Polk County Courthouse (Courtesy of Jolene Guzman/Polk Itemizer-Observer)
Polk County is getting a caution flag from Gov. Kate Brown.
After seeing new Covid cases drop over most of February and early March, the county has again seen an uptick in people testing positive for the virus. But Brown is giving Polk County two weeks to reverse the trend before restaurants, gyms and indoor venues would have to cut capacity.
Over the past two weeks, Polk County recorded 116 new Covid cases, nearly double the 60 recorded in the two weeks prior.
“There is no specific source to our increase in cases that I can see at this point. We still need our community members to continue to follow the guidance, especially when it comes to small group gatherings,” said county public health administrator Jacqui Umstead in an email.
The earlier drop allowed the county to move into Oregon’s “moderate risk” category for Covid spread, meaning restaurants, gyms and many other indoor establishments can operate at half capacity.
Most recently, the county recorded 140 new Covid cases per 100,000 residents, higher than the “high risk” cutoff of 100 cases per 100,000 residents over two weeks.
Brown said Tuesday that Polk and several other counties would instead enter a two-week “caution period” before seeing increased restrictions. The goal is to encourage counties “to re-focus efforts to drive back down creeping case numbers and give local businesses additional certainty on their plans for operating,” according to a news release.
Brown also said Oregon would have a higher threshold for returning counties to the “extreme risk” category, where all indoor dining is banned. Starting this week, no Oregon county will be labeled extreme risk unless statewide hospitalizations of people with Covid climb above 300 and the state records a 15% increase from the previous week.
Brown said as more Oregonians are vaccinated against Covid, case counts alone are no longer sufficient to determine the public health risk posed by the virus.
Marion County remains in the high risk category but didn’t see an increase in new Covid cases over the previous two weeks even as cases are climbing again around Oregon.
The county most recently recorded 397 new Covid cases over the past two weeks, giving it a rate of 114 cases per 100,000 residents.
-Rachel Alexander
