Some Rural Counties Battle Vaccine Hesitancy
As Oregon prepares to open the vaccine floodgates to everyone 16 and older April 19, health officials face a proportion of rural residents who don't want a jab.
As Oregon prepares to open the vaccine floodgates to everyone 16 and older April 19, health officials face a proportion of rural residents who don't want a jab.
The announcement ended suspense over a project first announced six months ago; Oregon is one of four states along or west of the Continental Divide that hasn’t adopted the technology.
New guidelines, to go into effect Jan. 29 through Feb. 11, will allow gyms and theaters to open to a limited number customers in places, but the easing will not apply to indoor dining, which will remain banned in counties with the highest risk level.
Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday announced new coronavirus risk levels for counties across the state, shifting three additional counties on the coast and in eastern Oregon to the highest concern level.
A top health official at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver said he doesn’t know how COVID-19 spread from one patient to another 29 people, including 18 additional patients.
The designation means that indoor dining is banned and certain indoor businesses, like gyms and theaters, must close and indoor religious services are capped at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is smaller.
With 25% of his hospital beds taken up by COVID-19 patients, the hospital system is converting more beds for these patients and deferring surgeries to make room.