PORTLAND, Ore. — Officials in Oregon reported 278 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, another daily record high for the state. The previous record high, which was set on Monday, was 184 cases.
In addition to the new cases, the Oregon Health Authority reported two more deaths connected to the coronavirus. The state's death toll is at 182 people. The following information was released about the people who died:
- An 89-year-old man in Clackamas County, who tested positive on June 13 and died on June 15, in his residence. He had underlying medical conditions.
- An 85-year-old woman in Marion County, who tested positive on June 11 and died on June 13, at Salem Hospital. She had underlying medical conditions.
Tuesday’s record case count can be partially attributed to an outbreak in Eastern Oregon’s Union County. Of the 278 newly reported cases, 119 are in Union County. That comes after 99 people in the county tested positive for the virus on Monday. Most of the cases are associated with Lighthouse United Pentecostal Church. Prior to Monday, there had been just a total of 22 known cases in the county during the pandemic.
Here’s the county breakdown for the new cases reported on Tuesday:
- Clackamas: 21
- Crook: 1
- Hood River: 1
- Jackson: 1
- Jefferson: 1
- Josephine: 1
- Klamath: 8
- Lane: 1
- Lincoln: 17
- Marion: 22
- Morrow: 2
- Multnomah: 41
- Umatilla: 1
- Union: 119
- Wasco: 1
- Washington: 37
- Yamhill: 2
Oregon has reported at least 100 daily new coronavirus cases in eight of the last 10 days. Prior to this stretch, the state had only reported 100 cases in a day once, on April 4.
Health officials have attributed the surge in cases to numerous potential factors, including the partial reopening of the state, workplace outbreaks and increased testing and contact tracing.
The spike has prompted concern with the OHA and Gov. Kate Brown’s office, which led to the governor’s decision to put all reopening applications, including Phase 1 for Multnomah County, on hold through at least Friday.
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There has been a total of 6,098 COVID-19 cases in Oregon during the pandemic. It’s not known how many of those are active infections. A total of 179,337 tests have been completed, with 173,440 (96.7%) coming back negative.