Nancy Staten

September has surpassed August as the month with the most COVID-19 cases in Baker County.

The 16 new cases reported on Friday, Sept. 17 pushed the monthly total to 309.

There were 300 cases during August.

The previous monthly record was 196 cases in December 2020.

Ten more cases were reported during the weekend — eight on Saturday, two on Sunday — bringing September’s total, through the 19th, to 319.

The weekend total of 10 cases was the fewest in a two-day period since late August, but Nancy Staten, director of the Baker County Health Department, is not convinced the county’s record-setting rise in infections is dissipating.

“I wish that we could see a downward trend,” Staten said.

She noted that the somewhat lower weekend case totals might reflect a lag in reporting rather than an actual drop.

Case numbers generally have been lower on weekends recently, Staten pointed out.

On Saturday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, Sept. 12, there were 25 total cases. For the following Monday and Tuesday the total was 55.

On Saturday, Aug. 28 and Sunday, Aug. 29 the total was nine, followed by 25 cases for the next two days.

Staten said the weekly total of 139 cases from Sept. 12-18 was the highest for the county during the pandemic.

On Friday the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported that a 72-year-old Baker County woman who tested positive for COVID-19 had died on Sept. 7.

It was the county’s 20th COVID-related death, and the first since Aug. 17. OHA has reported three COVID-19 related deaths in the county since July 29, when the daily case rate began to rise rapidly.

Monthly totals have risen from 51 in May, to 70 in June, to 91 in July and to 300 in August.

Vaccination rate

Staten said she’s cautiously optimistic about a slight rise recently in the county’s vaccination rate.

A total of 357 doses were administered in the county from Sept. 1-16, according to the OHA, a daily average of 22.3 doses. A total of 52 doses were given on Sept. 10, the county’s highest one-day total since June 11, when 90 doses were administered.

The August daily average was 20.4 doses. July’s average was 12.8 doses per day.

Staten said some of the people who are visiting the Health Department for inoculations are required, by their employer, to be vaccinated.

She said Health Department workers have also talked to some people who worried that they had been exposed to COVID-19 and sought a vaccination as a result.

Staten noted that the vaccines can’t prevent infection if they’re given after the fact.

Baker County has the sixth-lowest vaccination rate among Oregon’s 36 counties, with 50.5% of residents 18 and older vaccinated as of Friday, Sept. 17.

Statewide, 74.1% of residents 18 and older are vaccinated, according to OHA.

Staten said the Health Department is working with school districts to prevent virus spread in schools and allow in-person classes to continue.

“We’re doing everything we can to isolate and quarantine so we can keep our schools open,” Staten said. “Hopefully people are staying home if they’re sick. It’s a challenge, and it’s tough on parents.”

The Health Department last week adopted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s reduced quarantine period for most people who are close contacts with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The period has been reduced from 14 days to 10 days. Close contacts who don’t have symptoms after 10 days of quarantining can return to school on the 11th day.

The shorter period is also recommended for adults, except residents of long-term care facilities.

“The change to quarantine time is based on research that shows the likelihood of a close contact contracting or spreading COVID-19 after day 10 is very low,” according to a press release from the Health Department.

Other aspects of the new quarantine protocol include:

• The shortened quarantine is for those without symptoms. Testing is recommended for close contacts that develop symptoms.

• All close contacts will still monitor for symptoms for 14 days.

• Fully vaccinated individuals (those who are two weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or single dose of Johnson & Johnson) do not need to quarantine unless they have symptoms.

Breakthrough cases

The OHA on Thursday, Sept. 16 released its weekly report of breakthrough cases — infections in people who are fully vaccinated.

In Baker County, breakthrough cases accounted for 12.5% of cases from Sept. 6-12 — 14 of 112 cases.

From Aug. 1 through Sept. 12, the county’s breakthrough case rate was 9.5% — 45 of 474 cases.

Breakthrough cases have been less common in Baker County than in Oregon as a whole.

According to OHA, the rate of breakthrough cases statewide has been 18.9% since Aug. 1.