(Tillamook, OR)  --  A Tillamook County Commissioner says the county is "in a dire crisis" as new cases of COVID-19 continue to surge.  Commissioners Erin Skaar, Mary Faith Bell and David Yamamoto have issued a news release saying the spread of COVID-19 in Tillamook County has risen to a "critical phase."  The county saw eight new COVID-19 deaths between August 18th and August 28th.  That's three more deaths than the county saw during the entire first 18 months of the pandemic.  Commissioner Skaar tells KATU-2 that the sense of safety the county felt from being a rural, small community earlier in the pandemic is now gone.