Malheur County’s case rate over the two-week period from Feb. 28 through March 13 gives the county solid footing in the Moderate Risk level of the state’s four-tier system, explained here, that is designed to help communities reduce the spread of COVID-19. This week is a Warning Week during which no Risk Level assignments are scheduled to occur.
Based on population, Malheur County’s risk level is determined by two indicators: case rate (number of cases per 100,000 people) and test positivity rate. This week’s Risk Level Metrics report shows that there were 22 cases of COVID-19 reported, equal to a case rate of 68.7. Moderate Risk range is a case rate of 50 to <100. The county’s test positivity rate was 1.5%, well within the Lower Risk range.
“We believe the reduction in cases is largely due to the increasing number of people who are vaccinated. We are heartened that we have not lost another life to COVID-19 in more than a month and hope that with more and more people protected by vaccination, we will be able to save more lives and move our county to the Lower Risk level soon,” Malheur County Health Department Director Sarah Poe said.
County Risk Levels are updated every two weeks. During a Movement Week next Tuesday, March 23, updated data will be published and county risk levels will be assigned. Any resulting changes to risk levels will take effect on Friday, March 26, and remain in effect for the next two weeks.
Malheur County Health Department 
I would like to be able to know if there’s any children getting sick while back in school putting that out every two weeks would be helpful to make my decision about sending the children back to school also would like to know the truth
Hi Kelly, thanks for getting in touch. We post the COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report on the COVID-19 Cases page on our website. The report is a searchable form, making it easier to find information specific to Malheur County. Once you have opened it by clicking the link, press your keyboard’s Ctrl key and then, while holding it down, press the letter f key. This will bring up a search bar. Type in Malheur and you can use the arrows to move through the report to view Malheur County outbreaks. The report shows location, number of cases, and most recent onset date. I hope that helps. Please feel free to call us at 541-889-7279 if you need additional help.