Pandemic Diary – June 15 to June 20

Monday, June 15

Statewide: 180 deaths, 5,820 cases, 175,941 tested  (Deaths: +4) (Cases: +184)

Yikes, 184 new cases from only 1,879 tests, and a new record positive rate of 9.79%. A large chunk of the new cases (99) are from Union County, a mostly rural area in the northeast corner of the state. The total population of the county is about 27,000. They are now reporting a total of 121 confirmed cases with no reported deaths.  

Tuesday, June 16

Statewide: 182 deaths, 6,098 cases, 179,337 tested  (Deaths: +2) (Cases: +278)

Another day with lots of new cases, 278 positives out of 3,396 tests, a positive rate of 8.19%. The total includes another 119 new cases from Union County. This brings the county’s overall case total to 240, which is roughly 0.9% of its population. They report five hospitalizations and no deaths.

Wednesday, June 17

Statewide: 183 deaths, 6,218 cases, 184,139 tested  (Deaths: +1) (Cases: +120)

There is more news today about the large number of new COVID cases in rural Union County, which is now 242. Most of the new cases are associated with the congregation of the Lighthouse United Pentecostal Church, located in Island City, just east of La Grande. This is hot news and has been featured in any number of national media outlets. 

The most detailed accounts that I have found are one from Oregon Public Broadcasting and one from KPTV Fox 12 Oregon. Both organizations are based in Portland. It’s interesting to compare the two stories. 

OPB announces the events by quoting a deputy epidemiologist in the state health department, who names the church involved and states that 365 church members have been tested with 236 of those testing positive. The state official is also quoted as saying that “the primary transmission likely occurred between church members and not as part of broader community spread.”  The article then includes this one-sentence paragraph: “Local public health officials have offered a somewhat different explanation, downplaying the role of the church in the transmission of cases.” No local public health officials are identified or quoted. Instead, the article moves on immediately to reports that the local newspaper, the La Grande Observer, had published an earlier article saying that Lighthouse had begun in-person services in April and May despite the statewide ban, and that videos posted to the church’s Facebook page showed congregants standing close together without masks, singing and praying. The videos have since been removed. The article then again quotes the state epidemiologist as saying that the people infected by the virus range from children to elderly and include people with “a relatively diverse group of racial and ethnic backgrounds.” They mention that five people have been hospitalized for COVID in the county. Next they include a number of remarks from another named official, the mayor of La Grande. He says that many in the area, himself included, had been feeling fairly sure that their area would not be seriously affected. Now, however, he sees serious cause for concern and urges people in the county to put politics aside and come together to try to limit the spread of the virus. The article then mentions that just before the outbreak two unnamed Union County commissioners had attended a meeting of other rural county commissioners interested in fighting the closures ordered by Gov. Kate Brown. It concludes by noting that that two “OHA staffers” have been sent to La Grande to assist with the response and eight other state workers had been assigned to assist with tracking.

The Fox Story begins by saying that OHA has reported a large outbreak of new cases in Union County and that OHA has attributed “a bunch” of the new cases to Lighthouse United Pentecostal Church in La Grande. Fox then moves directly to an interview with an unnamed member of the church congregation. She says that the church opened back up late last month after the President deemed churches to be essential. She says that the church had guidelines for the 300 members that attend. “They had a hand-washing station outside the door before you came in. People wore masks, or they should’ve. They tried to social distance.” The article then mentions that a video on the church’s Facebook page shows a large group of churchgoers not social distancing. They then again quote the unnamed member who says, “I thought it was wrong. That’s why I didn’t go. I couldn’t see how. It’s a big sanctuary but there’s a lot of people and I didn’t see how people were going to be able to social distance.” She ended by saying that she was praying for everyone to get better and that not all the new cases should be attributed to the church and she doesn’t want the Lighthouse to take on all the blame. The Fox article then moves to an interview with an unnamed Union County Commissioner, who says that the La Grande Hospital has done a good job preparing and has the ability to handle the situation. He also mentions that Lighthouse had previously been contacted by law enforcement and “had been warned.” In the last sentence of the article, they change tack and give the commissioner’s name. 

The OPB report contains more hard information from OHA as well as a meaningful and seemingly honest narrative by the mayor who describes a place where people basically scoffed at the virus, right up to when it truly arrived. They also quote the local paper to point out that the church had been known to be violating restrictions for quite some time. They include useful context such as the number of current hospitalizations and they provide the ironical note about the two commissioners who had been trying to find ways to end those needless state mandated restrictions. It ends by noting that the state has devoted resources specifically to aid in a response to this breakout.  

I should note that the Fox article came out earlier than the OPB report, which means that the OPB writers may have had the advantage of more complete statistics. For whatever reason, the Fox report is built mostly around the interview with the unnamed church member, who provides an inside view of things. Their source is an interested party and expresses only her personal views. We can sense her struggles with how much she wants to reveal and how she wants to be perceived. At one point she seems tempted to whitewash a little, but just then the Fox journalist seems to have mentioned the now deleted video tapes. The details she provides are important, as is her reasoning and the fact that she decided to stop attending services when she saw how things were going. This inside view helps me imagine the events as they unfolded and maybe to understand them a little better. The article ends with two points that OPB omitted, first that the hospital has been ramping up, preparing for just such an eventuality, and second that the church was previously warned by law enforcement. 

