Total cases at PSU as of May 17: 61
Eight April cases, six May cases
Eight cases have been reported in the month of April, as well as six in May, at Portland State, bringing the total case count at PSU to 61. One on-campus employee and five on-campus students have tested positive for COVID-19. Some potential on-campus exposures have been identified and are undergoing testing and quarantine.
PSU relies heavily on a self-reporting system for people who have tested positive or inconclusive and have been on campus within two weeks. The self-reporting form can be found on PSU’s Coronavirus Response website.
Total in Oregon as of May 17: 195,684 cases; 2,587 deaths
Total Vaccinations as of May 17: 468,931 series in progress; 1,604,796 series complete
Governor Kate Brown issued a statement May 13 requiring Oregon state to immediately follow the direction provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding mask requirements and vaccinations.
“Oregon will be following this [CDC guidance], which only applies to fully vaccinated individuals. Immunocompromised people should still continue to follow the recommendations of their health care provider,” Brown said in a pre-recorded press-release on May 13.
Oregonians will still have to wear a mask in any healthcare setting, on public transit and in airports, regardless of proof of vaccination, in accordance with CDC guidance.
“Youths and teachers in schools will still be required to wear masks for this school year…[and] businesses can continue to enforce mask requirements for the time being,” a May 13 OPB article stated.
An estimated half of Oregon residents are vaccinated, and over two million have received at least one dose, according to public health data.
Total in U.S. as of May 17: 32,753,426 total cases; 582,796 total deaths
Total vaccinations as of May 17: 157,132,234 at least one dose; 122,999,721 fully vaccinated
The COVID-19 pandemic was “a preventable disaster,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s report.
The analysis found “weak links at every point in the chain of preparedness and response,” globally and in the U.S.
The WHO delayed calling COVID-19 an official global pandemic. National governments also waited too long, especially during the “lost month” of Feb. 2020, when many countries could have prevented most of the worst effects, according to the study.
The report mentions warnings that were ignored, in the United States and abroad. In a U.S. state and federal government “table-top exercise” conducted in 2019, titled “Crimson Contagion,” the dangers of a “novel respiratory coronavirus pandemic” had been simulated.
The simulated response noted many of the shortcomings that the WHO report mentioned.
