As COVID-19 infections slowly climb, health officials continue to express concerns that smoke from wildfires across the Pacific Northwest could affect recovery for people infected with the virus. Evacuating from fires while battling the coronavirus also comes with its own set of concerns.
“The first priority in wildfire situations is responding to the evacuation and safety instructions of local and state fire officials — and heeding their warnings. Regardless of disease status, if you are asked or ordered to evacuate, you should do so,” the Oregon Health Authority said in a press release Thursday.
The agency also asked people evacuating while quarantining to take these precautions:
The Oregon Health Authority reported three more deaths to COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the pandemic’s confirmed death toll to 497 in the state.
They deceased were:
The state also reported 187 new diagnoses of the coronavirus Thursday, bringing known confirmed and presumptive cases in the state to 28,654 since the start of the pandemic.
New coronavirus diagnoses are down 5% compared to a week earlier, the Oregon Health Authority said in its weekly COVID-19 report, released Thursday.
The report looks at the week from Monday, Aug. 31, through Sunday, Sept. 6, when health officials reported 1,477 new cases of COVID-19 infection. That weekly total is more than 30% below the weekly peak reached in mid-July. This marks the fifth consecutive weekly decline.
Deaths also declined, to 23, from 39 the prior week. The percentage of positive tests also dropped, slightly, from 4.4% to 4.3%.
People in their 20s continue to be the most likely to contract COVID-19, while those older than 80 make up nearly half of all Oregon deaths from the virus.
Copyright 2020 Oregon Public Broadcasting