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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday evening that a noticeable increase in coronavirus infections was cause for concern and that she was putting all county applications for further reopening on hold for seven days.
The Oregon Health Authority reported 178 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday, marking the highest daily count in the state since the start of the pandemic.
“This is essentially a statewide ‘yellow light,’” Brown said in a statement. ”This one-week pause will give public health experts time to assess what factors are driving the spread of the virus and determine if we need to adjust our approach to reopening.”
Officials said the increased case number is partly due to the expansion of “widespread availability of testing, increased contact tracing, active monitoring of close contacts of cases” and recent workplace outbreaks.
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