Health officials hold conference call regarding new Oregon COVID-19 cases

Two people in Jackson County and one person in Klamath County have tested positive for COVID-19.

Texas.esults.

An hour, about four new presumptive cases of coronavirus in oregon.

Two of them are in jackson county, one in klamath and one in washington county.

The oregon health authority is having a media conference call right now.

Let's turn over to that phone call to get more details on these new presumptive cases.

>> contact tracing for all these cases has been completed.

All cases have been notified and given instructions.

To protect the privacy of patients we are, unlike the information we provided yesterday, we're going to provide demographic information about cases but not on a case by case basis.

What that means is shortly we'll be releasing how many cases we have that are travel related versus not, how many cases were hospitalized at the time of diagnosis if we know that information.

So cases by broad age range and case counts by county, possibly with some other data.

But the patient confidentiality issue is a real concern for us.

One of our current cases has already had a media visit at their home with a camera crew, i understand, and that not only is a privacy issue for that family, it also makes it hard for public health to do its work in building a trusting relationship with a case and with the cases contacts to help us control the disease.

Patients need the support of the community and do not need the additional pressure of having to deal with stigma.

Quick update, i'll be pushing this to the web as we usually do, but in terms of our count this brings us to a to the case count of seven positive cases.

77 individuals have been tested negative.

We have 40 tests pending at the public health laboratory.

We currently are s62 people under monitoring, these are people who do not have symptoms. and we have completed monitoring, that is two weeks of following an individual under self quarantine with no symptoms, that total is 278 individuals.

And again we'll post that to our usual location on the web.

With that i'll turn it over to dr. sidelinger, our state health officer.

>> thank you, director allen.

I know i've said this many times in the last week, but i want to say it again.

I floe are people out there who are scared.

This is especially true for the seven oregonians who have tested positive for coronavirus that causes covid-19.

They and their families and friends have been impacted the most by this disease and we all need to remember that they need our support.

As a public health official, i take my responsibility to protect the public's health very seriously.

When we're facing an juts break in our state our public health team works quickly to identify who is at risk for coming down with the disease.

While we are doing our investigation and response, we need to maintain the privacy of individual cases.

We weigh the balance between releasing information and protecting privacy every day, and take seriously our responsibility to keep the public safe.

In situations responding to new viruses, the public's desire for information is more heightened, but even then we must remember our mission, protecting the public's health.

In collaboration with our partners we'll continue to balance the information the public needs with the importance of protecting individual privacy.

Our response involves boots on the ground from our local and public health partners who are contacting people.

They are asking detailed questions to try to prevent further spreading of the disease.

Their number one goal is linking people to care and providing guidance and support to their families and other contacts.

This support is especially important in the nation of novel viruses as we don't know as much about who gets sick and how the virus behaves.

We need to build trust with people we are seeking to help.

Stigma can make them reluctant to come ford and share information.

Stigma may put yours all at risk.

Remember, the viruses don't discriminate based on where you're from or what you look like.

We must ensure that our fellow oregonians who are directly impacted by covid-19 don't face stigma, discrimination and retribution.

What they need is our support.

They need all of us to take steps to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.

This includes staying home while you're sick and especially not visiting a hospital or long-term care facility if you have a fever or illness.

Cover your sneeze or cough with a tissue and throw it away with the trash.

Wash your hands often with soap and water, and if that's not available use an alcohol based sanitizer.

Avoid touching your eyes nose and mouth.

Cleaning and disinfect surfaces that are often touched, and taking care of your health jeff all, staying current on your vaccinations, including the flu vaccine, eating imel exercising, awe help your body stay resilient.

Working together we can all fight this disease.

As one of your public health partners i pledge to continue to release information to help people to make decisions to protect their own health, to work with our health care partners and continue to face the situation head on with a dedicated team for travel, federal, state and local public health partners.

>> thanks, dr. sidelinger.

With that i will turn things over to dr. jim shames, the local public health officer in jackson county.

>> thank you very much.

I am the health officer for jackson county.

Just to reiterate what dr. sidelinger said, we know that many people are concerned about this novel coronavirus disease.

And we at jackson county public health understand that concern and we're going to work to share the latest information with you so that you can know how to best protect yourself and your family.

Public health values the rights of our community members and the confidentiality regarding their medical information.

Thrfer no identifiable information will be released about presumptive or confirmed cases.

Jackson county has pro presumptive covid-19 cases.

-- two presumptive covid-19 cases, in adults between 75 and 54.

Both cases are travel related and are in one household.

Nert individual required hospitalization and they remain isolated at home.

They have fully cooperated with jackson county public health.

There is no identify risk to the greater community in jackson county and there is no known community spread at this time.

