KWSO News for Mon., Jul. 6, 2020

The Community Covid-19 update from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs on Thursday last week reported a total of 81 cases of coronavirus on the Reservation since testing began.  53 people had recovered.  There have been 1137 tests in all, 32 tests were pending on Thursday.  The Warm Springs Health & Wellness Center resumes testing today, following the three-day holiday weekend. Testing is for individuals who are symptomatic or who were in contact with a positive case.  Surveillance testing is also being done for high risk individuals in the community, and broader surveillance testing of Tribal Employees.

The Warm Springs Early Childhood Education Center reopens today for children 3 years old and up, which are the B-Pod and School Age classrooms. Due to the Boil Water Notice for the reservation, the facility has been closed since late June. To serve the returning children and staff, water has been brought in for drinking and washing.  ECE classrooms for children who are younger than age 3 are not able to reopen at this time. All children who normally attend F Pod classrooms and any child who is not potty-trained will not be able to return until boil water notice is lifted.

The Oregon Health Authority on Sunday reported 301 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 and 2 new deaths, bringing the state’s total reported cases to more than 10,000 for the first time, and raising the death toll to 215. This was the fourth consecutive day Oregon had surpassed 300 new cases. The state set a record Thursday with 375 daily cases. On Saturday, health authorities reported 303 new cases, after reporting 344 on Friday.

The Oregon Health Authority is changing the way it is tracking active and recovered coronavirus cases. The agency says it is now using a “60-day rule.” Previously, public health officials would call people with COVID-19 to track when their symptoms disappear to assess their recovery. Now, OHA says, any confirmed or presumptive case who is still alive 60 days after their earliest symptoms or their positive test result will be considered recovered. The shift comes to give epidemiologists more time to perform case investigations and contact tracing.