Oregon reports 301 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 20 new deaths
PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 20 new COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 7,033, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. OHA reported 301 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 702,566.
OHA releases new COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report
OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, reported 1,990 cases of COVID-19 during the week of March 13 to March 19. Of those cases, 1,232, or 61.9%, were unvaccinated people, and 750, or 37.7%, were vaccine breakthrough cases. Among the breakthrough cases, 395, or 52.7%, were fully vaccinated and boosted. The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 55. Ten breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 31 breakthrough cases in people ages 12 to 17. To date, there have been 196,477 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. Of those cases, 45,849, or 23.3%, were fully vaccinated. The average age of all cases is 41. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people last week was approximately 3.7 times higher than in vaccinated people, and 4.3 times higher than in people who are fully vaccinated and boosted. To date, 2.5% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized, and 0.6% have died. The average age of vaccinated people who died is 80. Vaccination remains the most effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Oregonians are encouraged to get vaccinated and, if eligible, get a booster shot.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 161, which is four fewer than Wednesday. There are 25 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two fewer than Wednesday. There are 95 available adult ICU beds out of 676 total (14% availability) and 385 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,253 (9% availability). The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Thursday, OHA reported that 2,873 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry March 23. Of that total, 278 were initial doses, 284 were second doses and 837 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 1,319 doses were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry March 23. The seven-day running average is now 2,283 doses per day. Oregon has now administered 4,185,972 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 244,171 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,736,503 doses of Moderna and 270,039 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Thursday, 3,173,269 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,881,503 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. These data are preliminary and subject to change. Updated vaccination data are provided on Oregon’s COVID-19 data dashboards and have been updated Thursday.
COVID-19 Cases
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Benton (15), Clackamas (23), Clatsop (5), Columbia (2), Coos (3), Crook (1), Deschutes (14), Douglas (10), Grant (3), Harney (1), Hood River (2), Jackson (10), Jefferson (3), Josephine (4), Klamath (6), Lane (33), Lincoln (1), Linn (4), Malheur (1), Marion (15), Multnomah (85), Polk (5), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (12), Union (1), Wasco (3), Washington (28) and Yamhill (10).