Baker County has first death related to COVID-19

Published 6:30 am Friday, August 21, 2020

BAKER CITY — Baker County reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Aug. 18, but none on Wednesday, leaving the county’s total at 57.

That includes 11 recent cases connected with Meadowbrook Place assisted living community in Baker City. That outbreak, the first in a care facility in the county, included the county’s first COVID-19-related death, a Meadowbrook resident.

The Baker County Health Department, citing a federal health care privacy law, has declined to give any details about the person who died.

The Oregon Health Authority lists the age, gender and county of residence of people who die as a result of the virus. The agency’s Wednesday update does not include the Baker County death, which the Baker County Health Department announced Monday afternoon.

There is often a lag between county and state data related to the pandemic.

Holly Kerns, a public information officer for Baker County, said county officials would not release any additional details about the outbreak at Meadowbrook Place.

When the Baker County Health Department announced the outbreak at Meadowbrook on Friday, Aug. 14, the department’s press release stated “none of the residents or staff are currently hospitalized and no deaths have been reported in connection with the outbreak as of Friday (Aug. 14).”

The OHA’s weekly report, issued Wednesday and including data through 11 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16, attributed 11 cases to the Meadowbrook outbreak.

The agency does not distinguish between cases that result from a person testing positive, and “presumptive” cases, which involve people who have not tested positive but have been in close contact with a person who did test positive.

As of Wednesday, the OHA said at least 51 of Baker County’s cases involved residents who had tested positive.

The OHA’s weekly report also showed 50 of the county’s cases are residents who live in the 97814 ZIP code, which includes Baker City and parts of Baker, Keating and Sumpter valleys.

The OHA doesn’t list the number of cases for any of Baker County’s other ZIP codes because all have fewer than 1,000 residents.

The Meadowbrook outbreak is the only one reported in Baker County in a care facility or other type of what health officials call a “congregate living setting.”

According to OHA’s Wednesday report, of the 408 Oregonians listed as COVID-19 deaths, almost 49% were 80 or older, almost 75% were 70 or older, and 91% were 60 or older.

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