BREAKING LOCAL NEWS: Wahkiakum county has first COVID case, Clatsop declares 4th

Wahkiakum County, Washington, has its first diagnosed COVID-19 case. And Clatsop County now has its fourth.  Joanne Rideout reports.

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Wahkiakum County Health Dept director Chris Bischoff said the case was diagnosed last night, and announced today, after the department had contacted all contacts of the patient. The department has not released any demographic information for patient privacy in what he said is a small community. The person in in quarantine at home.

In Oregon, The Clatsop County Department of Health has announced a fourth coronavirus case.

The patient is female, between 30 and 40 years of age and is a south-county resident. No other

information was available as of Friday morning.

Public health staff follow established protocols with all COVID-19 cases, which is to investigate the contacts of the person infected, and contact those people regarding self-quarantine. Department staff check twice daily with positive case contacts to ensure they are properly self isolating.

To help control the spread of the illness, the department urges everyone to follow stay a home orders in both states, to the maximum extent possible, and observe social distancing.

In Oregon counties in our listening area as of Friday morning, there are currently four known cases in Clatsop County, Tillamook County reports 3, and Columbia County reports 1.

So far there have been 826 diagnosed cases statewide in Oregon, 21 deaths, and 16,085 people tested. That’s according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management.

Oregon reported 90 new cases statewide on Thursday, an uptick from previous days.

In Washington, Wahkiakum county now has one case, while Pacific County continuest o report zero confirmed cases as of Friday morning. Statewide, there are 6,585 cases, 262 deaths and a total of 79,418 people tested.

In Astoria, I’m Joanne Rideout.