(Update: Weekly report shows highest case count in 7 weeks; hospitalizations, deaths also increase)
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There is one new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,833, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday.
OHA also reported 421 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 213,730.
Weekly COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise
The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released Friday, shows an increase in daily cases, hospitalizations and COVID-19 related deaths.
OHA reported 2,026 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, July 12, through Sunday, July 18. That represents a 54% rise over the previous week and the highest tally in seven weeks.
New COVID-19 related hospitalizations rose to 123, up from 104 the previous week.
There were 29 reported COVID-19 related deaths, up from 15 reported the previous week.
There were 62,098 tests for COVID-19 for the week of July 11 through July 17. The percentage of positive tests was 4.2%, up from 3.4% the previous week.
As of July 20, 2,452,035 Oregonians – 57.5% of the state’s total population – had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Case rates have generally been higher in counties with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates. During the week of July 11-17, case rates in 15 counties exceeded the statewide average of 44.9 cases per 100,000 population. All 15 counties had overall population COVID-19 vaccination rates of lower than 55%, and 13 of them had rates lower than 47%.
Today�s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 21 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 makes improvements to Kindergarten-12th Grade School COVID-19 report
OHA is improving the way it publishes data on COVID-19 cases associated with schools that offer in-person instruction. The changes will provide clear and transparent data to inform the public of potential COVID-19 exposure in Oregon’s schools.
Starting Wednesday, OHA will revise the Weekly Outbreak Report to provide three tables with Kindergarten-12th grade school associated case and outbreak information. OHA will now report recent student, staff and volunteer cases, in addition to schools with active and resolved outbreaks.
Cases will be reported if they worked or attended school (either for class or other activities like a sports practice) during their exposure or infectious period.
OHA will no longer include these cases as cumulative case counts. A school may appear in more than one table, as the case and outbreak tables record different information.
Vaccinations in Oregon
OHA reported Wednesday that 6,484 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 3,431 doses were administered on Tuesday and 3,053 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Tuesday.
The seven-day running average is now 4,625 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered 2,624,412 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,771,412 first and second doses of Moderna and 177,264 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
As of Wednesday, 2,457,522 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,285,052 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series.
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, 2,992,995 doses of Pfizer, 2,271,420 doses of Moderna and 299,100 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
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 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 151, which is four fewer than Tuesday. There are 37 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is seven fewer than Tuesday.
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.
More information about hospital capacity can be found here.
St. Charles Bend reported nine COVID-19 patients as of early Wednesday, three of whom were in the ICU, all on ventilators.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (6), Clackamas (26), Clatsop (5), Columbia (7), Coos (4), Crook (2), Deschutes (18), Douglas (21), Gilliam (2), Harney (1), Hood River (3), Jackson (54), Jefferson (5), Josephine (22), Klamath (7), Lake (2), Lane (19), Lincoln (5), Linn (22), Malheur (1), Marion (24), Morrow (2), Multnomah (34), Polk (13), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (48), Union (11), Wallowa (2), Wasco (4), Washington (41), Yamhill (7).
Oregon’s 2,833rd COVID-19 death is a 39-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on June 23 and died on July 16 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
OHA does not report the vaccination status of people in our daily update of COVID-19 related deaths. However, statewide data show that people who remain unvaccinated are at much greater risk of infection and severe illness.
In June, 92% of the 7,241 COVID-19 cases and 94% of the 63 COVID-19-associated deaths occurred in unvaccinated Oregonians. On the first Thursday of each month, OHA publishes an update on vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon. The findings shared in our last report, from July 1, indicate that this number remains very small, when compared to the more than 2 million people who have completed a COVID-19 vaccination series.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit OHA’s webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.
