COVID-19 Continues to Challenge Health of Oregonians

The risk of "catching COVID" is far from over. Be Vigilant.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - There are two new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,385, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

There are 521 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Oregon, bringing the state total to 165,524 cases.

Additional counties approved for expanding vaccinations

To date, the counties are: Baker, Benton, Coos, Clatsop, Crook, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union and Wheeler. (The newest counties added are: Baker, Clatsop and Gilliam.)

By attesting, these counties can now begin vaccinating all individuals listed in Phase 1B, Group 7, ahead of the previously designated statewide start date of April 5.

OHA will update data source for ‘variant of concern’ dashboard

On March 16, CDC reclassified the B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants as “variants of concern”. These variants have been circulating in Oregon since late 2020 and had not been previously reportable. OHA has reviewed historical data in the open-source sequencing data platform GISAID and has identified more than 190 B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants to date in Oregon.

In order to provide a comprehensive picture of variant circulation in Oregon, OHA will begin updating its variant of concern counts using GISAID data. This will allow OHA to rapidly report historical data whenever CDC definitions of variants of concern are updated. The OHA variant of concern dashboard will be updated with GISAID data on April 2, 2021, and will be updated every Wednesday moving forward.

Oregon will continue to ask all laboratory partners to promptly report all variants of concern (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.427 and B.1.429) and variants of interest (B.1.525, B.1.526, P.2) to public health in order to inform case investigation and contact tracing.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Oregon has now administered a total of 941,850 first and second doses of Pfizer, 867,103 first and second doses of Moderna and 43,075 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

To date, 1,170,585 doses of Pfizer, 1,098,900 doses of Moderna and 97,300 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon. These data are preliminary and subject to change.

Hospitalizations in Oregon

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 155, which is 16 more than yesterday. There are 39 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is three more than yesterday.

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.

Cases and deaths

• Oregon’s 2,384th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on March 15 and died on March 31 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
• Oregon’s 2,385th COVID-19 death is a 48-year-old woman in Union County who tested positive on March 17 and died on March 30 at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center.

OHA continues to recommend that all Oregonians:

• Maintain 6 feet of physical distance;
• Wear a face covering when outside the house;
• Practice good hand hygiene;
• Avoid any gatherings with non-household members;
• If you start to have symptoms — even mild ones — consult with a medical provider quickly to get instructions on how to care for yourself and your household members and to determine whether to get tested;
• And finally, if you get a call from a local public health authority, answer it, and take their advice on how to protect yourself and those around you.

INFORMATIONAL LINKS (COVID-19):

• OREGON RESPONSE: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
• OHA/CORONAVIRUS: See more case and county level data (Oregon)
• UNITED STATES RESPONSE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
• GLOBAL RESPONSE: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
• COVID-NET: A national surveillance network that collects detailed medical information about hospitalized patients.
• HOSPITAL CAPACITY INFO

Source: Oregon Health Authority