So what we're doing is working diligently to identify and notify all known contacts of the presumptive cases, through our case investigation process.

Case, that includes proper notification of risk assessment with all known contacts.

This allows local public health to apply monitoring requirements set forth by the centers for disease control and the oregon health authority.

Jackson county public health has identified all known contacts of the presumptive cases through our case identification.

All persons under monitoring are cooperative and following our guidance.

All persons under monitoring will be monitored by jackson county public health for 14 days, as testing becomes widely available we do anticipate the identification of cases in oregon and jackson county.

Jackson county public health has activated the county emergency operations center and a dedicated staff of resources to this response.

We continue to work with oregon health authority, our health care system, and community partners on this response.

>> with that i'll turn things over to dr. wendy warren, the local public health officer in klamath county.

>> this is wendy warren, i am the local public health officer in klamath county.

Over the past three weeks klamath county public health has worked with our community partners to ensure that we were ready and had a robust and effective response if and when coronavirus became present in klamath county.

This has included working with our schools, clinicians and numerous agencies to ensure coordination and communication well in advance of the presumptive case that we now have.

As soon as we received notification of the presumptive case, klamath county public health began working to identify all those contacts and made proper notification to include risk assessment.

The contact investigational lawed klamath county public health to ensure that those at risk are being monitored for the development of any signs and symptoms. the plan is to monitor them for 14 days following their last known exposure.

And everyone involved has been cooperating fully at this time.

At this time, because this is a travel related case, there is no identified risk to the greater community in klamath county, and there is no community spread identified at this time.

As dr. shames said we would like to reiterate that this individual is a member of our community and we are committed to protecting their privacy.

I would also like to mention that in terms of what we've done in the state and the county before that this actually has been done before.

In 2009 we had an outbreak of h1n1 and we did things that limited the spread of this in the community, and they worked.

That at the presently time we are using those plans that were developed then, and they have been refined and we're updating them as needed.

We're also working on various plans to update response to this virus as we need to.

Thank you.

>> i'll now turn it over to trisha mortell, local public health administrator in washington county.

And trisha, if you're talking, you're maybe on mute.

We may have some difficulty with our connection with trisha mortell.

If she comes back we'll be sure and hear from her.

At this point let's open this for questions.

>> the questions, we're taking questions from reporters.

If you're a reporter and you have a question, please identify yourself and your outlet.

And if you're not talking, please mute your line.

>> i'm with news watch 12 in jackson county, for dr. shames.

When does the act activation of the center, what does the activation of the center entail?

>> first of all, we're going to have a press conference here at 11:30 and it may be that county specific information might be most appropriate then.

We have activated in an proceed fashion, we've assigned individuals to all the -- so we can actively be sure we're monitoring everybody appropriately, staying in touch with the latest information.

>> we're getting some cross talk.

Once you've asked your question, please mute and if you're not asking a question, please mute your phone.

Dr. shames, please continue.

>> so, i think to get into more detail, we will have an emergency management available at our own press conference at 11:30.

>> next question.

>> this is m.

Powell with oregon public broadcasting.

I was wondering if there are new updates on the grand print says cruiseship that was stoat dock in astoria later this month.

>> i will say that returning passengers from the grand princess are on our list of travel associated notifications that we get from our federal partners.

(no audio) on facts they may have had and ask them to stay home and monitor for 14 days and check in with them regularly.

So passengers who return from grand princess will follow that same advice.

>> we have no particular update on the situation off the coast of california right now.

>> good morning, this is trisha mortell, is my phone on now?

>> yes.

>> okay.

So thank you, and i'll jump in, sorry, i don't know why it wasn't going through earlier.

So as noted, this is trisha mortell, washington county public health division manager.

Washington county is one of the counties that has a new case of envelope coronavirus covid-19.

This case did not need medical attention was identified through our ongoing public health investigation and in contact with a known case.

For standard investigation practices, washington county staff will continue contact tracing, identifying contacting and monitoring any residents exposed in our county.

We believe the risk is still very low for those in oregon as well as our county.

But we will inform the public if it is determined there's any specific risk.

We work daily with our local health care providers, schools, businesses and others to educate, inform people around covid-19.

I think this is really important.

We continue to work closely with the oregon health authority and centers for disease control on prevention for the community and monitoring and providing support for persons.

This past week our board of commissioners adopted an emergency declaration allowing county personnel greater flexibility and support as we work with partner agencies.

This is not an escalation of emergency in our county.

But our county emergency operations center has been up and running for several days, and will continue to operate as long as necessary to help us keep the public informed and protected, thank you.

>> great, let's open it up again to further questions.

