Oregon reports 314 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 30 new deaths
PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 30 new COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 7,013, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. OHA reported 314 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state total to 702,288.
Oregon crosses threshold of 7,000 COVID-19 related deaths
Wednesday, Oregon recorded more than 7,000 cumulative deaths, even as the state continues to see declines in hospitalizations and the start of a recovery and resilience-building process after more than two years of battling COVID-19, said Dean Sidelinger, M.D., health officer and state epidemiologist. “We again are reminded that COVID-19 continues to impact families and communities in Oregon, and we recognize each person represents a tremendous loss to those closest to them,” Sidelinger said. People in Oregon who have not been vaccinated remain at highest risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death. OHA encourages all eligible individuals to protect themselves against COVID-19 variants by getting vaccinated and getting a booster. They can find a vaccine provider using the Get Vaccinated Oregon tool. Last week (March 15), Oregon crossed the threshold of 700,000 COVID-19 related cases. Oregon ranks second lowest among states in the number of cases per capita (16,596 per 100,000). However, the pandemic isn’t over, and COVID-19 poses a risk to many people. State health officials recommend Oregonians keep in mind the ‘5 Essentials’ for navigating and staying safe during the current phase of the pandemic: 5 Essentials: Variant dashboards updated with Omicron BA.2 lineage break-out; Starting Wednesday, OHA’s COVID-19 Daily Data Update dashboard and Variants dashboard will split out the Omicron BA.2 lineage from the other Omicron lineages (B.1.1.529 and all other BA lineages), both with the total counts and the charts that show the proportion of variants in Oregon over time.
COVID-19 weekly cases, hospitalizations, deaths, decline
The COVID-19 Weekly Data Report, released today, showed declines in weekly cases, COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths. OHA reported 1,769 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 14 through Sunday, March 20 – a 19% decline from the previous week. There were 156 COVID-19-related hospitalizations, a 31% decrease over the previous week and the lowest weekly total since late July. There were 90 COVID-19-related deaths, down from 142 the previous week. Reported COVID-19 test results dropped by 5.7%. There were 89,917 tests administered. Test positivity dropped to 2.5%, the lowest since mid-July. Weekly tests have fallen 69% since the Omicron peak in mid-January. The percent positivity rate has fallen from 24.5% to 2.5% over the same period. Wednesday’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 98 total active outbreaks in care facilities, senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed COVID-19 cases or one or more COVID-19-related deaths.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 165, which is 14 fewer than Tuesday. There are 27 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one fewer than Tuesday. There are 89 available adult ICU beds out of 677 total (13% availability) and 359 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,259 (8% 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
Wednesday, OHA reported that 2,785 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry March 22. Of that total, 234 were initial doses, 270 were second doses and 700 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 1,453 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry March 22. The seven-day running average is now 2,278 doses per day. Oregon has now administered 4,184,493 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 243,842 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,735,604 doses of Moderna and 269,994 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Wednesday, 3,172,738 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,880,941 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 Wednesday.
COVID-19 Cases
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Benton (10), Clackamas (18), Clatsop (1), Columbia (2), Coos (9), Curry (1), Deschutes (12), Douglas (7), Grant (3), Hood River (3), Jackson (17), Jefferson (2), Josephine (5), Klamath (5), Lane (26), Linn (5), Marion (25), Multnomah (106), Polk (2), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (1), Wasco (1), Washington (45) and Yamhill (3).