Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team - Daily Update - March 23, 2021 - 03/23/21
Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT
JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 23, 2021
DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE
(Douglas County, Ore.) GOOD NEWS! Not to jinx our progress, but today we are sharing lots of good news. Our new COVID case count numbers, as well as our number of local hospitalized COVID patients are definitely coming down. Once again, we are reporting single digit new case numbers, and we would have to journey back to January 2, 2021 to see a day with three or less hospitalized patients. This is definitely the progress we want to see!!
DOUGLAS COUNTY MOVING DOWN TO STATE MANDATED HIGH RISK COVID LEVEL GUIDANCE
After two-cycles and four weeks of our residents and businesses being in the State’s mandated Extreme Risk COVID Level, we are moving down a level! Because of everyone’s diligence, our COVID case numbers have come down during the State’s last two-week monitoring period, and came in below their Extreme Risk COVID Level threshold. Therefore, the State of Oregon officially announced today that Douglas County would be moving down to the State’s mandated High Risk COVID Level guidance beginning on Friday, March 26, 2021. Douglas County will be in the State’s mandated High Risk COVID Level for the next two-week period, beginning Friday, March 26, 2021 and continuing through Thursday, April 8, 2021. The high-risk level allows ALL of our local business the opportunity to be OPEN, with some restrictions and limitations on capacity. We wanted to make note, that as part of the state COVID risk and safety mandates instituted in December 2020, Senior Centers and Hookah Bars are not allowed to operate regardless of the risk level in their county. Statewide, there will be two counties in the State’s mandated Extreme Risk Level, six at High Risk, 14 at Moderate Risk, and 14 at Lower Risk. A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available from OHA here. We want to applaud the efforts of our residents and businesses for following the recommended guidelines, and for making good decisions in order for our communities to reopen. The new risk level does not affect the ability of faith based organizations and local school districts to offer in-person services and classes. They are able to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. The next State mandated risk level movement announcement will be released from the State on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, and will be effective from Friday, April 9, 2021 through Thursday, April 22, 2021. Thank you and keep up the good work Douglas County!
DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 TEST RESULTS: As of 12:00 pm Today, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, there are SEVEN (7) people with new positive test results to report since our noon case update yesterday. The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptives) in Douglas County is now at 2,806*. Currently, there are THREE (3) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, two locally and one out-of-the-area. Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID-19 response efforts.
|
Date |
Friday, March 19, 2021 |
Saturday, March 20, 2021 |
Sunday, March 21, 2021 |
Monday, March 22, 2021 |
Today, Tuesday, March 23, 2021 |
|
Total COVID-19 Cases |
2,770 |
2,779 |
2,786 |
2,799 |
2,806 |
|
People w/ Positive PCR or Antigen Test Results |
2,637 |
2,646 |
2,652 |
2,662 |
2,669 |
|
Presumptive |
133 |
133 |
134 |
137 |
137 |
|
Total Currently Hospitalized |
11 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
|
Total Currently in Isolation |
124 |
117 |
126 |
121 |
125 |
|
Total COVID-19 Related Deaths |
58 |
58 |
58 |
58 |
58 |
*Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. There will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted. On Thursday, February 11, 2021, we removed the vaccination distribution row from our daily COVID chart. Instead, we will be providing a vaccine tally once a week on Fridays for the vaccines received by our local public health, and then deployed to local vaccinators. Please note that our cumulative vaccine numbers do NOT include other vaccination sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe, Pharmacies and local care facilities that have received their vaccines directly from the Federal and State Government.
LOCAL CONTACTS AND CASES BEING SUPPORTED IN ISOLATION AND QUARANTINE
Currently, DPHN is supporting 125 cases in isolation, as well as another 206 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases. Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 331 total contacts and cases in isolation or quarantine. This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID.
COVID-19 VACCINE ELIGIBILITY**
According to the State of Oregon/OHA’s vaccination eligibility plan, as of today, residents in the following categories are eligible to make an appointment for the COVID-19 Vaccine:
- Phase 1-A, Groups 1-4: All health care facilities, providers and workers; first responders; EMS, skilled, long term and memory care facilities; correctional facility workers; tribal health programs; VA workers and qualifying Veterans; caregivers of medically fragile individuals who live at home; age-eligible individuals with a medical condition or disability who receive services in their homes.
- Phase 1-B, Group 1: Child care providers, early learning and K-12 educators and staff.
- Phase 1-B, Groups 2-5: Residents 65-years-of-age or older
I AM ELIGIBLE, HOW DO I SIGN UP TO GET THE COVID-19 VACCINE?
Our local public health continue to follow the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) eligibility guidelines, and are ONLY scheduling appointments for residents that are listed on OHA’s list of currently eligible groups at this time. Douglas County, DPHN or your Doctor’s Office did not set the guidelines for who is eligible to get the vaccine. For more information, on how the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA) set up their COVID vaccine guidelines, please contact them directly. As a reminder, eligibility dates and vaccine availability are always subject to change, and eligibility does not mean availability. Please, if you are not in an eligible vaccine group right now, we ask that you continue to be patient, and wait to call, email or try to set up an appointment until after your age or eligibility group becomes eligible.
