional 20,000 tests per week on average, officials said.

“As we’ve said for months, without adequate testing, we cannot truly suppress the virus in our communities,” Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said in a written statement.

Governor asks Oregonians to do more to limit spread of COVID-19

Oregon’s governor pleaded with Oregonians Friday to more rigidly follow state COVID-19 guidelines. Brown warned that more stringent restrictions on businesses and travel could come next month if transmission rates don’t improve, and that in-class learning cannot resume until the state does better.

In a briefing that was at times stern and at times celebratory, the governor said that a large number of Oregonians are making the sacrifices asked of them and the spread of the coronavirus has been slowed.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Brown said. “We all want in-person education to reopen. To do that, we must meet our goals. Right now, on the course that we are on, it’s going to take too long. We are doing well, but we have to do it better, and we have to do it now.”

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Oregon’s state epidemiologist, spoke after the governor, saying that transmission in the state has been slowing since early July.

“The actions we’re taking are working at flattening the curve,” he said.

The state has updated its forecast for the coming month, Sidelinger said. He outlined three possible scenarios:

• At the current transmission rate, Oregon will continue to see about 900 new COVID-19 infections each week for the next four weeks, with about 19 people entering hospitals each day due to severe infections.
• If transmission can be decreased by 10%, the state would see about 300 new infections each week and about 11 people entering hospitals each day due to severe infections.
• If transmission increases, the state would see 1,300 new infections each week and about 30 new people entering hospitals each day due to severe infections.

Related: Gov. Brown warns of mandatory restrictions without better compliance on COVID-19 guidelines

Oregonians line up for emergency relief payments, funds run out

The money’s all gone. Oregon has distributed nearly all the $500 emergency relief checks it had funding for, just three days after the program launched. Checks were to help people who have not been able to access unemployment benefits.

Oregonians stood in long lines starting Wednesday, and had claimed close to half of the $35 million allocated by the end of just the second day of the program’s operation. By midday Friday, the funds had been nearly depleted. State officials said people who scheduled appointments would still be considered, but no new appointments are available.

“These last couple days have put a spotlight on just how dire the need is all across the state,” House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said in a statement. “We have to get more money to help people. The federal government has the ability to make direct stimulus payments to Americans whose lives are in jeopardy and are not doing so. I find this incredibly frustrating and disappointing.”

These one-time payments were available through a number of banks and credit unions, but were restricted to people whose pre-tax income was less than $4,000 per month when they were working, and who are not presently receiving unemployment benefits.

Related: Oregon runs out of $500 emergency relief payments

Oregon adds Jackson County to COVID-19 watch list

With coronavirus diagnoses climbing, Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday added Jackson County to the state’s COVID-19 watch list — a warning sign that infections there are spreading more rapidly than public health officials can track them.

At the same time, Brown removed Marion and Wasco counties from the list, and praised them for efforts to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.

Counties are placed on the watch list when five or more cases cannot be traced to a specific source over a two-week period and when too great a share of the total local population has untraceable COVID-19 diagnoses.

Watch-list counties are subject to increased monitoring from the Oregon Health Authority, and may receive additional state-level support with epidemiological needs, case investigation and contact tracing. Once added to the list, counties remain there for a minimum of three weeks, and can only be removed if they reduce their rates of untraceable transmission.

In addition to Jackson County, Baker, Hood River, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Multnomah and Umatilla counties are on the watch list.

Clark County, Washington, reports 48 new diagnoses

Health officials in Clark County, Washington, reported Thursday that another 48 people tested positive for COVID-19, and none died. Since the start of the pandemic, 2,378 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the county, and 45 have died.

Statewide, Washington has confirmed 68,689 COVID-19 diagnoses, 1,822 deaths and 6,388 hospitalizations linked to the virus, according to the latest figures available.