10 ZIP codes with most new coronavirus cases in Oregon
Updated Feb 13, 2021;
Posted Feb 13, 2021
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Coronavirus cases declined in Oregon last week as the state seemingly settled into a new normal: 4,000-something weekly confirmed or presumed infections.
Oregon has now seen three consecutive weeks below 4,800 cases, a feat that hasn’t happened since October. And it appears very likely Oregon will add a fourth week to the streak.
ZIP codes outside the Portland area saw the most coronavirus cases last week – with one major exception. The Portland ZIP code home to the Inverness Jail, where a large outbreak is infecting adults in custody, led the state in cases for a second week in a row.
COVID jail outbreak in Portland followed months of warnings February 09 2021
As 109 inmates test positive, critics blast jail safety, say Sheriff Reese needs to beef up response
For months, Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese s employees have told him and his managers he wasn t doing enough to fight COVID-19 in the jails he oversees.
Weeks after the outbreak at Inverness Jail in Northeast Portland began, Reese announced somewhat improved safeguards. But employee unions and inmate advocates say he still hasn t gone far enough.
Since the start of 2021, the outbreak has reached 109 inmates who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Reese spokesman Chris Liedle defended precautions at the jails and adds that the vast majority of the inmates who ve tested positive so far have not had major symptoms.
Lax procedures, staff apathy led to hundreds with COVID at Portland jail, inmates say
Updated Feb 11, 2021;
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In mid-January, inmates at the Multnomah County Inverness Jail started testing positive for COVID-19. Two weeks later, over 140 have been infected.
The explosion in cases the first major outbreak at Inverness since the pandemic started has caused tension and frustration at the east Portland jail, which houses 512 men and women.
Inmates are scared and frustrated over being forced to live in quarters with COVID-positive bunkmates. Some started an uprising Sunday that led to deputies taking shelter in a small office. Work being done on electronics upgrades has forced overcrowding. And a county audit describes staff not taking protocols seriously and being undisciplined about mask use.