Health

Multnomah County leaves state’s COVID-19 watch list, prioritizes meeting school reopening goals

By Rob Manning (OPB)
Portland, Ore. Aug. 28, 2020 7:36 p.m. Updated: Aug. 28, 2020 11:55 p.m.

Counties remaining on the list are outside the Portland area, tasked with reducing community spread.

Multnomah County officials are welcoming word that state officials are removing Oregon’s most populous county from its watch list for spread of coronavirus.

“So this is good news,” said Dr. Jennifer Vines, the Multnomah County public health officer. “I think it’s a result of cases coming down overall as we’ve seen in the last few weeks.”

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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday that two counties have made sufficient progress in corralling the spread of COVID-19 to come off the state’s “watch list.” Multnomah and Hood River counties have both reached benchmarks aimed at containing “community spread” - a key factor to reduce so that public health officials can focus on known outbreaks.

“I want to applaud county officials and community members in Hood River and Multnomah Counties for their efforts in curbing community spread of COVID-19,” the governor in a written statement announcing the move.

The state identifies two key metrics when it comes to monitoring community spread: keeping the rate of sporadic cases (those that can’t be traced to a known outbreak) below 50 per 100,000 people and having five sporadic cases in the last two weeks. Counties are placed on the watch list for at least three weeks.

Next Priority: Opening Schools

Officials in Multnomah County wasted no time pivoting to their next priority in their ongoing efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus. The new goal: reducing the overall case count to reach the state’s metrics for opening schools. The key statistic there: number of cases per 100,000 people.

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On the state’s last weekly report, Multnomah County had 41 cases per 100,000. To reach the state’s goal to open schools for young children - kindergarten through third grade - counties must reach 30 cases per 100,000 people. To open for all students through 12th grade, it has to come down even more, to 10 cases per 100,000.

“I think it’s going to be a big lift for a county the size of Multnomah, given the level of community transmission that we’re seeing,” Vines said.

Multnomah County officials said they’re prioritizing reopening schools above trying to move into Phase 2, which would lead to looser restrictions on businesses and gatherings. But they said the general message to the public -- maintain social distancing, wear facial coverings and wash hands frequently -- remains the same, with the overall goal of reducing COVID-19 caseloads.

Weekend Worries

Multnomah County health officials are concerned about the upcoming Labor Day holiday. State officials rang a similar alarm earlier this week, when state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger told a cautionary tale about a gathering at a house on the Oregon Coast that is suspected of causing more than 300 cases across the state.

Multnomah County officials pointed to data from recent holiday weekends. In the14 days after Memorial Day weekend, an increase in testing and an increasing rate of positive tests led to a spike in both COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations of 240%. The Fourth of July also resulted in marked increases in COVID-19 spread, though not as dramatic as Memorial Day.

The governor’s office said the watch list is meant to identify counties where community spread is happening “quickly” and in a way that public health officials are unable to track accurately, creating a “potentially dangerous dynamic.” Being placed on the watch list means the state prioritizes resources to those states - such as tracking down outbreaks.

Multnomah County officials say there’s not much practical effect from being removed from the watch list - meaning, the state will not lose out on state resources it was getting before. Being on the watch list primarily meant better coordination between the state and county, and officials said that will continue.

The other county coming off the watch list, Hood River, is in a slightly better position that Multnomah County, when it comes to cases per 100,000 and the possibility of reopening schools. Hood River had 27 cases per 100,000 people at last count on Aug. 16, but it can be a volatile figure. Just the week before, Hood River had 127 cases per 100,000.

Oregon still has six counties on the watch list; all are rural counties far from the Portland area: Baker, Jackson, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow and Umatilla.

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