State health officials on Thursday night announced six new presumptive cases of the novel coronavirus at a Linn County veterans’ home, bringing the total of coronavirus patients at the veterans’ home to eight. The new cases bring the number of known coronavirus patients in Oregon to 30.

The nursing home patients who tested positive for coronavirus are all male veterans at the Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, the Oregon Health Authority said.

One man is between the ages of 55 and 74, and the other five are 75 or older. Their illnesses are considered linked to the two earlier cases, but the exact sources of their illness are still unknown. All the infected people are quarantined at the veterans’ home, the state said.

The cases also raise questions about how public health officials will stop COVID-19 from sweeping across the nursing home, where 151 people live. Elderly people are much more likely to die from the disease. An outbreak of the virus at a long-term care facility near Seattle has killed more than 20 people so far.

In light of the news, Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said he wanted state and federal officials to immediately start testing all elderly and medically vulnerable residents in long-term care facilities in Linn County.

“We need our partners at the state and federal level to step up big time,” he said.

The veterans’ home already had two presumptive positive cases — two men older than 85. Nyquist told The Oregonian/OregonLive that both men were doing well and were quarantined inside the veterans’ home. Both men had symptoms and sought medical treatment before they were tested Wednesday. Two other residents at that time had been tested and were negative.

Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said on Thursday night that they were working with the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the veterans’ home staff and Linn County Public Health to support and care for those infected.

“Tonight our thoughts are with these veterans and their loved ones,” Allen said.

Kelly Fitzpatrick, the director of the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, said they were deeply concerned with the affected residents.

“Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones, and with our staff at the Oregon Veterans’ Home who are working tirelessly to provide exceptional care to all residents. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by this rapidly evolving pandemic, but we can’t help but feel special concern for what is happening at our Veterans’ Home.”

On Wednesday night, Oregon Health Authority officials announced that all of the home’s residents, as well as care providers, would be tested for the virus. Nearly all of the residents are older than 70, and about one third are 90 or older.

State epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said Thursday that he believes as many as 250 Oregonians already have coronavirus, and that without proper actions to stop the spread, the number of cases could top 75,000 by mid-May.

Brown on Wednesday issued a statewide ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, implementing the social distancing practices that health officials say will slow the virus’ spread. On Thursday, a few public school districts and private schools in the Portland announced that they would cancel classes for the next week, which leads up to Oregon’s spring break. Tigard-Tualatin School District made the decision Thursday in an emergency board meeting, closely followed by the Lake Oswego School District.

There are now known coronavirus cases in 11 counties: Clackamas, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Umatilla and Washington counties.

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

—Fedor Zarkhin; 503-294-7674; fzarkhin@oregonian.com; @fedorzarkhin

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