Over the past few weeks, Oregon has seen a steady rise in daily coronavirus cases, culminating on Thursday when the state recorded 484 new cases – the single-highest number of new cases in the state since the pandemic began.
During a media briefing Thursday, Deputy State Health Officer and State Epidemiologist Dr. Tom Jeanne said that cases have been caused by infections passed along at social gatherings, workplaces and long-term care facilities.
“This increase in cases has reversed the progress we made in the late summer, and our most recent modeling shows the virus is spreading more rapidly just as we enter the fall and winter when Oregonians will spend more time indoors,” said the Oregon Health Authority in a press release on Thursday. “When the virus is in the community, it will spread if people don’t take precautions. If people don’t wear masks and socialize frequently with people outside their households and gather in groups, the virus will enter our workplaces and nursing homes.”
Jeanne reminded Oregonians that each person needs to continue to take this threat seriously.
“The choices we make affect not only us and our families but our neighbors, our communities and the most vulnerable people among us,” he said.
A survey of 1,000 Oregonians, conducted by DHM Research, shows that while most people wear masks in public, many still continue to gather socially on a frequent basis. The survey found the following regarding the public’s practices:
- More than eight in 10 report wearing masks nearly all of the time while in public indoor spaces.
- More than two in three avoid crowded places.
- More than six in 10 are staying 6 feet apart when in public.
- The survey also found the following about how often people attend gatherings:
- Half of Oregonians report attending about four or more social gatherings in the previous two weeks.
- One in five Oregonians say they have attended at least one social gathering of more than 10 people in the past two weeks.
- 16% of respondents said they participated in 11 or more social gatherings in the previous two weeks.
A separate survey of 468 Latinx Oregonians conducted in Spanish by Lara Media found the following:
- 87% of respondents report wearing a face mask nearly all of the time while in public indoor spaces.
- More than half of respondents avoid crowded places.
- More than six in 10 are staying 6 feet apart when in public.
The survey found different levels of concern about COVID-19 among respondents based on age, geography, political views and race/ethnicity. Latinos expressed higher levels of concern than whites and reported wearing masks more frequently. Members of the Latinx community have accounted for nearly 40 percent of Oregon’s COVID-19 cases.
said, “These results show that nearly all Oregonians understand it’s important to wear a mask,” said Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen. “But fewer Oregonians believe they’re at risk of getting sick and too many people are socializing indoors in bigger groups. It’s hard to sustain the changes we’ve all had to make in our lives to keep ourselves and others safe from COVID-19. But we won’t be able to prevent more infections, and get more schools and businesses open in Oregon, until more people act with urgency and avoid the social super-spreader gatherings that have driven COVID-19 transmission and disease in Oregon.”
