Staying home works: Oregon appears ready to handle surge of COVID-19 patients

But Stay Home and Save Lives continues to be the message

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- It appears that most Oregonians have been acting on pleas by the governor and others to stay home and save lives, as the latest projections outlined Tuesday show Oregon is prepared to handle an expected first big wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest numbers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington suggest Oregon will have enough hospital beds and ventilators to treat the projected number of patients in the state, something officials feared just days ago would overwhelm the system.

Researchers estimate the state will need 227 beds and 40 ventilators.  Oregon has more than 2,600 beds and more than 800 ventilators available.

But Andrew Phelps, director of Oregon's Office of Emergency Management, told reporters Tuesday he does not want those projections to give Oregonians a false sense of security.

"While sunny days are in this week's weather forecast, and understandably many of us want to be outside to take advantage of this sunny weather, it's important to recognize that we've seen enough modeling to tell us when you stay home, you are saving the lives of people who can't," Phelps said.

The state continues to receive more personal protective equipment, which is distributed throughout the state based on the number of coronavirus patients each county has had. On Monday, the state received around 1 million gowns, face shields and masks. The state also received about 1.5 million gloves, and that doesn't count the number of donations from Oregonians.

"We've also been really humbled by the number of donations from every day citizens businesses and other organizations in our communities," Phelps said. :As of Monday we have received over 100,000 masks and tens of thousands of gloves."

If you are interested in donating personal protective equipment, you can find more information on OEM's website.