“Stay Home, Save Lives”

State Executive Order #20-12: What it Means for Douglas County (Douglas County, Ore.) Today, Monday, March 23, Oregon Governor and State Officials issued Executive Order 20-12, “Stay Home, Save Lives,” ordering all Oregonians to stay at home, closing specified retail businesses, requiring social distancing measures for other public and private facilities and imposing requirements for outdoor areas and licensed childcare facilities. To view the Oregon Executive Order No. 20-12, click here.

Pursuant with today’s Executive Order, enacted to help combat the spread of the coronavirus, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners have issued the following orders pertaining to Douglas County Government, their Departments and their employees. The Commissioners are making Public Safety, Juvenile Services, Senior Services and Public Health the priority during this crisis. Please These measures will remain in place until such a date that the orders are lifted by your State or County Officials.

Douglas County Courthouse Building Closed to Public Effective 8:00 am on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, the Douglas County Courthouse Building, located at 1036 SE Douglas Avenue in Roseburg will be closed to the public. There will still be staff working in the buildings and via telecommunication, as such most offices will still be able to assist you via phone, email and online. Please check the Douglas County Government website at www.co.douglas.or.us for specific Department information or call (541) 673-3311 for a County Department Directory or you may call the County Department directly.

Douglas County Fairgrounds and RV Park Closed Effective 8:00 am Wednesday, March 24, 2020, the Douglas County Fairgrounds and RV Park will be closed. Anyone that has future events or reservations will be notified of the closure and can discuss cancellation or have the event placed on hold for a future date. Please call the Douglas County Fairgrounds at (541) 957-7010 for more information.

All Douglas County Parks and Campgrounds Closed Effective 8:00 am Wednesday, March 25, 2020, ALL Douglas County operated parks and campgrounds will be closed. This will include the closure of entrances, parking, restrooms and showers, playgrounds, picnic areas, gazebos and pavilions, disc golf courses, camp sites, docks and boat ramps. Anyone that currently has campground reservations will be notified of the closure and offered a refund or have their reservation placed on hold for a future date. The Parks Department will not be processing any new reservations or approving any special day-use or permits during the closure.

Douglas County Senior Dining Sites: Douglas County Senior Services already closed the Senior Dining Sites to on-site meals, but they are still offering their drive up Curb Service at all Douglas County sites. Please call (541) 440-3677 for more information, dates and times.

Douglas County Museum and Umpqua River Lighthouse Museum Closed Effective 10:00 am on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, both the Douglas County Museum of History and Natural History, located at 123 Museum Drive in Roseburg, and the Umpqua River Lighthouse Museum, located at 1020 Lighthouse Road in Winchester Bay will be closed to the public.

Douglas County Juvenile Detention Facilities: Effective immediately, the Douglas County Juvenile Department will be locking doors and restricting visits for all outside visitors, except where required or necessary for all Douglas County operated Juvenile programs. If you would like to communicate with a youth in one of our programs, please call the following numbers and arrange a phone or video conference with Juvenile Department Staff. Detention Center: (541) 464-6401; Rising Light: (541) 464-6660; River Rock: (541) 464-6406; Fowler: (541) 464-6585.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office: The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office business lobby will be closed to the public until further notice; unless the individual is directed by the Douglas County Circuit Court to conduct court related business within. 9-1-1 dispatch, law enforcement and jail services remain operational 24/7.Additional measures already in effect include:

In-Person Inmate Visitation: Suspended until further notice. The Sheriff’s Office has worked with our telephone vendor and arranged for inmates to have two phone calls per week free of charge. Additional calls or video chat is also available for a fee by visiting www.icssolutions.com. Video visitation can be done from any electronic device equipped with a webcam.

Records Division: Suspending all public fingerprinting services until further notice; this includes pre-employment and background fingerprinting.

Citizen Ride-Along Program suspended until further notice.

Concealed Handgun Licensing: Temporary hold on the processing of new concealed handgun license applications which require fingerprints and photographs. Residents are highly encouraged to visit the DCSO website www.dcso.com before coming to the lobby as many answers to questions and forms may be available online. Additional inquires may be made by telephone by calling (541) 440-4450 or by e-mail to dcsoinfo@co.douglas.or.us. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide law enforcement services 24/7, even during this emergency. They are however encouraging them to take additional precautions to reduce the risk potential. This may include taking reports by telephone when circumstances allow.

COVID-19 Pilot Drive-Thru Testing

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Official, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, officials from Douglas Public Health Network (DPHN), Douglas County Emergency Management, Aviva Health, Mercy Medical Center, Evergreen Family Medicine and Umpqua Health Alliance are working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely COVID-19 information and response to Douglas County residents.

On Tuesday, March 17, 2020 Douglas Public Health Network conducted a pilot testing drive through procedure for potential COVID-19 patients in Douglas County. Residents that were tested were identified by their health care provider, as a patient that was symptomatic, and needed to be tested. This was the first time such drive through testing for COVID-19 was done in Douglas County. Up until now tests were collected sporadically at clinics and sent to the Oregon State Public Health lab and then the CDC. DPHN modeled the pilot after 3 years of successful flu-vaccine clinics.

