February 28, 2021 2:00 p.m.

On Sunday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued a statement, one year after the first positive case of COVID-19, in Oregon.

Brown said, “For so many Oregonians, after living through the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, flooding, severe winter weather, and a long-overdue reckoning on racism and racial justice, our lives are far different than they were on February 28th, one year ago”.

Brown said, “Through it all, I have been inspired by the way Oregonians have pulled together and helped one another. Because of your smart choices to protect family and friends, Oregon has maintained some of the lowest infection, hospitalization and death rates in the nation through the pandemic”.

Brown said she wanted to take a moment to say “Thank you, Oregon”.

Brown thanked all frontline workers, from doctors and nurses and health care workers, to the agricultural, food processing, and grocery workers. She also thanked first responders, postal workers, transportation workers, restaurant and food service workers, educators and school support staff, and “…the many more who have kept us all going”.

Brown’s release said with the vaccine efforts ramping up, “…the light at the end of the tunnel grows closer each day”. She said while school buildings, businesses and communities are opening back up, “…we must keep up our guard, with new, more contagious COVID-19 variants circulating in the United States, including in Oregon”.

Brown noted that more than 2,200 Oregonians have died due to COVID-19. She said, “Our hearts are with the families who have lost loved ones to this deadly disease”.