Public health officials for the third day in a row on Saturday reported more than 400 new known cases of COVID-19 in Oregon.
The state has never before reported such a streak, which indicates that novel coronavirus transmission is surging as cooler weather prompts residents to spend more time indoors with others.
The state reported 409 cases Saturday — a number that was preceded by an all-time high of 484 cases Thursday and 425 cases Friday. Sunday’s count dropped slightly to 337 new cases.
Officials reported two new deaths Saturday, bringing Oregon’s death toll to 599 since the pandemic began. No new deaths were reported Sunday. There have been 37,262 total known cases of the disease.
This past week, the Oregon Health Authority released the results of two surveys of more than 1,400 Oregonians that showed while many are cautious and continuing to refrain from activities that could accelerate the spread of the virus, significant numbers are not.
The survey found that 49% of respondents reported attending four or more social gatherings in the previous two weeks, and 16% of respondents said they’d attended 11 or more gatherings during that two-week period.
A portion of Oregonians are meeting up in big groups: 20% of respondents said they’d attended a get-together with at least 10.
Trending up: Oregon’s rolling seven-day average for new known cases announced per day now stands at 344.7. That effectively ties the record in late July of an average 345.4 people known to have been infected per day.
Across Oregon as of Friday, the rolling seven-day positive test rate was 6.6% — meaning that an average of more than six out of every 100 people tested were positive for the virus. That ties the all-time average positive test rate recorded back on Aug. 4.
