ONTARIO
Malheur County was given a two-week reprieve and will stay in the âlower riskâ level regarding the spread of COVID-19 instead of moving to a high risk level.
According to the announcement from Gov. Brownâs office on Tuesday, Malheur County qualifies for the moderate because of climbing number of cases. However, because it had just moved down from the âmoderate riskâ level, it will be in a two-week cautionary period, starting Friday and going through May 6 to give a chance for COVID numbers decline.
Grant and Umatilla counties will also be in the caution period.
Twenty-three counties will be in the âhigh riskâ levels, three will be in the âmoderateâ level and 10 will be in âlower,â with none in the âextremeâ level.
PAYETTE â While COVID-19 case counts in Payette County remain low and relatively stable, the local demand for COVID-19 vaccines is slowing down. This is according to Payette County Emergency Manager Adam Gonzalez in his report to the Payette County Board of Commissioners during its regular meeting Monday.
Following are excerpts from Gonzalezâ report.
In Payette County, Gonzalez reported a total of 2,494 total cases, with a higher count among women than men: 1,299 - 1,145. Southwest District Health confirmed 1,982 of these as of Tuesday. There have been 36 related deaths countywide.
Gonzalez also added data on deaths with preexisting conditions to his report; He reported the highest concentration of deaths with such conditions were among those age 80 or older, 7-5, and the youngest death, in the age 40-49 bracket, did not have preexisting conditions. He also reported a test positivity rate of 2.95% and a daily incidence rate of 1.07 per 10,000 people.
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MALHEUR COUNTYÂ
Malheur Countyâs COVID-19 cases and test positivity rates are on the rise, according to a weekly Risk Levels Summary released by the Governorâs Office this week. During the two-week period from March 28 to April 10, there were 24 new cases reported, for a case rate (number of cases per 100,000 people) of 74.9. The test positivity rate was 5.1%.
Both rates would qualify Malheur County, currently in the Lower Risk category, to move to Moderate Risk if they had occurred during the two weeks leading up to a Movement Week instead of a Warning Week, and if counties werenât given a two-week caution period meant to keep those that moved down in risk level during the previous movement period from experiencing a yo-yo effect.
MALHEUR COUNTY
As health authorities around the country fall in line with federal guidance to push the pause on distributing anymore of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine until further review, officials with the Malheur County Health Department say the reason is for an âextremely rare potential side effect.â Additionally, they state that if it is related, looking at the overall data matters.
âIf it is related, itâs important to keep in perspective that itâs six out of 6.8 million, and that the risk of potentially damaging health effects and risk of death from COVID-19 are far greater,â reads an emailed reply from Erika Harmon, public information officer at Malheur County Health Department on Tuesday morning. âVaccines are safe and effective, and they are necessary to save lives.â