I Am Eligible for Phase 1-A, Groups 1-4
For those residents who are a part of Phase 1-A, but have not received their COVID-19 vaccine, please send an e-mail to vaccines@DouglasPublicHealthNetwork.org and DPHN will connect you with a local vaccine provider. Please only send a request to get a vaccine to this email if you are Phase 1-A eligible. You can also check with your employer to see if they will be offering or referring employees to get vaccines.
I Am Eligible for Phase 1-B, Group 1
For those residents in Phase 1-B, Group 1: Educators, childcare and early education workers, you should have already received emails about your eligibility from DPHN or Douglas ESD. If you are in that group and still want a vaccine, please send an email to educatorvaccines@DouglasPublicHealthNetwork.org. If you did not receive an e-mail, please contact your employer.
I Am Eligible for Phase 1-B, Groups 2-5: Seniors 65 and Older
As of Monday, March 1, 2021, residents 65-years-of-age and older became eligible to schedule an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Eligible seniors are asked to call and set up an appointment with their health care provider or local pharmacy listed on our vaccinators list. Click here to read the most recent update to the Douglas County Senior Population Vaccination Plan, with our current list of local vaccinators. Our plan for Senior COVID-19 Vaccinations in Douglas County is to have eligible seniors get their COVID vaccine where they get their regular health care or flu vaccine. Additionally, Douglas County held our first successful drive-through COVID-19 vaccination event for seniors on Saturday, March 13, 2021. Douglas County, DPHN and our local health care partners are hoping to plan more drive-through COVID vaccination events in the future. As a reminder, because the COVID vaccines have very specific handling constraints, all providers offering to vaccinate eligible residents will be administering vaccines with a scheduled appointment only. Doctor’s offices, medical facilities, Urgent Care Clinics and Pharmacy’s will not and cannot do walk-in appointments.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR SENIORS MAKING COVID-19 VACCINE APPOINTMENTS:
- FIRST: We ask that eligible seniors contact their primary health care provider FIRST, to see if they are administering the COVID-19 vaccine.
- PROVIDER NOT A VACCINATOR? If your primary health care provider is not administering the COVID-19 vaccine, we encourage you to ask them to get signed up to be a local vaccinator through DPHN.
- GET A REFERRAL: If your primary health care provider is not administering the COVID-19 vaccine, ask them for a referral to another health care provider, clinic or pharmacy, who are administering the vaccine.
- NO REFERRAL: If your primary health care provider does not provide referrals, then please contact your regular pharmacy or a pharmacy listed on our vaccinators list and ask them about scheduling an appointment.
- LOCAL CLINICS: Please also note that many of our local health care providers listed on our vaccinators list are currently working through their eligible patient lists first. Therefore, they may not be scheduling appointments for new, referral or outside patients at this time.
- NOT ENOUGH VACCINE: Vaccine supply is beyond our control, but we continue to submit requests and strive to get as much vaccine sent to Douglas County as possible. Even though medical clinics or doctor’s offices are signed up as local vaccinators, does not guarantee they will have the vaccine in stock.
- PATIENCE: DPHN and our health care partner’s thank you for your patience as we work with the State and OHA to acquire more vaccines.
Local Tribal Health Vaccine Programs
If you are a member of the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, please contact them for information on their COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs at (541) 672-9405 or log onto: https://www.cowcreek-nsn.gov/public-health/. Tribal Health Care Programs receive their vaccines directly from the Federal Government, and not through our local public health allocation from the State.
VA Workers and Eligible U.S. Military Veterans
The Roseburg VA Health Care System is setting up appointments for specific groups of veteran patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. To find out if you qualify for the current round of COVID-19 vaccinations at the Roseburg VAMC, plea call or email them directly. VA Health Care Systems receive their vaccine directly from the Federal Government and not through our local public health allocation from the State. For more information, call the Roseburg VAMC at (541) 440-1000 or log onto: https://www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/.
What If I Am Not On The OHA Eligible List Right Now?
As we have mentioned before, if you are not specifically listed on one of OHA’s published eligible vaccine groups, then you are not eligible to get or sign up for the vaccine yet. We ask that you please be patient and wait until you are eligible to contact your doctor, health care provider, DPHN, Douglas County, local hospitals and our hotline. Again, just because you will be in an upcoming eligibility group does not mean we have vaccines available for you, or that we know when we might receive vaccines for your group.
COVID-19 VACCINE AVAILABILITY AND ALLOCATION INFORMATION
Your Local Public Health Administrator and Douglas County Public Health Official, along with DPHN and our local health care partners have been working hard to acquire more vaccines, and vaccinate those that are eligible and want the vaccine.
