Oregon22 will bring tens of thousands to Eugene. What's being done to mitigate COVID?

Tens of thousands of spectators will pour into Eugene from July 15 to 24 as the city hosts the World Athletics Championships.

The slew of athletes, media members, trainers, supporters, fans and other participants will fill most hotels in the area as well as University of Oregon dorms and halls. Local eateries have been preparing for the onslaught of patrons. Public health officials and Oregon22 staff also have prepped ways to make the giant event safe as COVID-19 continues to spread.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID community levels, a measure of the impact of COVID-19 on health care systems, lists Lane County as "high." Last week, the county reported 933 new cases of the virus, which represents only a portion of cases likely circulating because most cases are identified with at-home tests, which often go unreported.

“There's still a lot of COVID out there, almost no matter where you go,” said Lane County's Senior Public Health Officer Dr. Patrick Luedtke. “We're not seeing significant increases in death or hospitalizations, which is good, but we're still seeing a lot of cases. So, people need to be careful.

"They're sick of hearing it, and I respect that, but our job is to make sure people know the level of concern and disease burden out there.”

The influx of people coming from every corner of the world adds yet another variable in the fight to contain the spread of COVID-19. Staff with World Athletics Championships and public health have been working together for months to mitigate the event’s impact.

Oregon22 require participants to vaccinate, test

World Athletics Championships requires the events’ staff, athletes, trainers, coaches, volunteers and members of the media be fully vaccinated. The requirement extends to everyone but fans.

Hans Notenboom, medical director of the Local Organizing Committee, LOC, for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, said the event will be unique in how highly vaccinated it is.

Event participants also will be required to test before arriving in Eugene.

“We have, I think, the most robust vaccination plan that you will find in any event of this size, maybe anywhere in the world right now,” Notenboom said. “It takes an army to do this … It's extremely hard and we have people working literally around the clock doing it.”

If participants find they have COVID-19 symptoms during the event, they’ll be able to test through BioReference Laboratories, a company the organizing committee has contracted in order to get antigen and PCR test results in about an hour. If a positive case is identified, Oregon22’s staff will “do their best” to contact trace.

“Contact tracing is always a difficult thing when you have an open campus,” Notenboom said.

All of the typical pandemic recommendations apply to participants and spectators alike, he added. If people feel at all ill, they should stay home.

What will be available to the Eugene-area community?

Sarah Massey, CEO of Oregon22's Local Organizing Committee for the World Athletics Championships, said protocols are in place for the safety of everyone involved.

“As an organization we undertook (these efforts) to make sure we were safeguarding both those that are coming and also the community,” Massey said.

Positive cases will automatically be reported to public health,Notenboom said. Lane County Public Health updates its dashboard once a week. However, if there’s a big outbreak, officials said residents can expect to hear about it.

In partnership with Oregon State University, LCPH will be testing the sewage for not only COVID-19, but other viruses such as hepatitis A and hepatitis E. Public health will be on the lookout for viruses that aren’t typically found in the area as the event will welcome visitors from nearly 200 countries.

Luedtke said LCPH is encouraging people to stay on top of all their vaccinations ahead of the influx of global visitors. Lane County’s already lower rate of routine vaccines such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio dropped further when the pandemic hit.

“From a public health standpoint, I'm not scared, but I'm concerned,” Luedtke said. “We are a community at elevated risk when you bring 190 countries here and our vaccine rates for routine vaccines are lower.”

Where visitors and residents can be tested

Fans and residents will not have access to COVID-19 testing through BioRefrence Lab, but the University of Oregon’s Monitoring and Assessment Program continues to offer free PCR tests to everyone. Over the summer, 350 tests will be available daily.

Those without symptoms can test inside Chiles Hall on Kincaid Street and East 13th Avenue. Appointments are encouraged and can be made online at https://bit.ly/3rbgUhD.

Testing for people with mild symptoms, similar to the common cold, can be found at the tent outside the south entrance of Chiles. If someone has symptoms, they should not enter the building. Symptomatic testing is offered only on a walk-in basis. Symptomatic testing is available on days when asymptomatic testing is offered and ends 30 minutes prior to closing unless otherwise noted. Find testing schedules at https://coronavirus.uoregon.edu/map-testing#symptomatic. MAP test results are available within two to four business days.

While many, many people are headed Eugene’s way, Luedtke is hopeful that the event won’t lead to a big spike in cases. However, if a new, peculiar variant pops up through testing or in the sewage, the community will be alerted.

“I don’t expect we're going to see some massive number of cases,” Luedtke said. “People are outdoors, ambient air is massive dilution of exposure … However, we do want to know if a crazy variant shows up.”

About the series

After years of planning and preparation, Eugene is counting down to the World Athletics Championships Oregon 22 global sporting event making its U.S. debut July 15-24 in Eugene.

Through July 10, The Register-Guard's "Oregon22: Is Eugene Ready?" series will investigate how prepared the community is for the onslaught of visitors and activity including issues of worker shortages, overall security, public health and transit.

Contact reporter Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick at Tatiana@registerguard.com or 541-521-7512, and follow her on Twitter @TatianaSophiaPT.

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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon22 is coming. What does that mean for public health?