Coronavirus in Oregon: Some are calm, some definitely not

Downtown Lake Oswego appeared relatively serene Saturday morning, but workers at several local stores said that wasn’t the case the previous night.

© Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive/oregonlive.com/TNS At Costco in Tigard there was a line 100 people deep the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, snaking to the back of the store and around.One man said he got here at 9:30 am, opening, and there were what looked like 1,000 people waiting to get in.

Cashiers at both Safeway and Rite Aid said they quickly ran out of items like hand sanitizer and hand wipes as news broke Friday night of someone with a presumptive case of coronavirus who works at the city’s Forest Hills Elementary School.

At the Safeway, more than 30 people lined up at closing time, some buying $500 worth of emergency supplies. Pharmacist Seong Lee said he was shocked when the announcement came.

"I didn't expect it in my community," he said.

But he said he's been advising the unusually high influx of people not to panic. Basic hygiene – washing hands and covering coughs and sneezes – is the way to go.

Lake Oswego resident Rachel Tinney said although her 6-year-old daughter doesn’t go to Forest Hills Elementary School, the district has been good with timely alerts.

"I think I've been taking all the precautionary measures," she said. "I'll follow any recommendation I'm given."

So far, health officials aren’t recommending closing any local schools except for Forest Hills, which is shut through Wednesday for a deep cleaning.

Tinney’s daughter goes to Hallinan Elementary School and she said she'll do whatever the district and state health officials recommend to keep kids healthy, but at this point, she's not planning to keep her daughter out of school.

A man buying supplies at Rite said that he’s trying to be practical about the news.

“I travel a lot for business,” he said. “People get sick. I take precautions like taking zinc, but I’m going in with a pragmatic approach. There have probably been people walking around with it for a while, but this is the first person to potentially test positive.”

A “Do Not Enter” sign was up along with barriers at the entrance of Forest Hills Elementary, a small red-brick school in a leafy residential neighborhood. The place was quiet, with people going through their morning routine on the surrounding streets, running and walking dogs near the school.

© Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive/oregonlive.com/TNS At Costco in Tigard there was a line 100 people deep the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, snaking to the back of the store and around.One man said he got here at 9:30 am, opening, and there were what looked like 1,000 people waiting to get in.

It wasn’t as calm at several Costco stories in surrounding communities.

Lines were 100-people deep at the warehouse store in Tigard, snaking back to the store and around. One customer arrived at the 9:30 a.m. opening and said there appeared to be 1,000 people waiting to get in. Some people wore masks.

“Take a deep breath, it’s going to be fine. I’ve never seen it like this. ... I am telling people (on Facebook) don’t come to Costco,” said Michele Bambach of Lake Oswego.

© Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive/oregonlive.com/TNS At Costco in Tigard there was a line 100 people deep the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, snaking to the back of the store and around.One man said he got here at 9:30 am, opening, and there were what looked like 1,000 people waiting to get in.

The parking lot at the Aloha Costco was jammed with cars spilling into the overflow lot. The checkouts were doing brisk business similar to a weekend at Christmastime.

Toilet paper, water and hand sanitizer seemed to be big sellers -- if there were any left.

-- Jayati Ramakrishnan

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