More COVID Cases for Florenc3
4 more Florence resident have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Bringing the two week total to 44 and the overall total to 382. This number is part of the continuing surge of cases that are hitting the state and particularly Lane County. Lane County until yesterday had been leading the state in daily numbers of COVID-19 cases. Yesterday’s count fell below 200 with 153 total cases. The state, however, continues to be above the 2,000 daily mark with 2,139 new cases yesterday. According to the Oregon Health Authority hospital beds continue to fill with COVID patients and at present there are only 7% of available non-ICU beds in the state a total of 292. And there are only 41 adult ICU beds available. The message from Lane County is to get vaccinated, a message that they are promoting with money. For a limited time Lane County Public Health is offering $50 Visa gift cards to any person 12 and older who receives a vaccination at a Lane County Clinic. locally there are 2 upcoming clinics, on today at Mapleton High School from 10 to noon and the other is on Saturday at the Siuslaw Middle school from 1-3 pm. Walk-ups are welcome but you can pick a time slot by visiting lanecounty.org/vaxclinics.
Surge Numbers
The Oregon Health Authority is reporting that the latest surge of the coronavirus in Oregon is due mostly to the fact that Oregon is among the states with the largest pool of vulnerable people in the country. The areas around the state that have the lowest vaccination rates, according to the OHA, are contributing the most to the surge in hospitalizations. Their infection rates are higher as are the positivity rates. In addition the state as a whole has seen a 53% increase over the past week in new cases with positivity rates at 11.8%. And hospitalizations almost doubled and were up 546, 224 more than last week.
Fire Update
Fire crews from Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue were on the scene of the Dairy Queen Fire for most of the day yesterday making sure the fire was out and continuing their investigations. According to Western Lane Fire and EMS Chief Michael Schick a cleaning crew left the building approximately one hour before the fire. There were no other individuals in the building at the time of the fire and no emergency personnel were injured during the extinguishing of the fire.
