Oregon reports 8 more COVID-19 related deaths, 2 from Crook County; 1,991 new cases

(Update: Weekly report shows sharp rise in cases, hospitalizations, deaths)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are eight new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, including two Crook County residents, raising the state’s death toll to 2,920, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday. 

OHA also reported 1,991 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 234,393.

The Crook County residents, a 65-year-old woman and 82-year-old man, died this week at St. Charles Bend, bringing Crook County's death toll to 26.

COVID-19 weekly cases and hospitalizations rise sharply

The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released Wednesday, showed continued steep increases in daily cases and hospitalizations. 

OHA reported 8,304 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, Aug. 2, through Sunday, Aug. 8. That represents a 40% increase over the previous week.

There were 322 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, up from 256 last week. That marked the fifth consecutive week of increases.  

There were 40 reported COVID-19 related deaths, up from 25 reported the previous week.

There were 119,416 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Aug. 1 through Aug. 7.  The percentage of positive tests increased to 9.5%.

Wednesday's COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 53 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.

Governor Brown announces indoor mask mandate at press conference

Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday announced a statewide indoor mask mandate to help curb the rising tide of COVID-19 in Oregon. OHA Director Patrick Allen and State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger highlighted the alarming spike in hospitalizations and the surging cases of the delta variant. Both strongly urged people who have not yet done so, to please get vaccinated. 

A copy of the slide from the press conference can be found here with talking points for Director Allen and Dr. Sidelinger here and here. A video link to Wednesday’s media briefing is here.

COVID-19 wastewater monitoring data dashboard 

OHA is updating the wastewater dashboard to display quantitative and sequencing data related to its statewide COVID-19 wastewater monitoring project. Wastewater sample values have also been categorized into trend groups on this dashboard. These categories will help local public health departments track the changes of viral concentration in their community’s wastewater. The viral concentration data is displayed alongside daily case rates to show any relationships between the two measures. If a wastewater sample was sequenced, variants of concern detected in the wastewater are provided. 

Currently there are 40 wastewater treatment facilities with quantitative information displayed on the dashboard. These locations are displayed on a map of Oregon on the left of the dashboard with trend-colored dots. Information will be updated every Wednesday. 

The monitoring serves as an “early warning” system to inform local public officials if COVID-19 is increasing in communities, in addition to which variants are circulating. OHA launched the project in August 2020 in collaboration with Oregon State University and with funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

OHA thanks the more than 40 communities that have participated in wastewater monitoring during this pandemic. These local partners truly go above and beyond to help inform their communities and OHA is grateful for their collaboration.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Wednesday that 5,936 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 2,312 were initial doses and 1,227 were second doses administered on Tuesday. The remaining 864 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Tuesday.

The seven-day running average is now 5,404 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 2,701,233 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,801,156 first and second doses of Moderna and 186,881 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Wednesday, 2,530,218 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,338,390 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 lags in providers reporting updated information. 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).

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 665, which is 30 more than Tuesday. There are 172 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is eight more 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 32 COVID-19 patients as of early Wednesday, seven of whom were in the ICU, with five on ventilators.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Baker (25), Benton (12), Clackamas (143), Clatsop (40), Columbia (80), Coos (23), Crook (10), Curry (15), Deschutes (46), Douglas (209), Gilliam (2), Harney (2), Hood River (6), Jackson (247), Jefferson (8), Josephine (129), Klamath (8), Lane (144), Lincoln (24), Linn (38), Malheur (16), Marion (116), Morrow (21), Multnomah (157), Polk (48), Tillamook (13), Umatilla (121), Union (16), Wallowa (2), Wasco (18), Washington (199), Wheeler (3), and Yamhill (50). 

Oregon’s 2,913rd COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old woman from Crook County who tested positive on August 5 and died on August 10 at St Charles Bend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,914th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man from Crook County who tested positive on August 4 and died on August 8 at St. Charles Bend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,915th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on July 27 and died on August 1 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,916th COVID-19 death is a 59-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on August 3 and died on August 9 at Mercy Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,917th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man from Douglas County who tested positive on August 3 and died on August 10 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,918th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on July 20 and died on August 9 at Mercy Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,919th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on August 5 and died on August 10 at Providence Medford Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,920th COVID-19 death is a 39-year-old man from Umatilla County who tested positive on July 20 and died on August 8 at Providence St. Mary Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations  

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, including a breakdown of distribution and other important information, visit OHA's webpage (English or Spanish).