Oregon reports 11 more COVID-19 related deaths, 2,139 new cases, record 850 hospitalizations

(Update: Adding weekly report, sharp increases)

Woman, 58, is Jefferson County's 44th death; 6% of Oregon ICU beds, 7% of adult hospital beds available

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are 11 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, including Jefferson County's 44th death, raising the state’s death toll to 2,975, along with 2,139 new cases and a record 850 hospitalizations, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday. 

OHA reported 2,139 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state total to 247,866.

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 12,741 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 15. That represents a 53% increase over the previous week.

There were 546 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, up from 224 last week. That marked the fifth consecutive week of increases.  

There were 46 reported COVID-19 related deaths, up from 40 reported the previous week.

There were 146,199 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Aug. 8 through Aug. 14.  The percentage of positive tests increased to 11.8%.

Wednesday’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 72 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.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Wednesday that 9,355 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 2,711 were initial doses and 1,314 were second doses administered on Tuesday. The remaining 4,988 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Tuesday.

Oregon has now administered 2,733,665 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,814,944 first and second doses of Moderna and 191,080 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Wednesday, 2,562,634 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,358,018 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 850, which is 12 more than Tuesday. There are 224 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which are two more than Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, there are 41 available adult ICU beds out of 652 total (6% availability) and 292 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,193 (7% availability).

8/18/2021	Statewide	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 9
Adult ICU beds % available	6%	5%	0%	15%	4%	10%	9%	16%
Adult non-ICU beds % available	7%	4%	2%	14%	7%	20%	11%	36%

(Central Oregon is in Region 7.)

St. Charles reported 56 COVID-19 patients as of early Wednesday, eight of whom were in the ICU, with six on ventilators.

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.

Change to Vaccine metrics dashboard

OHA and community partners continue to work on closing the COVID-19 vaccination gap for communities of color and Tribal communities and reaching, at minimum, an 80% vaccination rate everywhere in the state. We’ll be removing the “Per Day Goal to Reach 80%” and replace with a “Previous Week” and “Current Week” analysis throughout the Metrics dashboard. 

In early July, Oregon reached 70% of all adults vaccinated, but the vaccination rates vary by demography and geography. An 80% goal across the state is achievable and provides greater immunity to all people in Oregon. The higher the percentage of Oregonians vaccinated against COVID-19, the better the chances of stopping the spread and mutations of the virus. We’ll continue to create an equity-centered model that will further OHA’s goal of eliminating health inequities by 2030 and inform other state service programs.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Baker (18), Benton (25), Clackamas (101), Clatsop (22), Columbia (19), Coos (33), Crook (36), Curry (38), Deschutes (112), Douglas (169), Gilliam (2), Grant (1), Harney (2), Hood River (4), Jackson (292), Jefferson (17), Josephine (140), Klamath (30), Lane (153), Lincoln (38), Linn (77), Malheur (13), Marion (194), Morrow (15), Multnomah (201), Polk (68), Tillamook (20), Umatilla (85), Union (38), Wallowa (10), Wasco (7), Washington (112), Yamhill (47).

Oregon’s 2,965th COVID-19 associated death is an 83-year-old woman from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 8 and died on Aug. 17 at Ashland Community Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,966th COVID-19 associated death is a 77-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 2 and died on Aug. 17 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,967th COVID-19 associated death is an 83-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on Aug. 7 and died on Aug. 16 at Mercy Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,968th COVID-19 associated death is a 58-year-old woman from Jefferson County who tested positive on Aug. 10 and died on Aug. 17 at St. Charles Bend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed. 

Oregon’s 2,969th death is a 50-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive on July 25 and died on Aug. 11 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,970th death is a 70-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 12 and died on Aug. 12 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,971st death is a 90-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 11 and died on Aug. 16 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,972nd death is a 74-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 11 and died on Aug. 16 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,973rd death is an 81-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on Aug. 6 and died on Aug. 17 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,974th death is an 82-year-old woman from Umatilla County who tested positive on Aug. 12 and died on Aug. 14 at Good Shepherd Medical Center. She had underlying conditions. 

Oregon’s 2,975th death is an 82-year-old woman from Umatilla County who tested positive on July 29 and died on Aug. 7 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

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.