4 New Deaths, 14 New Cases & 15 Douglas County Residents Remain Hospitalized

(DCCRT) Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Tuesday, December 15, 2020, there are FOURTEEN (14) people with new positive test results and FOUR (4) deaths to report since our noon case update yesterday. The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,222*. Currently, there are FOURTEEN (15) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, fourteen locally, and one out-of-the-area. Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who direct Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID efforts. Four COVID-19 Related Deaths of Douglas County Residents Our Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, has confirmed the death of four Douglas County residents from the COVID-19 virus. Our thirty-first death is a 70-year-old man who was diagnosed with COVID on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, and passed away on Saturday, December 5, 2020. Our thirty-second death is a 63-year-old woman who was diagnosed with COVID on Sunday, November 29, 2020, and passed away on Sunday, December 6, 2020. Our thirty-third death is an 88-year-old woman who was diagnosed with COVID on Monday, November 16, 2020, and passed away on Monday, December 7, 2020. Our thirty-fourth death is a 79-year-old man who was diagnosed with COVID on Monday, November 16, 2020, and passed away on Sunday, December 6, 2020. In the interest of privacy for the loved ones of these residents, no additional information will be released. “We received news yesterday that we lost four more precious Douglas County residents to COVID. On behalf of my family, my fellow Board of Commissioners, Dr. Dannenhoffer, DPHN staff and the DCCRT team, we send our sincere condolences and prayers to the family, friends and neighbors of this beloved resident,” commented Commissioner Tim Freeman. “Despite the fact that we have seen a drop in new cases in the past few days, that news is sadly out shadowed by the report of the loss of four of our residents. While you may think that you are pretty healthy and the virus won’t attack you, the truth is there are people in your life that are in the extreme risk category, and could get seriously ill or die from COVID. Please think of others right now.” Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer added, “It doesn’t take very long to look around and discover that many people in your life, from your parents and grandparents, to siblings, to aunts, uncles and cousins, to neighbors, friends and coworkers, to students and classmates, have compromised immune systems from past or present illnesses or other health disorders. They might have underlying health conditions like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart or kidney disease, obesity, anemia, bronchitis, asthma or emphysema, that make it difficult or impossible to fight this deadly disease. So, this holiday season, please give the gift of protection to those you love, by respecting personal space in staying six feet apart, washing your hands, staying home if you are sick, and wearing personal protective equipment properly.” Weekly COVID Series: Week 3, Day 2 Celebrate the Holidays Safely During COVID-19 Today is day two with tips and ideas to safely celebrate your holidays and keep you and your family and friends safe from COVID this holiday season. Tip # 2: Spend the Holidays at Home by Limiting or Cancelling Travel Plans. The Winter Holidays are typically a time when many families and friends travel long distances to celebrate together. But, travel continues to be one of the primary ways to spread the virus that causes COVID-19. And, traveling greatly increases your chances of getting COVID-19. So, this year staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others. We encourage you to limit or cancel your travel plans this year, and like Frosty the Snowman, you will be back next year. So, while it’s COVID outside (borrowed from DPHN), it is time to get creative with your holiday celebrations. Think about hosting a virtual party in your festive holiday jammies, create a family video to share, send or deliver homemade goodies, organize a virtual cookie baking session with Mom, watch holiday movies together via Zoom or Facetime or send Grandma a copy of your favorite holiday story and read the story together over the phone. If you must travel, please be careful and be well informed of the risks involved. Opt to drive instead of fly, avoid going to places where there are a lot of people, or where there is a high COVID case count (hot spot). If you do travel, try to quarantine 14 days before you leave and also when you return. Remember to continue to exercise caution and patience with others! Yes, holiday celebrations will need to look different this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Do not chance it, please avoid activities that are higher risk for virus spread this holiday season. Christmas is 10 Days Away! Remember You are the KEY to COVID Safe Holidays! It is no secret that the key to stopping the continued spread of the coronavirus is, YOU, our residents, our families, our communities and our businesses. Please celebrate safely this holiday season. Prevention is the best medicine, and not just to help stop the spread of COVID, but for your overall health and wellbeing as well. If each and every individual in our county would make a real concerted effort to implement prevention measures into their daily routine, we could see a huge decrease in our COVID case numbers. We need each and everyone one of our residents to take the necessary steps to minimize the spread of germs and contagions. You can help by staying home this holiday season, keeping gatherings to just your household, maintaining healthier eating habits; incorporate exercise and cleaning routines; being cautious and keeping distance from others; making modifications to how you socialize with others; choosing no contact deliveries and services; and staying home if you are sick. The suggestions we make and the guidelines presented by public health are not just for your health and safety, but for the health and safety of everyone, including our kids, our grandparents, our coworkers, our first responders, our teachers and our businesses. We know we sound like a broken record, but our primary focus is to do everything we can to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our residents. Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Douglas County Public Health Official, urges residents to stay home when they are sick to help protect others from getting sick and spreading disease. This means not only staying home from work and school, but also staying home from all other activities and social events. Please, if you are sick, even if you just have a runny nose or stuffy head, do not got to work or attend gatherings, church, parties, events, weddings, game nights, prayer groups, or go work out at the gym and expose others to your illness. Help STOP the Spread of COVID Make a habit of washing and sanitizing your hands, regularly. That means washing after you eat, if you touch new surfaces, go to the bathroom, open a door, go to the store, go to the post office or after a meeting. Also try and avoid touching your face as much as possible. Please wear a mask when you are around others not from your household. Not just for your protection, but for the protection of others. Stay at least six feet apart from anyone that is not from your immediate household. This means paying attention to the distance stickers at the store, the bank, at restaurants and at businesses. Please be respectful, kind and polite, by giving people ample space. Stay home from work, school and play if you are sick. This includes not running errands or going shopping or inviting visitors to your home. If you need help, reach out to friends, family or utilize an app or businesses that offer no contact deliveries or services. Minimize travel, especially out of the state and limit visitors to your home. Minimize attending social gatherings or going places where there are large groups of people. The DCCRT team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, along with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network encourage residents to make prevention measures a priority in their everyday routines. Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine Currently, DPHN is supporting 171 cases in isolation, as well as another 280 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases. Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 451 total contacts in isolation or quarantine. This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done by our county and Douglas Public Health Network to help control the spread of COVID-19. Getting Tested & Testing Clinics The next drive-through testing clinic will be Today, Tuesday, December 15, 2020, in Roseburg. As a reminder, if you are having symptoms of COVID-19 including cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches and pains, diarrhea, sore throat or decreased sense of smell and taste, talk to your health care provider about being tested for COVID-19. Patients without a Primary Care Provider that are looking for a COVID-19 test should contact the Sutherlin Aviva Health Clinic at (541) 459-3788. The first drive-through testing site was piloted in the county on March 17, 2020. Since then, there have been 2,084 tests performed in local drive-through clinics, while additional testing continues in hospitals, urgent cares and clinics. The drive-through clinics are led by DPHN, in conjunction with partner agencies including; Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Public Works, local volunteers and local health professionals. Oregon COVID-19 Case Update Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports new cases once a day on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus. OHA also releases a daily situation status report and a weekly report that details the overall picture of the COVID-19 outbreak within our state. The daily report details positive and presumptive cases, as well as deaths by county and statewide, while the weekly report is more in depth and includes statistical data related the severity of cases by age, gender, zip codes, ethnicity, as well as information on workplace and senior care facility outbreaks in Oregon. Find additional information on the state or Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, Centers for Disease Control, and 211Info. Oregon COVID-19 Presumptive OHA expanded their reporting for COVID-19 case management to now include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case number. DPHN is reporting the number of people with new positive test results and any new presumptives and uses the OHA’s definition of presumptive as having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19. Testing continues, as DPHN has been holding 2-3 clinics a week and hospitals, urgent cares and clinics continue to test. DPHN continues their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive for COVID-19, advising and supporting quarantine and isolation. OHA Reporting and Definition for Recovered As per the Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 Investigative Guidelines, the number of recovered cases is no longer being assessed or reported by OHA. Up until May 1st, 2020 recovery from COVID-19 was defined as being afebrile (not feverish), without the use of antipyretics (medicine to reduce a fever), and having resolution of cough, shortness of breath and diarrhea for at least 72 hours. As more was learned about symptoms, recovery and contagious period, the definition of recovered changed. Beginning May 1st, OHA stopped reporting recovered cases while also separating recovery from contagious or isolation period. Many cases were no longer contagious, as they were outside of the contagious period, but still having lingering symptoms. To be consistent with OHA and to adapt as we learn more about this new virus, we removed the column in our chart listing recovered cases. At that point, we added the number of those in isolation, roughly indicating active or infectious cases of COVID-19 in Douglas County. Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Please join us Tonight, Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 6:00 pm for the next Facebook Live event with Dr. Bob. hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page. Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer will continue their normal schedule of Facebook “Live Q&A Updates” next week with both his Tuesday night at 6:00 pm and Friday night at 4:00 pm on the DPHN Facebook page. Residents are still able to submit their COVID-19 questions to Dr. Bob during the live shows, but you can also email your questions to: Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org. Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during their weekly updates. KEEP UP AND ACCESS LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION Stay Informed with Accurate Local Information Stay up to date on COVID-19 in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or the DPHN website. Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team (DCCRT) have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT. Douglas County Resource/COVID-19 Hotline: (541) 464-6550 Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and Douglas Public Health Network continue to offer a local resource and referral service via our COVID-19 hotline for Douglas County residents. The Hotline helps residents get answers to questions, provides up-to-date COVID information and helps residents get connected to resources and services related to COVID-19. The Resource/COVID-19 Hotline is (541) 464-6550. It is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week until further notice. ACCESS TO STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION/RESOURCES To find additional information on State or Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, Centers for Disease Control, and 211Info. Questions about Governor’s New Statewide Metrics and Rules? If you have questions or need more information on statewide mandates, guidelines or rules, go to the Governor’s COVID-19 website at https://govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19/ or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880. For information on COVID-19 in other counties and around Oregon, call 211 or visit 211info. Who Do You Contact to Report Compliance Issues with the Governor’s Statewide Rules? Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the Governor’s orders. The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related rules. For more information or to report compliance issues contact: OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000