Cases Predominately Un-Vaccinated
With cases on the rise in Florence, 5 more added to yesterday’s total, one of the questions being asked is are the new infections part of the vaccinated community. Jason Davis Lane County Public Health Liaison says Florence is trending the same as the rest of Lane County with most of the infections being in Childcare and long term care facilities, though he did not specifically mention any particular facilities. What he did say is that small gatherings are playing a larger role in Florence. According to LCPH numbers about 2 in 10 individuals in Florence that have gotten COVID-19 are vaccinated. Davis added that 93% of hospitalizations are unvaccinated, 4.5% partially vaccinated and 2.5% are fully vaccinated. Vaccinated individuals for the most part have stayed out of the hospital.
Commissioners Urge Masking
Yesterday the Lane County Board of Commissioners acting in capacity as the Lane County Board of Health voted 5-0 to pass and emergency public health advisory calling on all individuals, businesses and employers to take immediate protective health measures in indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status. The current case rate in Lane County for the coronavirus is 267 per 100,000 a rate that is 2.5% higher that the “high” threshold identified by the Centers for Disease Control for broad masking. Senior Public Health Officer, Dr. Patrick Luedtke, says what is happening now is a worse case scenario. The advisory calls for masking of all individuals inside and continue to maintain social distancing to limit community spread of the virus.
Governor to Mandate Masks
The county vote comes just ahead of an expected statewide mandate that Governor Kate Brown will announce today. Brown says the measure, hopefully, is temporary and needs to happen to “save lives right now. “ there were 2,329 new cases announced just yesterday and hospitalizations are seeing daily increases upwards of 50. There were 60 more hospitalizations just yesterday climbing the total to 635. There are also 164 COVID-19 patients in the ICU. Lane County’s new covid numbers for yesterday were 199. The governor’s press conference will be this morning at 11 am.
EAS Testing
FEMA and the FCC will be conducting a nationwide public alert and warning systems test at 11:20 this morning to assess the operational readiness of the system and to help identify any needed technological and administrative improvements. The test will go across radio and television and some cell phones. Only phones that have opted in to the program will receive the message. The test will end by 11:50 am.
Gas Prices
Gas prices continue to fluctuate across the state according to Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon. While nationwide prices are seeing a twelve cent swing Oregon is more steady with a two cent increase over the past week. Locally the price of a gallon of regular gas is averaging $3.64 a gallon
