Oregon reports 14 more COVID-19 deaths, 3,229 cases over weekend; Deschutes has 240 cases

(Update: OHA corrects info on number of deaths among vaccinated Oregonians)

Outbreak tied to Medford hospital reaches 61 cases

 PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are 14 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,903, and 3,229 cases reported over the past three days, the Oregon Health Authority said Monday. 

OHA reported 3,229 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Monday, bringing the state total to 230,103.

The 3,229 cases reported Monday include new infections recorded by counties for the three-day period between Friday, Aug. 6 and Sunday, Aug. 8.

OHA corrects information shared in latest report on vaccine breakthrough cases 

The Oregon Health Authority is issuing a correction to data shared in its latest report on vaccine breakthrough cases.

The OHA vaccine breakthrough report, released on Aug. 5, listed 55 COVID deaths in July. OHA incorrectly stated 91% of these deaths (a total of 50 cases) were in unvaccinated individuals. OHA public health epidemiologists have since found that an additional five deaths occurred in fully vaccinated individuals since the report was released, but had been counted among the total of unvaccinated individuals. The correct total of deaths in July among vaccinated people was 10, and the total of deaths among unvaccinated people was 45. 

The updated figure lowers the percentage of deaths among unvaccinated Oregonians to 82%. OHA regrets the error. 

“While the July deaths show a higher percentage of vaccinated people have died from COVID-19 than in previous months, it's too early to tell if this change represents a trend we will see in coming reports. The overall number of vaccine breakthrough deaths was small and estimates produced by small numbers are uncertain,” said Dr. Melissa Sutton, medical director for respiratory viral pathogens at OHA. “The overall numbers still show that people who are unvaccinated remain at far greater risk from COVID-19 illness, especially from the Delta variant that is now being found in most new cases in Oregon.”

OHA will be published an updated report with most current data on Tuesday. The updated report will be published on the OHA website.

OHA working with county and hospital officials on outbreak linked to Medford hospital

OHA and Jackson County Public Health are investigating a COVID-19 outbreak associated with Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford. Jackson County Public Health is collaborating with Asante to support the medical center as they respond to the outbreak. 

Cases have been identified among residents of Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties.

OHA and Jackson County public health officials began investigating two separate department outbreaks at the medical center in early July, which were reported in the OHA Weekly Workplace Outbreak Report.

Last week, Asante reported a significant increase in cases from multiple departments, leading OHA to consolidate the departmental outbreaks. As of Monday, OHA is aware of 61 cases associated with the ongoing outbreak at the medical center in Medford. 

A sample of the cases was sequenced and all were identified as the delta variant.

This outbreak comes as cases and outbreaks are rising throughout the United States and Oregon. In recent weeks, OHA has recorded a large increase in COVID-19 cases. That rise is linked to the spread of the delta variant, which now accounts for nearly 100% of Oregon’s new cases.

COVID-19 vaccines remain our strongest prevention tool against the rapidly spreading Delta variant. OHA anticipates outbreaks will continue to occur, particularly in communities with low vaccination rates. 

OHA encourage all eligible residents to get vaccinated in order to protect themselves and those who cannot be vaccinated, such as children under 12 years of age.

Since late July, OHA has recommended that all persons, regardless of their vaccination status, wear a mask indoors in public spaces. OHA also encourages all Oregonians to consider masking if they plan to attend crowded outdoor events, especially if they are at higher risk for complications from COVID-19 or live with individuals who are unvaccinated or at higher risk for complications from COVID-19. 

Race and ethnicity data changes for vaccinated people

OHA is updating rarest race and ethnicity data for more than 1 in 10 people vaccinated who are currently grouped as “Other Race” or “Unknown.” The race and ethnicity data of approximately 34,000 people will change and will cause increases in vaccination coverage for all racial and ethnic identities. Additionally, there will be a routine, monthly refresh of the vaccine data from ALERT IIS. 

OHA aligns county community spread metrics with CDC

Starting Monday, OHA will update the tracking and reporting of community spread of COVID-19 in Oregon counties to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s levels of community transmission by:

• Switching from tracking the previous two full weeks to the previous full week from Sunday through Saturday,
• Applying case rate per 100,000 and test positivity to all counties, and
• Adjusting terminology and case rate thresholds for the levels of community transmission (low, moderate, substantial or high).

OHA will continue to report data on cases, case rates per 100,000 residents and test positivity by county in the County Community Transmission report on Mondays and in the Public Health Indicators dashboard on Tuesdays.

The data will be presented by week and will show data from the previous four full weeks. Current county community transmission will be based on the previous week’s data. 

This will enable community partners to make informed decisions regarding screening testing in K–12 schools and in health care infection control practices.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Monday that 3,054 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 2,201 doses were administered on Aug. 8 and 853 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Aug. 8.

The seven-day running average is now 5,255 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 2,694,483 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,798,025 first and second doses of Moderna and 185,762 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Monday, 2,522,845 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,333,670 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, 3,049,245 doses of Pfizer, 2,325,580 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 Monday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 575, which is 21 more than Sunday. There are 148 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four more than Sunday.

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 33 COVID-19 patients as of early Monday, five of whom were in the ICU, with three on ventilators.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Monday are in the following counties: Baker (6), Benton (55), Clackamas (254), Clatsop (55), Columbia (18), Coos (46), Crook (13), Curry (7), Deschutes (240), Douglas (278), Gilliam (1), Harney (3), Hood River (15), Jackson (49), Jefferson (21), Josephine (239), Klamath (25), Lane (624), Lincoln (17), Linn (152), Malheur (7), Marion (113), Morrow (26), Multnomah (538), Polk (25), Sherman (2), Tillamook (79), Umatilla (85), Union (47), Wallowa (7), Wasco (32), Washington (106) and Yamhill (44). 

Note: Oregon reported 1,032 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases on Aug. 6; 964 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases on Aug. 7; and 1,233 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases on Aug. 8.

Oregon’s 2,890th COVID-19 associated death is a 79-year-old woman from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 5 and died on Aug. 6 at Providence Medford Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,891st COVID-19 associated death is a 61-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on July 26 and died on Aug. 5 at Providence Medford Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,892nd COVID-19 associated death is a 69-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on July 24 and died on Aug. 6 at Mercy Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,893rd COVID-19 associated death is a 59-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive on July 29 and died on Aug. 7 at Peacehealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,894th COVID-19 associated death is an 83-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on May 5 and died on Aug. 6 at Peacehealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,895th COVID-19 associated death is a 75-year-old woman from Josephine County who tested positive on Aug. 4 and died on Aug. 5 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,896th COVID-19 associated death is a 77-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on July 31 and died on Aug. 7 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,897th COVID-19 associated death is a 52-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on July 22 and died on Aug. 6 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,898th COVID-19 associated death is a 64-year-old man from Gilliam County who tested positive on Aug. 2 and died on Aug. 7 at Mid-Columbia Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,899th COVID-19 associated death is a 72-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive on July 27 and died on Aug. 3 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,900th COVID-19 associated death is a 64-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive on July 21 and died on Aug. 4 at Mercy Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,901st COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman from Wasco County who tested positive on Aug. 2 and died on Aug. 4 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,902nd COVID-19 associated death is a 69-year-old man from Umatilla County who tested positive on March 3 and died on March 23 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,903rd COVID-19 associated death is a 76-year-old woman from Polk County who tested positive on Aug. 2 and died on Aug. 5 at Salem Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

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.