THE GORGE — Amidst yet another summer surge in national COVID-19 activity, and with flu season fast approaching, North Central Public Health District (NCPHD) launched a new website last week that monitors the local risk of respiratory illnesses using data from the Gorge.
Along with COVID-19 and the flu, the website also tracks respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is particularly common among infants and causes difficulty breathing in severe cases. Marta Fisher, regional epidemiologist for NCPHD and the Hood River County Health Department who played a leading role in developing the initiative, hopes the website serves as a reliable, actionable source of information for the public, accessible at www.ncphd.org/resp-risk-rating.
“With all these respiratory diseases, that do come and go and wax and wane, it felt like navigating all that to get to an answer about what I should be doing right now was really missing,” she said. “Individuals can use this to figure out their own plan and how they want to structure their life. If risk is really high, maybe more people will mask in the grocery store.”
Based on several different types of data, which Fisher invited people to scrutinize, the website provides an overall respiratory risk rating for the Mid-Columbia. The first type of data comes from wastewater samples collected at treatment plants in Hood River and The Dalles, then tested at an Oregon State University laboratory. The others include symptoms reported in emergency departments at Providence Hood River and Adventist Health, along with the percentage of positive tests recorded at those same hospitals.
By examining the amount of viral genetic material in fecal matter, wastewater testing can’t identify the specific number of people sick with each virus, but Fisher noted the method works as an early indicator and captures less severe activity. Even if people aren’t feeling incredibly sick and going to the hospital, low virality levels still show up in wastewater, and she emphasized how interconnected the entire approach is.
“Public health isn’t just us in our office waiting for people to come — it’s people working for the sewage utility collecting wastewater data, it’s folks at the hospital who do reporting on their COVID and flu tests,” said Fisher. “Public health is something that all of us play a little part in frequently.”
The current risk rating is “caution,” and at this stage, NCPHD advises that people prepare to take preventative actions if the rating worsens to “high” or “very high.” Although not firmly established, COVID-19 cases tend to surge twice a year, and have every mid-to-late summer since 2020. According to a Sept. 12 report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospitalizations because of COVID-19 are peaking across the country, and wastewater levels are either high or very high in 28 states, including Oregon and Washington.
Since every COVID-19 infection heightens the risk of contracting Long COVID, the threat of chronic illness is increasing too. Long COVID is a multisystemic condition with more than 200 identified symptoms, including extreme fatigue, loss of digestion and blood pressure regulation, weakening of joints to the point of immobilization and more. As of fall 2024, one in 20 American adults were living with Long COVID, according to the CDC, and a separate study found that less than 10% of people with Long COVID had recovered after three years.
While not planned, the governors of Oregon, Washington and California announced the formation of a new public health partnership on Sept. 3, the same day NCPHD launched its website. Dubbed the “West Coast Health Alliance,” which Hawaii later joined, the group will develop its own immunization guidelines in light of high-profile CDC oustings and restricted eligibility for the new COVID-19 vaccine, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limited to those older than 65 or who have qualifying health conditions, among other factors.
Martha McInnes, the director of NCPHD, reflected on both the diminished level of trust in public health institutions post-pandemic and how localizing information can potentially help to reverse that trend.
“All of the public health processes that we relied on for information and guidance, those processes are now being dismantled,” McInnes said. “There’s a lot of chaos with funding, and there is some purpose in creating that chaos.
“Trust was eroded during the pandemic, it hasn’t really come to repair after and that’s something I think about on a daily basis — how we as an agency can build trust back — and I think it’s going to happen from the ground up,” she continued. “This respiratory risk rating is actually one of the ways that we’re trying to do that.”
Since NCPHD employees actually live in the communities they serve, McInnes believes they have stronger relationships with patients and individuals compared to larger organizations, which helps them genuinely discuss increasingly politicized health issues. She also pointed out that, with the website, NCPHD is not doling out absolute mandates, but rather providing transparent information and letting people make their own decisions.
According to a survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, the share of Republicans who have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the CDC and FDA to provide vaccine information has increased by about 10 percentage points from September 2023 to April 2025. Among Democrats, by contrast, trust in both agencies has fallen by double digits.
While NCPHD is still waiting for the Western Health Alliance and other state organizations to release guidance on COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, all other vaccines recommended by the district remain unchanged, and the new website offers a list of locations that administer the shots, along with advice on how to manage sickness.
“We do strongly believe in vaccines, and we know that it’s one of the most life-saving medical interventions that has ever existed,” said McInnes. “We are going to continue to offer them and be present for those who want to get them.”
Since Gov. Bob Ferguson issued a standing order allowing pharmacists and nurses to administer the shot, anybody over six months old in Washington can receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but Oregonians who don’t meet the FDA’s requirements still need a prescription. The state plans to update its guidance after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets Sept. 18-19, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle, and Gov. Tina Kotek doesn’t have the same authority to issue standing orders, but is exploring other options.
Fisher had a parting piece of wisdom as well: “If I could get people to do one thing more often, that I should do more often, it’s wash your hands.”
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