March 20, 2021 12:50 p.m.

9 more people have received new positive test results for COVID-19 in Douglas County, as of Saturday.

An update from the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team said this week the county recorded 70 new cases. Combined with last week’s 106 cases, that is a two-week total of 176 cases. The benchmark for Oregon’s COVID High Risk Level is 224 cases during their two-week monitoring window. That means barring any changes to the risk levels, Douglas County should move down to the COVID High Risk Level starting on Friday March 26th. An official announcement from the State of Oregon should made on Tuesday March 23rd.

The update said the total number of cases is now at 2,779. Of those, 2,646 are people that have received positive test results and 133 are presumptive. There have been 58 deaths. 6 Douglas County COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, 3 locally and 3 outside the area. 117 people are in isolation. 249 people are in quarantine. That means that staff with the Douglas Public Health Network are supporting 366 people that are either in isolation or quarantine. That is a drop of 36 people since Friday.

Go to www.douglaspublichealthnetwork.org for more local information about COVID-19.