PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 73 active COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon as of this week. That’s one more than the 72 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 24 deaths 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 498 coronavirus cases linked to the outbreak, with the most recent onset reported on Sept. 30.
INTERACTIVE: Active COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon
Three of the four largest active workplace outbreaks in Oregon are at prisons.
- Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario: 498 cases (most)
- Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton: 400 cases (second-most)
- Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla: 128 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 189 cases, the third-largest active workplace outbreak in Oregon, with the most recent case reported on Sept. 30.
OHA also updated its list of businesses where COVID-19 outbreaks have been resolved. That list now includes 44 workplaces. 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, Oct. 11.
More Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 last week than any other week since the start of the pandemic, and hospitalizations were at their highest peak since mid-July, according to the weekly report.
From Monday, Oct. 5 to Sunday, Oct. 11, the OHA detected 2,418 new COVID-19 cases, an 18% spike from the week before.
