Marion County – 02/08/22 11:25 AM
Salem, OR – As COVID-19 cases surge throughout the state and in Marion County, public health officials in Marion County are changing the way they respond to COVID-19.
Case investigation will look different moving forward. To protect high consequence settings such as schools, day cares, long term care facilities, and other congregate settings Marion County Health and Human Services (MCHHS) will shift its response to only provide technical assistance in these types of settings.
This also means when a positive covid test is reported to the county the positive individual will not get a call or a letter in the mail. MCHHS will no longer provide return to work letters or work restriction letters for an employee who has tested positive for COVID-19. Previously, someone could receive a letter from MCHHS that stated they had gone through their isolation or quarantine period and were ready to return to work. Now the individual will have to work with their medical provider and/or their employer to come up with a return-to-work date. You can call 2-1-1 for helpful resources.
Katrina Rothenberger, the Marion County Public Health Division Director said “I really want to thank our COVID Team for all their hard work as we transition and adapt to this next phase of responding to this virus. They are such a solid group of folks with a tremendous work ethic.”
Vaccinations remains the single most effective tool at preventing serious disease. Everyone who is eligible is encouraged to speak to their medical provider to find out if the vaccine is right for them. There are many testing and vaccine locations. People can visit https://www.co.marion.or.us/HLT/COVID-19/Pages/Default.aspx or call 2-1-1 for locations near them.
There are things everyone can do to help with stop the spread of COVID-19.
- If you have symptoms, even if you are vaccinated and especially if you can’t get a test, you should stay home and isolate to prevent potentially spreading it to others
- If you have been a close contact to someone and can’t get a test, if your vaccine status is not up to date, or you have symptoms, quarantine yourself for five days from the date of exposure, and then wear a mask for the next 5 days when you are around others not in your household.
You can also help by doing your own contact tracing. Contact the people you were in close contact with beginning 2 days before your symptoms began. Call, email, or text close contacts as soon as possible. Timing matters. People are most contagious the day or two before they have symptoms, and some people never show symptoms. People can be contagious 2-14 days after exposure and should be monitoring for symptoms. If you can reach your friends and family, you can help keep the next person from getting sick with COVID-19. The sooner you let your contacts know, the sooner they can take action to stop the spread.
# # #
