UPDATE: (2:53 p.m. PT) Health officials in Clark County announced Tuesday that 84 people have tested positive for COVID-19 as part of an outbreak at a Vancouver fruit processor, Firestone Pacific Foods.

Sixty-nine employees have tested positive for COVID-19, four of whom arent Clark County residents. Another 15 people identified as close contacts of those cases have also testedpositive.

A total of 165 employees and 83 close contacts have been tested, with additional testing of employees and close contactsexpected.

The outbreak prompted Washington to pause Clark Countys request to move to Washingtons Phase 2 of reopening. It may be the largest non-health care-linked cluster of coronavirus cases in the greater Portland metroarea.

In total, 510 people have tested positive in Clark County and 25 people havedied.

The most recent available data from the Washington Department of Health show 19,265 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state and 1,050 knowndeaths.

The Oregon Health Authority reported 18 new coronavirus cases and one presumptive case in the state Tuesday. The states total number of known positive and presumptive cases is3,967.

Presumptive cases are people who have not tested positive but have COVID-19 symptoms and have had close contact with someone confirmed to be infected with thevirus.

Officials have reported no new coronavirus-related deaths for the second day in arow.

In Oregon, 148 people are known to have died fromCOVID-19.

Due to data reconciliation, one case originally reported as presumptive in Josephine County was determined to not be a case. Two other cases one in the 30-39 age group and one in the 70-79 age group were also determined not to becases.

Researchers at Oregon State University will look into Bends sewer system for genetic evidence of COVID-19 in an effort to help determine the virus prevalence in thecity.

Bend public works staff will collect sewage samples the weekend of May 30-31 as part of its Coronavirus Sewer Surveillance, the same weekend field workers from OSUs TRACE-COVID-19 project will gather nasal swab samples door-to-door inBend.

Sewer analysis results will be compared with nasal swab results to better detect the virus among symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers ofCOVID-19.

A really important step is to continue to validate the reliability of our sewer surveillance data with more traditional prevalence data from the medical community andresearchers.

Fortunately, the early indications suggest that sewer analysis is a reliable method, said Tyler Radniecki, an associate professor of environmental engineering said in astatement.

OSU said it has the lab capability to do genetic testing with a predicted turnaround time of about aweek.

The university said additional sewer surveillance projects are underway in WashingtonCounty.

In a three-sentence response to the Oregon Supreme Court, the Baker County Circuit Court Judge who vacated more than 20 of Gov. Kate Browns executive orders surrounding the states response to the coronavirus pandemic, told the court on Tuesday he wouldnt back down fromhisdecision.

I have elected to stand by my original ruling, Circuit Court Judge Matthew Shirtcliff wrote. I will not be vacating the May 18, 2020 Order Granting Preliminary Injunctive Relief and Denying Motions To Dismiss or takingotheraction.

A group of churches and eastern Oregon public officials have sued, arguing Browns executive orders exceed her authority understatelaw.

As Oregon counties continue to move forward with reopening, Portland International Airport has seen a small increase in travelers over the last twoweeks.

As states (and even other countries) begin to reopen, we expect the trends to continue slowly upward for air travel, said communications manager Susie Rantz with the Port ofPortland.

However, the virus is really in charge when it comes to air travel so its so hard to know what a few months from now might looklike.

Rantz said that passenger volumes at PDX are still down approximately 92% compared to this time last year. That decrease reached a bottom of nearly 96% inmid-April.

Airlines typically release their flight schedules on a quarterly basis, which saw dramatic reductions between April and June. Rantz said that passenger trends will become clearer when airlines update their Julyschedules.

The Oregon Employment Department announced Project Focus 100 on Tuesday, outlining a plan to address the 38,000 backlogged unemployment claims in the state.The department said it will continue to hire and train new employees, as well as assign experienced professionals on the oldest and most complexcases.

From May 29 to June 12, the agency said it will increase its outbound calls to resolve claims for people who have been waiting thelongest.

The Employment Department said it is trying out new ways of contacting people to let them know where their claims are in the system and said theyve identified ways to move claims out of processing traps that can delaythem.

See the article here:
84 Positive COVID-19 Cases Linked to Vancouver Fruit Processor - OPB News

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