Last week, the week of March 15, 2021 we received 1,900 prime doses of the Moderna vaccine and 1,170 prime doses of the Pfizer vaccine, for a total of 3,070 prime (first) doses. All vaccine doses received to date have been deployed to local approved vaccinators throughout the county. As we mentioned before, we are finally seeing a fair and equitable allotment of COVID vaccines from the State of Oregon and we are hopeful that the distribution levels will continue. It is also important to note, that in addition to the first dose vaccines that we receive from the State of Oregon on a weekly basis, we also receive our allocation of second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which are paired with the first doses, and are not counted in the overall total vaccines that we have receive each week. Please note that our vaccine numbers do NOT include other vaccination sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe, Pharmacies and local care facilities that have received their vaccines directly from the Federal or State Government.
How Do I Get My Second Dose of the COVID Pfizer or Moderna Vaccine?
For those residents who have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, here are a few answers to questions about your second and final dose.
- We are told that those who get vaccinated can expect a second dose about 4-6 weeks after the first dose.
- You should have received a vaccination card when you received your first dose that details the brand of vaccine, its lot number, and the date the vaccine was administered. This card is for your records only, and is not official proof that you have received the vaccine. Proof of your vaccination rests with the State Alert System, which is accessible by medical facilities.
- You should get your second dose from the same provider or organization from which you received your first. However, the physical address where you receive the second dose may change.
- You will be notified by the provider or organization that gave you your first dose about where and when you will receive your second dose.
- I got a first vaccine out of the area; can I get my second vaccine in Douglas County? The second vaccine dose is “paired” to the first dose, and your second dose will be sent to wherever you got your first dose. Therefore, except in rare circumstances, you will need to return to where you got your first dose.
- If you have questions, please contact the provider or organization where you received your first dose.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SAFE
We are not able to say for sure when we will receive more vaccines, or when State guidelines might change or when we can start to resume some sort of normality in our lives. However, we can continue encourage everyone, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, to gauge your risk level, and to make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you from contracting or spreading coronavirus. We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick, and wear face coverings where recommended. Click here, for a graphic on how to protect you and your family from the spread of COVID-19. We know how important family, businesses and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.
LOCAL COVID-19 TESTING AND FACEBOOK LIVE
Douglas County COVID-19 Drive-Thru Testing Clinics
Due to widely available COVID-19 testing opportunities in Douglas County, your local public health authority and DPHN have decided to step-back our drive-through testing clinics to one day a week for the time being. If needs increase, we are prepared to increase testing to 2-3 times a week again. As we have reported before, we were one of the first counties in the state to do a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic, and we have done 2-3 clinics a week since March 2020 in Roseburg, as well as drive-through testing clinics in Reedsport. DPHN has also been part of increasing the availability and types of testing at multiple sites and locations across the county, also leading the state in rapid testing availability. The next drive-through testing clinic will be Friday, March 26, 2021, in Roseburg. As a reminder, if you are having symptoms of COVID-19 including cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches and pains, diarrhea, sore throat or decreased sense of smell and taste, talk to your health care provider about being tested for COVID-19. Patients without a Primary Care Provider that are looking for a COVID-19 test can contact the Sutherlin Aviva Health Clinic at (541) 459-3788.
Facebook Live with Dr. Bob
Join us Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 6:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page. Please submit your questions during the live show or you can email questions to: Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org. Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.
STATE AND FEDERAL COVID-19 INFO
Again, it is important to note that we are not the ones setting the guidelines for vaccine eligibility or availability. We are following the current priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA). Go online or contact the CDC or OHA directly for more information. OHA posts its COVID updates and reports at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders. The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with the current State COVID guidelines. If you have concerns, questions or wish to report compliance, issues contact these state agencies directly: OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website.
LOCAL COVID-19 RESOURCES
Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT team have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020.
Local Online Access to Updates
Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County by visiting the Douglas County Government website or DCGOV Facebook page or the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.
Free Local e-Newsletter Subscription
You can also sign up for the Douglas County e-Newsletter that publishes and sends out the daily update to our subscription base free. You can sign up for the Douglas County e-Newsletter at www.co.douglas.or.us. Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020.
Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550
Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19. The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services. Our local hotline number is (541) 464-6550 and is staffed from 8:00 am to 5: pm, 7 days a week.
Check Out DPHN’s Top Three COVID Vaccine Questions of the Day
In response to the huge increase in calls and emails that Douglas Public Health Network (DPHN), the DCCRT, Douglas County and our local COVID Hotline have received in the last few weeks regarding COVID vaccinations, DPHN added a new segment to their website that will highlight answers to the Top Three COVID Vaccine Questions of the Day. Click here to link to the DPHN website.
Aviva Health Offers Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions Webpage
Aviva Health has created an online FAQ page to answer questions related to COVID-19 regarding availability and scheduling. Log onto https://aviva.health/covid-19-vaccine-faqs/
COVID Vaccine Call Center at Lower Umpqua Hospital District in Reedsport
Lower Umpqua Hospital District now has a COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center for COVID-19 vaccine information in the Reedsport, Douglas County Coastal area. The LUHD COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center number is (541) 271-2175, and is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us
Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org
