PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 61 active COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon as this week. That’s the same number of active outbreaks that was reported last week by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
Nine deaths have been associated with workplace outbreaks in Oregon during the pandemic.
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 436 coronavirus cases linked to the outbreak, with the most recent onset reported on Sept. 25.
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.
An outbreak that saw a noticeable jump last week was at Pacific Seafood in Warrenton, where the number of known cases linked to the outbreak increased from eight to 86. It is now the fifth-largest active workplace outbreak in the state. It’s not the first time the company has had troubles limiting the spread of the coronavirus. There were 187 cases linked the company’s Newport location this summer, although that outbreak has since been resolved.
The six largest active outbreaks are at food processing facilities and correctional facilities:
- Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario: 436 cases
- Eastern Oregon Correction Institution, Pendleton: 334 cases
- Lamb Weston, Hermiston: 186 cases
- Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla: 110 cases
- Pacific Seafood: 86 cases
- Lamb Weston East, Boardman: 67 cases
“The presence of correctional facilities and food packing and agricultural worksites on this list highlights the challenges of controlling COVID-19 in settings where people must work or live in proximity,” OHA says in the report. “People of color are overrepresented in agricultural and correctional settings, contributing to the higher rates of COVID-19 observed in these groups.”
Five of the 10 largest active COVID-19 workplace outbreaks are associated with businesses in Eastern Oregon's Umatilla County, which is home to a population of just over 78,000.
OHA also updated it’s list of businesses where COVID-19 outbreaks have been resolved over the last 56 days. Outbreaks are considered resolved if there hasn’t been a known case in 28 days.
Newly added to the list of resolved outbreaks is Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston, which hasn’t had a known COVID-19 case since Aug. 29. There had been 72 cases tied to the company, which previously made it one of the larger workplace outbreaks in the state.
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, Sept. 27.
The OHA weekly report also shows that from Sept. 21-27, there was a 32% increase in COVID-19 cases. That coincided with a 29% increase in the number of Oregonians tested for the coronavirus. The positive test rate remained at 6.2%.