Local medical leaders, including Dr. Dannenhoffer and Dr. Jason Gray, Chief Medical Officer at Mercy Medical Center performed the actual tests on Tuesday.

“Testing is the best way for us to attempt to control the spread of the Coronavirus,“ said Douglas County Public Health Officer Bob Dannenhoffer. “When we can determine the number of positive cases in the community, where they have gone, and who they have come in contact with, we can also notify people who may had contact with them and recommend they quarantine themselves.”

The pilot testing was done at the Douglas County Fairgrounds utilizing a drive through process and local health care providers. Completed tests have been sent to Quest, a commercial laboratory for processing. The results of the tests should be known in two to four days. Test results will be sent from the laboratory back to the health care provider that ordered the test.

The drive through process allows for multiple people to be seen in a manner that is safe for the patient and the provider. Doing several tests consecutively also helps to conserve valuable high-tech masks, which providers need to wear and are in short supply nationwide. Such protective equipment is likely to be short supply during this pandemic. Most of the protective equipment used in hospitals is disposable and is single use only. The drive-thru clinic allowed the use of powered personal respirators that could be used for multiple patients while providing maximal protection for the health care providers doing the tests.

“The pilot was a success,” said Tim Freeman Douglas County Commissioner. “We are one of the first places in the state to increase availability and accessibility of testing while also preserving patient confidentiality and public safety. The amount of cooperation and professionalism that we have in Douglas County allowed this pilot to be successful. We are among the leaders in the state and nation in solving the testing issue.”

The pilot drive through testing clinic saw 17 residents. All were referred by their physician. The pilot allowed DPFN to work out kinks in the process and identify how to conduct a larger drive through COVID-19 testing clinic in the future.

COVID-19 Station Access

Douglas County Fire District No. 2 wants to assure our community and the greater community we serve that the level of service that DCFD2 provides has not changed due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). DCFD2 Firefighters will continue to respond to all emergencies. However, beginning March 17, the department is limiting access to the fire stations to outside visitors. For business needs, please call the business line, 541-673-5503, prior to visiting the administration building located at 1400 Buckhorn Rd. In an effort to reduce non-essential public interactions, DCFD2 will discontinue fire inspections and unscheduled business inspections. These precautions are being put into place for both the Firefighters and the public we serve. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

March 14th COVID-19 Update

DAILY LOCAL UPDATE COVID-19

Joint Release from Douglas County Board of Commissioners and Douglas Public Health Network

(Douglas County, Ore.)   Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Official, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, officials from Douglas Public Health Network (DPHN), as well as leaders in our local health community are working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely COVID-19 information to Douglas County residents.

As of today, Oregon has reported 32 presumptive positive cases of COVID-19, spanning across 11 counties.  The latest cases were reported in Washington, Clackamas, Linn and Deschutes Counties. There have been no deaths reported in Oregon and there is still only one presumptive case in Douglas County. 

As a part of our continued efforts to provide accurate and timely information to our residents, DPHN hosted a Facebook Live COVID-19 Town Hall – Q&A event on Friday, March 13.  Hundreds of viewers tuned into watch the nearly hour long virtual town hall where local physician, health care leader and Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, answered dozens of questions in real time from local residents.  Questions were asked about which groups are most at risk, what can we do to protect ourselves and support others in the community, and what is happening with testing locally.  The town hall event has recorded over 11.2K views and residents can watch a recorded version of the Facebook Live COVID-19 Town Hall by visiting DPHN’s Facebook Page.  The plan is to conduct more of these virtual town halls, as large gatherings are not recommended at this time.

In addition to providing responses to residents Friday night, Dr. Dannenhoffer addressed a number of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) about COVID-19.  DPHN officials have compiled answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning the novel coronavirus. This list is being updated as new information comes available.  To see the full COVID-19 – FAQ list visit DPHN’s website.

Douglas County Health officials, in cooperation with local health organization partners opened a local call center on March 13 for people with questions about COVID-19. The call center, one of the few offered in Oregon, is staffed with volunteer health care professionals who can answer questions from the public. The call center has received over three dozen calls since opening.  We encourage local residents to utilize the call center to answer COVID-19 related questions and concerns.  The call center will run from 8:00 am–7:30 pm, seven days a week until further notice. The call center number is (541) 464-6550.

DPHN officials would like to remind the public, that if you are feeling reasonably well, you might not need to visit a clinic or hospital, which allows providers to focus on patients who most need care. If you are very ill or having trouble breathing, call your healthcare provider and only call 911 if it is an actual emergency. 

We encourage residents to follow the recommended guidelines for the public exposure, which are to maintain a social distance of six feet, maintain good hygiene (especially frequent hand washing), and to stay home if you are sick. Again, we want to reiterate that those that are the most vulnerable to the severe conditions related to COVID-19, such as the elderly and people with a history of health conditions need to take extra precautions to stay healthy and safe. 

Additional resources and guidance are available from the websites of the Douglas Public Health Network, Oregon Health Authority, Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and by calling or logging onto 211Info.