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BAKER CITY â Baker Countyâs rate of COVID-19 cases has dropped by more than half during May compared with April.
And the biggest drop has been among residents 70 and older, who are significantly more likely to become severely sick or to die if theyâre infected.Between May 1-20, no county resident in that age range tested positive for the virus, according to the Baker County Health Department.
The infection rate among county residents 70 and older has dropped over the past two months:
⢠17.5% of new cases from March 23 through April 2
⢠9.9% of new cases from April 3-21
⢠2% of new cases from April 15-30
BAKER CITY â The Baker County Health Department has hundreds more doses of COVID-19 vaccine than it has residents interested in being inoculated.
âThe level of interest has certainly decreased this past week,â Nancy Staten, the departmentâs director, said on Friday morning, April 30.
Less than a month ago the health department was scheduling bi-weekly clinics at Baker High School where more than 600 people received either their first or second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
But as of Friday, the department didnât have a single person on a waiting list for a vaccination, Staten said.
Residents continue to call occasionally asking about vaccines, and Staten said the department is making appointments for people as soon as possible, usually within a few days.
BAKER CITY â A 71-year-old Baker County woman who died on Wednesday, April 14 at a Boise hospital is the 14th county resident to die after testing positive for COVID-19, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported.
The woman, who tested positive on April 7, died at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions, according to OHA.
âThis loss weighs heavy on all of us,â Nancy Staten, director of the Baker County Health Department, said in a press release. âThe Health Department staff all sends our condolences to those who knew her.â
The latest death of a county resident happened during the week when the county had its largest number of new cases since the last week of December.
BAKER CITY â A recent change to Oregonâs COVID-19 risk level system should allow Baker County to remain at the lowest level, with the least severe restrictions, through most of April even though the countyâs case rate has nearly tripled in the past two weeks.
Oregonâs four-tier system imposes restrictions on businesses and events based on the number of new virus cases and the test positivity rate in their county.
Risk levels are subject to change every two weeks, based on statistics from the previous two-week measuring period. Baker County has been in the lowest of the risk levels since March 26.