Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s decision Thursday to make Umatilla County stay home came after she learned of the alarming spread of the coronavirus in Hermiston estimated by researchers at Oregon State University.
A random sample of Hermiston residents last Saturday and Sunday found that 41 of 471 people, or 8.7%, tested positive for coronavirus.
The researchers later calculated that the actual prevalence was 17%, or around 3,000 active infections in a city of approximately 18,000 residents.
“This study confirms what we feared based on weeks of troubling data from the Oregon Health Authority: the coronavirus has spread throughout Hermiston and threatens the entire community,” Brown said in a statement.
Brown learned of the study results Thursday during a briefing by top leaders of the Oregon Health Authority, who also shared other data points collected by the state showing persistent problems in Umatilla County.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Umatilla County for a month and a half, bringing the jurisdiction to the fourth majority of cases in Oregon despite having the 13th majority of residents. Cases are also increasing in neighboring Morrow County, prompting Brown to push him back into Phase 1 reopening status.
The growth of cases in the Hermiston area had been well documented even before the last study, conducted by Oregon State University as part of their months-long project that began in Corvallis before moving to Bend and Newport. State data showed that Hermiston 97838 zip code has regularly had the highest number of new cases since June.
“Our results indicate that the virus is extremely widespread in Hermiston and is more prevalent than previous data indicated,” Ben Dalziel, assistant professor and co-director of the project, said in a statement.
It is unclear how many of the 41 people who tested positive during the OSU study had already been identified as positive and included in the numbers compiled by the Oregon Health Authority. The state has identified 1,902 Umatilla County residents with confirmed or suspected infections.
Dalziel told The Oregonian / OregonLive that participants sending test samples are not asked if they have already been tested or tested positive for COVID-19.
But researchers ask about the symptoms, and four out of five Hermiston residents who tested positive during the OSU project did not report having indicators of the virus. Participants receive a swab to collect a sample from their nose.
The researchers also collected sewage samples at Hermiston and Boardman in Morrow County, to monitor the spread. Those also showed high levels of the virus.
Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann expressed alarm at the findings.
“The results of this study are an important caveat,” he said in a statement. “Now we have a clearer idea of how many people are unknowingly carrying this disease, and how fast it is spreading from family to family, from home to home.”
– Brad Schmidt; [email protected]; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt
Subscribe to Oregonian / OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and best stories.
