Linn County attributes rise in cases to contact tracing woes, in part

In benton county.

Meantime, health officials in linn county are concerned about the strong possibility of potentially joining governor browns watch list.

As kezi nine news reporter emma jerome shows us, they think it could have something to do with the startling case counts they've seen over the last few weeks... sometimes topping 20 per day.

Todd noble: "we've been living this nightmare year collectively and people get sick and tired and fatigued and letting their guard down we are clearly into a second wave and so that's what we're seeing and we're seeing it all over the place" while most of their cases are coming from more metro areas -- todd noble administrator with linn county health department said it's a county wide issue adding that those in rural communities might feel a false sense of security tn:" i think sometimes there's a sense of protection because you are a rural community - i think it's a little easy to let your guard down more" emma jerome: "linn county since january 1 has had nearly 574 postivie tests per 100,000 people -- to put this into perspective... lane county has had 530... couple that with a less than ideal contact tracing rate -- officials fear the watchful eye of kate brown watch list might soon be a reality."

Will tucker : "we are having trouble with people who are reaching a point where they're not wanting to respond to us" linn county commissioner will tucker says their contact tracers sometimes strike out 50-60 percent of the time but he said it's important because it's less about helping someone already infected and more about preventing the spread from going anywhere else the questions aren't too invasive... will tucker "where you been how do you feel how do you feel today" and there is no threat you will be reported to the authorities or immigration will tucker:"i know people are exhausted from disaster to disaster but it is still something that we need to do" answering that call helps the health department... and the community reporting in linn county emma jerome kezi