April 28, 2020

The numbers remain steady in Northeast Oregon for COVID-19 cases. Union County remains unchanged at four positive cases, while Wallowa County has one. Statewide, there are 2,385 positive cases and 99 deaths. The Oregon Health Authority released information today about the state’s recovered patients. In Union County, three of the four COVID-19 cases have recovered. Wallowa County’s single case has recovered and Umatilla County – who has reported an increase of positive cases – has 15 of its 36 cases recovered.

In order to determine recovery, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) called each COVID-19 positive diagnosis case to identify if they have recovered and the date of the recovery. An individual is considered recovered once they are free from fever (without the use of fever-reducing medication), cough, shortness of breath, and diarrhea for 72 hours. If they have not yet met the “recovered” definition, public health staff will continue to call weekly until the person is deemed recovered. COVID-19 cases without symptoms are considered recovered seven days after their last positive test. Of the 2,253 surviving Oregon COVID-19 cases, 860 (38.2%) are considered recovered and 785 (34.8%) are not yet recovered. The OHA is still assessing recovery status for 607 (26.9%) of the COVID-19 cases. You can find additional information here:
https://govsite-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/U2Ui9gUiSxG1oSnXa3h…

The federal government passed the CARES Act yesterday, which assists those who are unemployed but ineligible for standard unemployment to obtain the assistance they need. Known as the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program will provide unemployment benefits to those people who are self-employed, independent contractors, and those who do not have enough recent earnings to receive standard unemployment benefits. For those interested, email the following address to request an application: OED_PUA_INFO@oregon.gov