February 25, 2020 10:00 a.m. 
There are still no novel coronavirus cases in Oregon, as staff with the Oregon Health Authority has begun weekly updates on persons being monitored and under investigation for the virus.
An OHA update said state epidemiologists, local public health officials, and federal partners continue their investigation of the disease that has sickened tens of thousands of people worldwide.
Every Tuesday OHS will post data on persons under either monitoring or investigation on its website: http://healthoregon.org/coronavisus. Those being monitored do not have coronavirus symptoms such as fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, but may have been exposed through a close contact with a confirmed case or travel to mainland China. Those being investigated are individuals with coronavirus symptoms, but not necessarily the virus, who have had one these exposures.
Director of the OHA Public Health Division Lillian Shirley said staff recognizes that people are very worried about coronavirus, “particularly given that we don’t know everything we wish we could know about how its transmitted”. She said residents need to understand the real risks and feel confident that their state and local health departments are working hard to protect their health.
The release said the posted data will include current numbers of people being monitored in the state, as well as cumulative numbers of people who have been monitored since the outbreak began. It will also include numbers of people for whom test results are pending, positive and negative, and total tests performed.
If someone does test positive for coronavirus, OHA will notify the public through a statewide press release, along with identifying the person’s county of residence.
As of Monday, the OHA release said 76 people are being monitored, 178 have completed monitoring without developing symptoms, and 254 have been have been monitored in the past month. It said no one is currently under investigation, while 2 have completed monitoring without developing coronavirus.
National information is available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.