County Numbers Continue to Decrease
Lane County continues to show significant decreases in COVID-19 cases. The rate per 100,000 continues to drop and hit a one month low yesterday to 747.8, the lowest infection rate since January 6th. The County began to see sharp increases just after the Christmas holiday spiking at almost 1,400 cases per 100,000 in late January. The Florence area has been an exception to the county numbers with case numbers continuing to be high. There were another 14 cases reported yesterday for the area as the all time total reaches 1,327. Coast Radio news reached out to Jason Davis with LCPH on the significance of the numbers here along the coast. With the exception of Peace Harbor hospital’s information, Florence has no local health authority to explain the impact the numbers are having overall in the community. Florence has been consistently in the 200+ two week average for more than a month.
Breakthrough Cases
The Oregon Health authority is reporting that breakthrough cases of the coronavirus in vaccinated individuals is running just above 10% in fully vaccinated and boosted individuals. It breaks down to 4,852 out of the total 44,421 cases reported last week. Breakthrough cases continue to impact all ages, but the average age of breakthrough cases is 48. There have also been a total of 112,157 pediatric cases registered since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Total cases across the state yesterday were 5,417.
Seat Belt Enforcement
The City of Florence Police department continues its focus on seat belts this week. The focus is on proper use of restraints including child safety seats. The ongoing blitz will continue through Sunday February, 13th and will culminate in a DUII enforcement campaign on Super Bowl Sunday. Florence police received dedicated funding to pay for the campaign through monies from the USDOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Governor Brown Promises Housing and Child Care Monies
Governor Kate Brown’s State of the State address has kicked off Oregon’s short legislative session, and organizations such as the Native American Youth and Family Center are watching closely. Brown gave her final address as Oregon governor virtually this year. She outlined a host of priorities, including a 400 million-dollar proposal to address affordable housing. The focus on housing and homelessness aligns with the center’s goals. William Miller is head of the NAYA Action Fund.
“Continued investments in communities that are most impacted is really the most important thing. With COVID and all the issues we’ve experienced with that, our communities are continuing to struggle and our youth are struggling, right, in terms of our education and being out of the classroom for so long because of COVID.”
In education, The NAYA Action Fund is supporting money to provide professional learning opportunities to educators on ethnic-studies standards and funding for the Department of Early Learning and Care. In her speech, Brown proposed a 100-million-dollar investment in child care.