State public health officials reversed their earlier stance that the general testing of people without symptoms “is not useful,” highlighting six categories of Oregonians where testing is now recommended.
That includes people of color who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in Oregon and nationally. At least one Oregon tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, has seen more than 20 positive COVID-19 cases as of the end of May.
“The broad impacts of the coronavirus have fallen especially hard on Black and African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Native American, and Latino, Latina, and Latinx people, in the U.S., and here in Oregon,” Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said in a statement Tuesday. “A centuries-long history of racism and oppression have led to the very health conditions that exacerbate the impacts of COVID-19.”
The six categories are:
- Close contacts of a person with a confirmed infection or with a person presumed by public health officials to be infected
- People exposed to coronavirus in a congregate setting, such as a nursing home or prison
- Migrant or seasonal farm workers, when they arrive in Oregon
- Oregonians who are black, African American, Latino, Latina, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander
- Oregonians with a disability
- People whose first language is not English
Testing capacity in Oregon is estimated at nearly 38,000 a week, although fewer than half that many people are typically being tested.
Encouraging testing among some people without symptoms could help identify infections earlier and reduce the spread. The virus has disproportionately infected Latinos, who are among those now urged to be tested without symptoms.
The Oregon Health Authority’s guidance still does not encourage widespread testing in long-term care facilities. That’s not as aggressive as federal guidance to test all staff in nursing homes every week. Residents should also get tested weekly in facilities with even one suspected infection until the virus is gone, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
State officials have hinted that a testing plan for long-term care facilities is imminent.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Health Authority disclosed that it has now launched a study of antibody test results. Serology tests do not identify active infections but, if accurate, are supposed to show if someone has developed an antibody to the virus from a previous infection.
The study is supposed to “determine population prevalence of antibodies in Oregon based on sampling across the state,” according to health authority documents.
State health officials told the newsroom last month that the were not analyzing antibody results because the tests were too unreliable.
— Brad Schmidt; [email protected]; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt
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