some counties could start reopening

some counties could start reopening

Team coverage with kezi 9 news reporter jillian smukler, live in the studio.?

Matt...renee... brown says oregon's strategy for reopening....focuses on testing and tracing to diagnose those people who are sick -- and make sure they're isolated, so they're not spreading it.

She says testing should be available to any oregonian showing symptoms. and, for people in vulnerable living settings like nursing homes and prisons.

Finally... she announced the "be the key" plan.

A plan to test 100 thousand people randomly statewide... to find out where the disease may be hiding and monitor at-risk populations.

Brown says the state plans on adding 600 contact tracers for outbreaks - people who contact people who have been infected, to make sure they're not spreading the virus.

Some of those positions will be paid and others will be volunteers.

Ohsu will also create a team of tracers... made up of medical students, who are bi-lingual and bi- cultural to help communities who are specifically vulnerable to the virus.

"we know that tribes and communities of color are especially vulnerable to the virus.

We will make sure that we have the contact tracing capacity to engage with these oregonians in culturally specific ways" brown says leaders of each hospital system in oregon have agreed to work together to manage testing.

She says the oregon health authority will now give any patient they see with mild symptoms a test... something they weren't doing before.

They hope to test 15 thousand people a week.

Brown says her hope is that some rural counties with little to no cases and hospitalizations can begin the process of reopening...as soon as may 15th.

Coming up on kezi 9 news at six i'll tell you why douglas county was surprised to hear that.

Reporting live in the studio jillian