Oregon reports 10,034 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 8 new deaths
PORTLAND, Ore. — There are eight new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 5,916, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Oregon Health Authority reported 10,034 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 559,960.
COVID-19 weekly cases rise, hospitalizations and deaths decline
OHA’s COVID-19 Weekly Report released Thursday shows an increase in daily cases and a drop in hospitalizations and deaths. OHA reported 52,337 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, Jan. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 16. That is an 11% increase from the previous week and another weekly high for the pandemic. There were 320,710 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Jan. 9 through Jan. 15, a 24% increase over the previous week and a new weekly high. The percentage of positive tests rose to 22%, up from 21% last week. There were 441 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, down from 486 last week. There were 83 reported COVID-19-related deaths, down from the 113 reported the previous week. Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 210 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed cases and one or more COVID-19 related deaths.
OHA releases new COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report
OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, reported 55,612 cases of COVID-19 during the week of Jan. 9 to Jan.15. Of those cases, 45,042, or 81%, were unvaccinated people and 10,570, or 19%, were vaccine breakthrough cases. The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 38. Fifty-three breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 958 cases in people aged 12 to 17. To date, there have been 88,293 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. The average age of all cases is 42. Breakthrough cases have been reported in all 36 counties. Cases of COVID-19 are far more common in unvaccinated people. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is more than five times higher than in vaccinated people. To date, 3.2% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and 0.8% have died. The average age of vaccinated people who have died is 81. Vaccination remains the most effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Oregonians are encouraged to get vaccinated and, if eligible, to get a booster shot.
Pediatric cases update
COVID-19 cases continue to be high among children ages 0 to 17 with the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, according to the latest weekly dashboard report of pediatric COVID-19 case data in Oregon.
Pediatric dashboard and Weekly Data Report update
In the face of rapidly rising Omicron cases, public health authorities are focused on responding to outbreaks in high-risk settings and no longer required to interview individual cases and conduct contact tracing. With the transition to an opt-in model of case investigation, data on timely public health follow-up (percentage of COVID-19 cases where public health initiated follow-up within 24 hours) and the percentage of COVID-19 cases traced to a known source (cases with an epidemiologic link other than sporadic) will not be collected in the same way moving forward. As a result, we will no longer be reporting on these metrics and have updated the following reports to reflect this change. The Epidemiologic Link visualization in the Pediatric Dashboard has been removed. In the Weekly Data Report, the Epidemiologic Link, Interview and Follow-up sections have been removed as well.
More Oregonians receive COVID-19 booster doses
Oregon continues to move closer to meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal, announced Dec. 17, of getting 1 million more people in the state a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of January. When the challenge began, 949,749 people had received a booster dose. Since then, 415,696 Oregonians have received a booster. As of today, Oregon needs 584,304 people to get a booster to reach the goal and make our state safer from the Omicron variant. Find a booster here.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 981, which is 60 more than Wednesday. There are 142 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is eight more than Wednesday. There are 45 available adult ICU beds out of 648 total (7% availability) and 251 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,146 (6% 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. Note: Please do not visit an emergency department for COVID-19 testing, unless you require emergency care for your symptoms. Emergency departments in Oregon are under significant strain. You can find a test here. If you have a medical condition that doesn’t require emergency care, contact your provider. An urgent care center may also help you get the care you need and will save emergency departments from added strain.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Thursday, OHA reported that 18,244 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Jan. 19. Of that total, 1,398 were initial doses, 941 were second doses and 5,509 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 7,950 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry Jan. 19. The seven-day running average is now 14,865 doses per day. Oregon has now administered 3,974,479 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 197,799 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,616,235 doses of Moderna and 262,498 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 3,103,690 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,809,173 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: Baker (25), Benton (278), Clackamas (776), Clatsop (79), Columbia (107), Coos (142), Crook (45), Curry (38), Deschutes (675), Douglas (204), Grant (65), Harney (4), Hood River (52), Jackson (508), Jefferson (128), Josephine (157), Klamath (146), Lake (4), Lane (747), Lincoln (169), Linn (575), Malheur (143), Marion (1,073), Morrow (50), Multnomah (1,434), Polk (226), Sherman (3), Tillamook (54), Umatilla (288), Union (61), Wallowa (13), Wasco (65), Washington (1,400), Wheeler (7) and Yamhill (293).