Please, if you're on the line to ask questions, please mutes your phone if you're not actually asking a question, that would be helpful.

>> this is doug perry, the oregonian.

The washington county case, is that person a health care worker >> at this time all we're saying is that that person is, had contact with a previously known case.

>> correct.

>> is that all you're willing the say?

>> yes.

>> okay, thank you.

>> i'm wondering if the recommendations to cancel any events because of crowds, at this point are there any plans to cancel them?

>> at this time, we're not recommending widespread or even individual canceling of events.

The centers for disease control and prevention did update their guidance yesterday and we fully support the approach they're taking, is to recommend that those at highest risk for complications from this disease, this includes older individuals in our communities as well as those with underlying medical conditions, that they consider limiting their travel to events and gatherings.

That they stay home as much as possible in order to protect themselves.

I think those are prudent steps that individuals can take to help protect themselves, so if you have family members or friends who are in that situation, you know, reaching out and offering them support at this time is a good thing.

The issue for canceling large events, i think those come up and it remains a tool for us here in public health.

Many of the cancellations you've seen have been done because of participants who are planning ongoing to the event, may not be able to go for one reason or another.

Any health care providers, public health responders have been asked to -- at this time i think individuals who are at much risk for this disease should consider heeding the advice of the c.d.c.

And limit their travel as much as possible.

>> hi, i'm with the oregonian and i'm wondering if we can get the age ranges on those folks from washington county and klamath county.

>> we'll be posting age ranges but not by county, it will be the aggregation of how many people we have.

>> we just got those from jackson county, so why wouldn't we be able to get the age ranges for washington and klamath county?

>> our expectation is to post those from a state perspective in the aggregate.

The link is health oregon.gov coronavirus.

>> the doctor did say that two folks in jackson county were between the agings of 55 and 74, correct?

So i just don't know why we can't get that specific information for the two other counties.

>> our position as a state agency is to release that in the aggregate.

>> this is jerry howard with newswatch12.

Regarding the cases in jackson and klamath county, you talk about doing outreach to people who have been in contact with those positive cases.

To what extent are those patients you're monitoring -- are they going to church, going to work?

>> you'll be able to hear the answer better if you mute your phone.

>> this is wendy warren in klamath county.

At the present time we have identified contacts and they are being monitored.

As to where those contacts are, they have to be people that had close exposure, meaning at least within six feet of contact, and were exposed for over an hour.

We are not really at a point where we feel that we should be releasing information about where those contacts could have occurred.

>> still the same question with jackson county.

>> our answer is the same as klamath county.

We had very little exposure that would really put the public at risk.

And we've identified the few individuals specifically who might have been at some risk, and they're being monitored and appropriately followed by jackson county public health.

>> okay.

(inaudible) when you talk about monitoring and there was 278 individuals, can you go into detail about what that monitoring looks like?

>> sure, thank you for that question.

People being monitored are pee who have been identified to us in public health as having a high risk of exposure.

So that we are notified by the federal government of some returning travelers from china on cruise ships as well as individuals who we identified as part.

Our public investigation.

Please mute your phone, we're getting cross talk.

>> the persons under monitoring are phones who either we've been notified have returned from an area with spread of this disease such as china or some of the cruise ships, and people that are local and travel, have had close contact.

>> if you could please mute your lines, thank you.

>> all these individuals are contacted by our local health partners, they are asked questions about symptoms they may have had to determine whether or not they need to be tested at that time.

They're asked for where they traveled while they may, since they returned from their travel or since they had contact with that case.

We ask them to remain at home for two weeks and they are checked regularly to be sure they are remaining hoe and to see if they have any additional needs we can meet.

If they definitely symptoms we start that process over again and we obtain a test from them.

If that test is positive we identify the contact around them and site that same process with monitoring them for two weeks.

This is a very intensive process.

It's a process that our public health parters are used to doing, and it's a process that oregonians have been compliant with.

So all these actionses are serving to protect the public's health.

>> this is wendy from ktw.

Any idea if we plan ongoing into a state of emergency, and if not, what would that bar be?

>> this is pat allen with the health authority.

Basically a state of machine is a collection of tools that you have available that you only have available if you make that declaration.

And there are a couple flavors of emergency, there's a general state emergency that has to do with the governor's general powers under state law, and there's a public health emergency that's slightly different.

We would trigger that if we needed access to some of those tools.

Some examples might be under a general emergency is the freedom to move money around across different organizations or divert resources at the particular placings or to waive administrative things.

Also things like activating a reserve corps of health workers who can be deployed.

Contact tracing if that's necessary.

We're ready to request that kind of a declaration at the point that we need those resources, but we haven't determined that we need them at this point.