The differences in these article were illuminating. The bulk of the OPB article was a platform for reporting official numbers and for communicating what government officials had said in prepared statements. The state health official gave information from his area of expertise and the mayor did the same from his. The result was an overview of the situation by means of an organized collection of numbers and generalities. The Fox article did not question or disparage expertise and clearly accepted the basic facts as presented by the Oregon Health Authority. But it did not focus on numbers, expertise or prepared statements. Instead the writers were after the more human aspects. The congregant’s story takes us out of the realm of statistics and into the world of real people, a very different place. We need to keep that place in mind, I think, just as much as we need accurate statistics. It is a shame, of course, that mostly we all see one or another of these visions, but not both.

Thursday, June 18

Statewide: 187 deaths, 6,366 cases, 188,910 tested  (Deaths: +4) (Cases: +148)

Two more days with lots of new cases, but also lots of testing. The daily percent positive numbers are back to normal: Wednesday 2.50%, Thursday 3.10%. The news from Union County is that the county commissioners have recommended that the county roll back from following Stage 2 opening guidelines and return to the more restrictive Stage 1 guidelines. They are also urging all citizens to wear masks.

Busy day for M and E today, prepping for M’s dental surgery tomorrow. We did our weekly shopping at the Co-op; then M went to Fred Meyer for basic soft food supplies: pudding cups, reasonably normal yogurt, plus a few odds and ends. M had first looked at the yogurt brands at the Co-op, but had finally had to turn away, helpless before an unbearable onslaught of twee.

Then it was on to mowing the back lawn and a bit of watering. Yes, it’s turned hot again and the berries need water. After dinner we picked raspberries which are just now coming on. This was followed by a delayed dessert of strawberries and ice cream. Before bed we watched a bit of our new Turkish series. It’s called Intersection and it’s very different from our last one. On the one hand, it’s kinda slow. On the other, there are only 13 episodes in the first season.  

Friday, June 19

Statewide: 188 deaths, 6,344 cases, 193,689 tested  (Deaths: +1) (Cases: +206)

Only 1 new death reported today, but lots of new cases. The day’s positive rate was 4.31%. 

We recently got to see how dental offices have adapted for the pandemic when E went for a cleaning and M went for his implant. As instructed we wore masks to both places. At E’s place, the first order of business was having her temperature taken at the door. Inside, there was a sad lack of amenities in the waiting room: no coffee machine, no iPad, no toys, and, worst of all, no cupcakes! (Yikers, you exclaim, are there really dentists who give away cupcakes? Well yes, Pandemic Diary can report that there used to be at least one. Trust Eve to have found him.) The good doctor reports that when they re-opened the practice, he was expecting a rush of deferred cleanings. What he had not expected was the surge in stress fractures and chipped teeth, some of which may have been related to tooth grinding. All treatment room staff were double masked and face shielded. 

E accompanied M to his surgery appointment because a caregiver was required. At that office, the first priority was to make the final installment of the prepayment. (Those who suggest that after the pandemic nothing will ever be the same are exaggerating.) The pandemic adaptations came next. We both had to fill out a COVID survey form. A new ballpoint was provided for each of us and we were told we could keep the pens or discard them in the wastebasket when we were done. We then sat in the waiting room for a bit. No magazines or any other amusements, but there was a sign announcing free wi-fi. When M was called, they did a forehead temperature check in the hallway between the waiting room and the treatment room. M passed the test. E was supposed to wait for him for the entire time, roughly an hour and a half. But the rule was that she could either stay in the waiting room or go out and sit in her car. Requiring her to stay the whole time seemed excessive, especially since our house is only five minutes away, but this doctor is like that. At the same time, requiring her to stay in the smallish waiting room would endanger her health and that of others. Being the way he is, the boss couldn’t ignore that either, hence the wait in the car option.

The result was a de facto compromise. Eve went out and got in her car, waited for a bit and then drove home, where she stayed a while and then returned. After a bit a dental staffer came out, found her car, and let her know that the procedure was about three fourths done. E appreciated getting this update, though she realized later than the primary purpose for the visit to her car was simply to make sure she was around. Eventually, someone came out again to call her in to meet M in the recovery room. Later in the day, E went over to the Burgerville drive-through and got M a chocolate shake. He says that he is now pretty certain that the marriage was not a mistake. 

Saturday, June 20

Statewide: 189 deaths, 6750 cases, 198,936 tested  (Deaths: +1) (Cases: +178)

Short nights and long days here, of course, as the solstice approaches. The predawn light arrives around 4:30 and in the evening we’re both getting tired well before it gets dark. While waiting for the dark, we’ve been watching our new Turkish series on Netflix. It’s called Intersection (Kördügüm) and it is both similar and different to Black Money Love. Both series feature evil patriarchs with rebellious sons, older sisters with mental issues, college aged daughters who fight with their mothers, traitorous woman friends, and quite a few hospital scenes. Both have gun violence too, but whereas BML started off with a double murder, Intersection began with a suicide and then made us wait for more than five hours to see the next shooting and that was a paltry nonlethal wound in the abdomen. The costume design in Intersection is not as interesting as in BML although we have to admit that Didem was dressed to the nines for her suicide scene at Ali Nejat’s birthday party in the ballroom of the swank hotel. Other differences are that no one in Intersection is a police officer, no one is engaged in organ trafficking (so far) and no one has opened a bookstore. Instead, one of the main Intersection characters, Naz, is a brilliant head of pediatrics who is always saving kids from mysterious conditions that no one else can diagnose. She herself is childless. Having lost a baby once before, she is reluctant to try again, which is causing a rift with her husband, Umut, who is sort of nice but who has some weird issues to go along with his big dreams…