(Update: Adding OHA statement on Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause lifted)

Deschutes County reports 103 new cases, Crook County 16, Jefferson County 10 as surge continues

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are nine new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,476, along with 1,020 new cases, the highest daily tally since mid-January, the Oregon Health Authority reported Friday.

OHA also reported 1,020 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, bringing the state total to 179,120. For the third time this week, that represents the highest daily county since 1,173 cases were reported on Jan. 16.

Information from Friday’s media briefing

Friday morning, Gov. Kate Brown and OHA leadership provided an update on vaccination progress in Oregon. You can watch a recording of Friday’s briefing here and find a copy of the talking points here. Friday’s slides are also available here.

New COVID-19 model released

On Friday, OHA released its latest COVID-19 forecast, which showed significantly higher transmission of the virus through early April and projects an increase in cases and hospitalizations.

According to the model, the effective reproduction rate — the expected number of secondary cases that a single case generates — was estimated at 1.24 through April 7.

At that level of transmission, daily cases would rise to 960, with 38 new daily hospitalizations between April 28 and May 11. If transmission increases by 20%, new daily cases would rise to 1,610, with 66 additional hospitalizations per day.

As access to vaccine gradually expands throughout the state, the projections on spread of the virus emphasize the importance of continuing to practice preventive measures that can slow the spread of the disease.

• Maintain physical distance.
• Wear a face covering or mask.
• Avoid gatherings with non-household members.
• Practice good hand hygiene. 

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported that 49,104 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added Friday to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 30,432 doses were administered on Thursday and 18,672 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Thursday.

The seven-day running average is now 33,698 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered a total of 1,424,478 doses of Pfizer, 1,194,788 doses of Moderna and 91,271 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Friday, 1,116,490 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,682,399 who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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, 1,694,745 doses of Pfizer, 1,437,500 doses of Moderna and 215,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change.

OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated Friday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 276, which is seven fewer than Thursday. There are 64 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is five fewer than Thursday.

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 21 COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Friday, five in the ICU and three on ventilators. (By way of reference, the hospital's peak count was 60 COVID-19 patients, on Dec. 17 and 21 of 2020.)

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Friday are in the following counties: Baker (10), Benton (8), Clackamas (58), Clatsop (7), Columbia (13), Coos (6), Crook (16), Curry (1), Deschutes (103), Douglas (9), Grant (5), Harney (2), Hood River (5), Jackson (63), Jefferson (10), Josephine (13), Klamath (103), Lane (82), Lincoln (5), Linn (23), Malheur (3), Marion (120), Morrow (1), Multnomah (198), Polk (15), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (13), Union (1), Wallowa (1), Wasco (3), Washington (102) and Yamhill (18).

Deschutes County's record COVID-19 daily new cases count was 127, set on on Dec. 4. Morgan Emerson, spokeswoman for Deschutes County Health Service, said Friday's 103 cases were the highest daily count so far this year and the fourth-highest since the pandemic began.

Oregon’s 2,468th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old man from Douglas County who became symptomatic on April 12 after contact with a confirmed case and died on April 20 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,469th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on March 8 and died on April 11 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,470th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old woman from Harney County who tested positive on April 17 and died on April 17 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,471st COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on April 7 and died on April 22 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,472nd COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on April 7 and died on April 9 at Asante Ashland Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,473rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman from Malheur County who tested positive on April 8 and died on April 14 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,474th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on March 27 and died on April 10 at Providence Portland Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,475th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man from Umatilla County who tested positive on Nov. 4, 2020 and died on April 9 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,476th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman from Deschutes County who tested positive on April 9 and died on April 17 at her residence. She had underlying conditions. It was the county's 73rd reported death.

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.

Oregon health officials encouraged by federal approval to resume use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine; Oregon use pending Western States’ review

A federal vaccine safety review panel announced today that it recommends lifting the pause on the use and distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. The Food and Drug administration has followed the recommendation and lifted the pause, adding a warning about the potential for rare blood clots for women under age 50.

State health experts will review the federal decisions and will participate as part of Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup that will be assessing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and FDA decision today based on the panel’s recommendation. Once that review is completed, the Oregon Health Authority will share its recommendations to clinicians and vaccine providers on plans for the resumption of the vaccine’s use and distribution in Oregon.

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Oregon’s state health officer said, “Today’s federal actions are encouraging news as we confront the latest surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. This thorough scientific review found that the benefits of the Johnson & Johnson outweigh the risks. And the prompt and rigorous safety examination can give us all confidence that adverse events are carefully scrutinized.”

Background

The pause was implemented on April 13 after reports of six cases of an unusual, severe syndrome of blood clots in major veins, along with low platelet count occurred among six women who received the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. The syndrome is named “thrombosis thrombocytopenia syndrome” (“TTS”), and it resembles cases of clotting reported in Europe following administration of AstraZeneca’s adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccine. It also shares features with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), including the presence of antibody to platelet factor 4 and rebound of platelet count following intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) administration. Since then, CDC and FDA have been investigating possible cases of TTS and reviewing additional data.

Today, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to review the data accumulated since then and to weigh the benefits of the vaccine against its risks.

• After nearly 8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were administered, 15 cases of TTS have now been confirmed. All were women: 13 of the cases were 18–49 years of age, and two were 50+ years old. Three have died (including a woman in Oregon).
• The risk of this syndrome was found to be seven cases per million doses in women 50 years of age or younger, based on the cases reviewed.
• The risk in women older than 50, the risk was found to be 0.9 cases per million.
• Less than one per million doses in men were identified, based on a case history of a man who developed this syndrome during the clinical trial.
• Even assuming moderate transmission of COVID-19, the panel estimated that in women 18–49 years of age, Johnson & Johnson vaccine would prevent far more deaths and intensive care unit admissions than the potential number of TTS cases incurred. One million doses in this age group, at current US COVID-19 exposure risk, might be associated with 13 cases of TTS but prevent 657 hospitalizations, 127 ICU admissions, and 12 deaths. The benefits outweigh the risks even further for women 50 years of age and older and for men.

For these reasons, ACIP voted that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine again be recommended for persons 18 years of age and older in the U.S. population under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization. Prior to any resumption of use and distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Oregon, the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup will also be assessing the ACIP recommendation. The Oregon Health Authority will consider its recommendations before advising clinicians and vaccine providers on plans for the resumption of the vaccine’s use and distribution.

OHA recommends that those who received or will receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be aware of this rare potential risk within the first three weeks of vaccination. Clinical characteristics include clots in the cerebral, extremity, pulmonary or splanchnic vasculature. Symptoms may include severe or unusual headache, leg pain, shortness of breath, or abdominal pain; petechiae in the arms and shins indicating thrombocytopenia. Those who develop such symptoms should be advised to seek medical attention immediately.

Clinicians are advised to review the American Society of Hematology guidelines for recognition and treatment of HIT the appropriate evaluation and management of patients presenting with symptoms consistent with TTS.. Additionally, clinicians are advised to report this and any other adverse events following any immunization to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).