Numbers May Allow for Lower Risk
With Businesses like City Lights Cinemas and Holiday Bowl waiting to reopen and some other local businesses defying the state restrictions the recent decrease in numbers across Lane County could be the sign that the coast will soon be out of the Extreme Risk category for COVID-19 and allow for a change in the current restrictions. There have been no new cases reported for Florence with 159 cases overall since the beginning of the pandemic and Lane County has seen more than a handful of days below the 100 mark and even below the 50 mark for new cases. The streets have been mostly quiet with recent rains putting a dampening on shopping and visitors. State Risk updates are done every two weeks and according to the website at Oregon.gov Lane County could move to High Risk at their next update if the trend of a 33% reduction continues. Information compiled through February 13 shows that the county has dropped from a 4.3% positive rate to a 2.7% rate. Although we are currently only 45 positive cases overall away from the Extreme Risk category. There were only 39 cases reported yesterday in Lane County and the county is nearing 10,000 cases total.
Traffic Woes
Traffic issues continue to plague Highway 101 as repairs on the roadway are continuing south and north of Florence. ODOT is working on a section of bridge in Dunes City at the Siltcoos River Bridge and there is only one lane of traffic and a temporary light installed. As well 101 is closed during the day north of Florence at Sea Lion Caves to repair an embankment. In addition to the work on 101 crews are also working on a widening project on Highway 126 at milepost 36 and traffic will be slow in that area. There was also a recent landslide that closed a portion of Highway 101 at the Oregon/California border, but that has since been cleared.
Weather Slows Vaccine Distribution
The State of Oregon is receiving about 10 to 12 thousand doses of the COVID-19 vaccine every week, which at the current rate is not enough to keep up with the goal of 12,000 per day set by Governor Kate Brown. There were 15,790 vaccinations doled out over the past two days alone and over 707 thousand to date. The state currently has 922 thousand doses available and is widening the age group for those to receive the shot. Weather delays may cause for a slower supply increase this week as much of the nation is still dealing with the effects of a strong winter storm and areas like Portland are still suffering from power outages
