What does pause on reopening mean for Lane County?

What does pause on reopening mean for Lane County?

Orders.

But first we go to kezi 9 news reporter jillian smukler live in the studio -- to explain the pause on statewide reopenings -- and how it impacts our area.

Renee -- the news came as a shock to many counties who were eagerly waiting to take that next step towards normalcy -- after months of being shut down.

But it is important to remember -- that back when brown's reopening plan was first laid out -- she said if there was any spike in cases that caused concern -- they would re-assess -- and that's exactly what they're doing.

I sat down with senior health public officer patrick luedtke to talk about the recent spike in cases... and what this means for*lane county.

Pl: "what would it take to go backwards how bad would it have to be" its the question on everyone's mind.

He says so far lane county has been really lucky.

"we didnt have a first peak we turned it into a plateu by all the work the community did and our clinical enteprises did" but he tells me if we had a terrible surge -- we would have to adjust-- and possibly take a step back.

Something he doesnt think will happen.

"i dont anticipate we are going to have something big like that this summer -- it could happen but i dont think so i think the biggest risk is going to be in the late fall" he said a potential second wave is what health officials are worried about.

"we really need to take advantage of that gift of time" but he says -- our increased testing is what is helping keep our numbers & hospitalizations so low.

"if we had a big outbreak at a jail...at the eugene mission or a long term care facility, we can get a sense of what is happening on the ground in just a few hours now" he says even though we are expected to stay in phase two for a few months -- people cannot let up.

"over the course of this pandemic, maybe two years 60 percent will get infected so thats a little frightening, but 80 percent of those infections are either asymtomatic or mild so thats comforting but the other 20 percent those people get get pretty severe disease" oha released new models that say worst case scenario -- oregon could see one thousand 40 cases per day by july 3rd.

Which is why luedtke agrees with brown's decision to put reopening on pause.

"do you think the seven day waiting period she has for the applications is going to be enough then?

I wish i knew i wish i was more of an expert im not convinced theres any expert right now in this area.

Seven days is probably the smallest i would ever consider i just dont think you get enough data points to say this is happening" he suggests at least a few weeks before moving forward.

Renee -- luedtke says if we got a widely available vaccine by december -- which he doesnt think would happen -- but even if we did -- you may need to be get a*booster dose in march, april, or may -- so its a long time before you can get immunity to the virus.

He says 90 plus percent of people in lane county are*still susceptible.

Thats why its crucial we dont let our guards down -- no matter how long we are in phase two.

Washing your hands -- wearing face masks -- and social distancing -- are more important than ever before.

Reporting live in the studio jillian smukler kezi 9 news.