COVID-19 weekly cases, deaths and hospitalizations decline, Nov. 18

OHA’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released Wednesday, shows a decrease in daily cases, deaths and hospitalizations. OHA reported 5,839 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, Nov. 8, through Sunday, Nov. 14. That represents a 12% decrease from the previous week. The decrease occurred, however, in the context of a 17% decrease in testing. OHA is continuing to investigate technical issues that occurred last weekend, including problems with a server that caused a backlog of electronic laboratory reports (ELRs) waiting to be processed. This backlog played a role in the decrease in total tests reported relative to the previous week. There were 111,898 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Nov. 7 through Nov. 13. The percentage of positive tests rose slightly to 6.5%, up from 6.4% the previous week. The overall incidence of reported COVID-19 in Oregon varied by county vaccination rate, but continues to be less in counties with higher vaccination rates and the lowest in the five counties where the vaccination rates were more than 70%. There were 356 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, down from 378 last week. There were 183 reported COVID-19-related deaths, down from 243 reported the previous week. The past two weeks of data for COVID-19 related deaths also reflect ongoing data reconciliation of COVID-19-related deaths that primarily occurred from May to August 2021, as reported last month. Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 69 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.