PORTLAND, Ore. — In Multnomah County, the call to wear masks and keep our distance is working to hold the line on the resurgence of COVID-19.
“We've seen over the past couple weeks, cases come down,” said Rachael Banks, the director of public health for Multnomah County.
But the number of cases is not down nearly far enough. The county needs to hit roughly 80 known cases per week for schools to open in-person under Gov. Kate Brown’s guidelines. The county announced 107 new cases in just the last two days. Multnomah County has not been below 80 cases a week since the third week of the pandemic — it was 89 that week.
And while cases are currently down a bit from the most recent high points, there were still 332 people in the county who tested positive for COVID-19 in the most recent data for the week beginning Aug. 9.
It's why Brown offered a bit of a scolding last week.
“To keep students, teachers and staff safe in our schools across the state – we need to see a much more rapid decline in case numbers and we need to see it quickly,” she said.
The governor's metrics require a statewide average of about 60 cases a day to reopen all schools. Right now, the statewide number is closer to 300.
She turned up the heat on local leaders with specific suggestions.
“Local officials need to conduct more business inspections in places like indoor entertainment venues and restaurant kitchens,” said Brown.
“Local officials need to get creative about enforcing rules against large social gatherings. Big house parties, pool parties and so forth,” Brown added.
A county spokesperson said business inspections were increasing this week. But when it comes to policing big gatherings, the spokeswoman said calling police would not make sense.
There's also widespread skepticism about hitting 80 cases a week in Multnomah County.
“The metro area is going to be challenging. I think there's some different factors with community spread that happen in a metro area where there's just much more mingling of people from county to county. So, I do think it’s going to be a challenge,” Banks said.
In the meantime, Banks is beginning to speak out, urging everyone planning big Labor Day parties in two weeks to take at least one step to reduce the risk of infections.
“Even if it’s one thing you can do to reduce risk. Maybe it’s doing a virtual call with family instead of having the gathering. Maybe it's wearing face coverings inside even at a family member’s house that isn’t your own household. Maybe it's inviting less people over for that fabulous barbecue or ribs and salad that you’re going to have,” said Banks.
But Brown insisted the weekly infection number needs to come down fast.
“If we cannot improve our trajectory over the rest of the month by increased compliance with already existing policies and guidelines, unfortunately, I will need to add more restrictions,” she said.
The clock is ticking.