Benton County, along with other counties across the state, have successfully flattened the curve amid the COVID-19 pandemic, consequently resulting in Phase 1 of Oregon’s reopening plan. However, the risk of a second wave remains.  

Peter Banwarth, an epidemiologist and public health data scientist with the Benton County Health Department, said counties across the state of Oregon have done an excellent job flattening the curve thus far. 

“One of the things that’s helped Benton County do a really great job is the people who live here and who work here and who study here have all taken it very seriously. They’ve recognized the sacrifices that we have to make to reduce the number of interactions we have a day so that the spread of the virus is limited,” Banwarth said. “I think our decision-makers have done a good job. They are making careful, deliberate decisions, and I think the reason that those decisions have been successful is because everyone in our community is doing their best to take care of each other.”

Banwarth said recent modeling suggests the restrictions Benton County implemented over the past two months have been very successful in reducing the spread of the virus, and that phased reopening will allow the downward trend to continue. He noted, however, that as activities begin to return to normal, there is a possibility of experiencing “shocks to the system.”

“With a community and an economy that’s been reopened and people moving around more, and just the general increase in [an] economic and social activity that we expect to see over the next couple months, it’s likely—not 100% certainly—but it’s likely that we’ll see an increase in cases, the so-called ‘second wave,’” Banwarth said.

According to Banwarth, there are a number of things the community can do to avoid the second wave: extensive contact tracing, widespread testing so those who may feel symptomatic can determine if they have COVID-19, maintaining physical distancing, wearing masks and avoiding sharing surfaces.

“That’s the sort of thing that’s really difficult to maintain over a long period of time when we don’t feel like we’re in crisis,” Banwarth said.

According to Banwarth, the largest burden moving forward will be on vulnerable people in the community—the elderly, people with pre-existing medical conditions, people living in poverty and people who have been historically marginalized and oppressed. Consequently, Banwarth stressed the importance of adopting a “public health champion mindset.”

“People having that public health champion mindset, making sure that people can safely self-isolate or quarantine if needed, having the resources to do extensive contact tracing and having widespread testing and monitoring of prevalence—these are the sort of things that will give our community the flexibility we need to respond to shocks to our system,” Banwarth said. 

One of the most significant challenges Benton County faces is ensuring community members do not “let down their guard,” considering most cases of coronavirus have little to no symptoms, according to Banwarth.

“Every one of us is living in a different world than we were four months ago, and I would encourage your readers, on the one hand, to realize we’re living in a different world and that requires us to be more aware of our health and protecting the health of those around us than maybe we used to be, but also to kind of take heart from the very fact that we know we’re living in a different world, is really the first step we need to do,” Banwarth said.