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Four additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the Oregon Health Authority announced Saturday morning.

Two of the new cases are from Jackson County, one is from Klamath County and one from Washington County. All of the people who have newly tested positive are between the ages of 55 and 74.

The Jackson County cases are from one household, according to Dr. Jim Shames, the county’s public health officer. They have not been hospitalized, he said. The cases are travel-related.

The new Washington County case resulted from contact with a previously known case , health officials said. The person has not needed medical attention. As for the Klamath County case, the county’s public health officer, Dr. Wendy Warren, would not say whether the person is hospitalized or quarantined at home. Warren said only that the person is “secure from other people.” The case is travel-related.

State and local health officials said they have completed “contact tracing” for the new cases, but they would not say how many people are being monitored because they had contact with the infected individuals but are not showing symptoms.

The state health lab tested 42 samples from 22 people on Friday, resulting in the four presumptive positive cases and 18 negatives. There are 162 people in Oregon who are under monitoring.

Tens of thousands of people around the globe have been infected with the coronavirus and the death toll has topped 3,000. In the United States, there have been 19 deaths so far, 14 of which are linked to the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington.

Cases have been reported in 23 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, according to a tracking center at Johns Hopkins University.

Before Saturday’s announcement, Oregon had three confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Oregon’s first patient, a man who lives in Washington County and works at Forest Hills Elementary School, was hospitalized and tested positive Feb. 28.

Oregon’s second patient, a woman in her 40s, isn’t hospitalized and is recovering from her illness, Oregon Health Authority has said. She is a “household contact” of the first patient.” She tested positive on March 1.

The third confirmed case in Oregon is a man between 60 and 70. An employee at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, he attended a youth basketball game last weekend and tested positive for the coronavirus March 2, the health authority said.

Most infected people will have only mild, flu-like symptoms. According to a February WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease report, the “crude fatality ratio” of the 55,924 confirmed cases studied was 3.8 percent. The actual overall death rate around the world so far is believed to be significantly lower. The mortality rate for COVID-19 increases with age.

No Oregon deaths have been linked to the coronavirus.

Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday that the state and health insurance companies have reached an agreement to waive costs for co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles for Oregonians who need COVID-19 testing.

“No one should have to ask if getting a COVID-19 test is something they can afford,” Brown said.

Oregon health officials are testing only people sick enough to be hospitalized who don’t have the flu, people with symptoms who also have traveled to the countries most affected by the coronavirus outbreak and people who have had contact with a person with the disease. Dozens of Oregonians have tested negative.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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