KWSO News for Thu., Jul. 16, 2020

Wednesday afternoon’s COVID-19 COMMUNIITY UPDATE from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reported 4 new cases of Covi-19, bringing the total cases for the Warm Springs Reservation to 107 since testing began.  80 people have recovered.  1442 tests have been done with 38 tests still pending.  There have been 9 hospitalizations with 6 patients discharged.

The Warm Springs Health & Wellness Center continues to test patients with symptoms or who have been in close contact with a positive case of Covid-19.   There is also random surveillance testing of high-risk community members.  Additionally there is broader surveillance testing of Tribal Employees.

Testing inventory includes 178 State test kits (which are taking 24-48 hours for results) and 258 ABBOTT (Rapid) test kits.  The Health & Wellness Center has the capacity to do 20-22 of those ABBOTT tests, onsite, per day.

The Oregon Health Authority reported 282 presumed and confirmed coronavirus cases and four deaths on Wednesday. Oregon’s caseload continues to climb with overall COVID-19 infections growing by 7% percent over the past week. The state also reported 22 people died from the virus between July 6 and July 12 – double the number who died during the prior week. The weekly report also showed that after five weeks of increasing hospitalization rates, the average has “plateaued.” Officials attribute this to increased testing and the fact that most Oregonians currently being infected are young people, who are less likely to be hospitalized. Locally, the Warm Springs CoVID-19 Response noted that 79 percent of positive cases on the reservation have been in people in the younger age ranges – from less than age 18 to 49.

Warm Springs Sanitation says regular trash route pick up will resume today. Repairs to one of the trucks have been completed and they plan to operate on regular schedules. Residents should set their totes out at the road the night before their regular trash pick-up days. If you have a family member, friend or neighbor who you know might have a difficult time moving their totes to the road, you are encouraged to give them a hand in doing that.