PORTLAND, Ore. — A worldwide pandemic with a lot of moving parts; so much to do to fight COVID-19, so much information to process. The big news lately has been about vaccinations but testing people for the coronavirus is still a big priority.
And so far, Oregon has been able to maintain a pace above 100,000 tests a week, which started in mid-November.
“Testing has been really hard to maintain with the all-out efforts on the vaccine, so the fact that we've been able to maintain testing is really a tribute to our health system partners and people in public health who continue to stand up testing sites and to the people who go to get tested when they have symptoms so they know if they need to isolate and notify their contacts,” said Dr. Jennifer Vines, Multnomah County health officer, who also serves as lead health officer for Clackamas and Washington Counties.
It's Dr. Vine’s job to be concerned about other challenges that come up, including variant virus strains that are more contagious.
“My big hope is that these variants will not get a toehold in our region and that we'll be able to continue our vaccination efforts without having to put resources to responding to a surge,” said Vines.
The public health officer is hopeful because right now the positive test result numbers are going down. Statewide they’ve gone from 8.6% positivity in late November, to under 5% based on the latest reporting to the Oregon Health Authority. It’s the first time the rate has been under 5% since October.
Multnomah County has had fewer people testing positive for the coronavirus since mid-January, with 6% positive the week of Jan. 6, but dropping below 5% after that.
“The overall trend I think at this point is clear and that's thanks to everybody doing their part around the usual precautions: masking, distancing, limiting social interactions, “ said Vines. “Oregonians and those of us in the metro area have really hung on with our protective behaviors and you can see the payoff in the numbers.”
Clackamas County also dropped below 5% positive cases at the end of January. Washington County dropped below that mark earlier than that but has edged back most recently in that telling category.
Health officials say it doesn't take much to move the needle, that's why we all have to continue to be as safe as possible.