PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 90 active COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon as of this week. That’s 14 more than the 76 active workplace outbreaks reported last week by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
Health officials track outbreaks of five or more employees at workplaces where there are at least 30 workers. An outbreak remains active if there has been a case within the past 28 days. The case count for each workplace includes everyone who is linked to the outbreak, whether they are workers or a close contact.
OHA said there have been 45 deaths and 9,226 cases associated with workplace outbreaks in Oregon during the pandemic. That’s eight more deaths and 621 more cases than officials reported last week.
The largest active outbreak remains at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario. The outbreak was first identified on June 24 and the case count has continued to rise since then. There have been 532 coronavirus cases linked to the outbreak, with the most recent onset reported on Nov. 5.
Three of the four largest active workplace outbreaks in Oregon are at prisons:
- Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario: 532 cases (most)
- Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton: 485 cases (second-most)
- Oregon State Correctional Institution, Salem: 131 cases (fourth-most)
Food processing and packaging facilities have also been hot spots for COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace. Lamb Weston, a potato processing facility in Hermiston, has been linked to 192 cases, the third-largest active workplace outbreak in Oregon, with the most recent case reported on Oct. 25. Lamb Weston East, in Boardman, has been connected to 79 cases, the sixth-largest active workplace outbreak in the state. The most recent case there was reported on Oct. 31.
Of new workplace outbreaks reported last week, the largest was at the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, where there have been 14 known cases tied to an outbreak.
Health officials also reported a list of 53 workplaces where COVID-19 outbreaks have been resolved (Table 8) over the last eight weeks. Outbreaks are considered resolved if there hasn’t been a known case in 28 days.
The full workplace outbreak list was published in OHA's weekly report, which details the state’s response to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The data is current as of 11 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.
COVID-19 continues to surge in Oregon and across the country. The OHA reported more coronavirus cases last week than any other week during the pandemic. It’s the third consecutive week Oregon has set a record for most new cases. There were 1,121 new cases reported Thursday in Oregon, the most in a single day so far during the pandemic.
