Oregon reports 30 more COVID-19-related deaths; toll tops 7,000 as weekly numbers decline

(Update: OHA releases details on newly reported deaths)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There are 30 newly COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll past the 7,000 mark, to 7,013, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday.

OHA reported 314 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state total to 702,288.

Oregon crosses threshold of 7,000 COVID-19 related deaths

Oregon recorded more than 7,000 cumulative deaths as of Wednesday, even as the state continues to see declines in hospitalizations and the start of a recovery and resilience-building process after more than two years of battling COVID-19, said Dean Sidelinger, M.D., health officer and state epidemiologist.

“We again are reminded that COVID-19 continues to impact families and communities in Oregon, and we recognize each person represents a tremendous loss to those closest to them,” Sidelinger said.

People in Oregon who have not been vaccinated remain at highest risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death, OHA has consistently said.

OHA encourages all eligible individuals to protect themselves against COVID-19 variants by getting vaccinated and getting a booster. They can find a vaccine provider using the Get Vaccinated Oregon tool here.

Last week (March 15), Oregon crossed the threshold of 700,000 COVID-19 related cases. Oregon ranks second-lowest among states in the number of cases per capita (16,596 per 100,000). However, the pandemic isn’t over, and COVID-19 poses a risk to many people, officials said.

State health officials recommend Oregonians keep in mind the ‘5 Essentials’ for navigating and staying safe during the current phase of the pandemic:

Variant dashboards updated with Omicron BA.2 lineage break-out

Starting Wednesday, OHA’s COVID-19 Daily Data Update dashboard and Variants dashboard will split out the Omicron BA.2 lineage from the other Omicron lineages (B.1.1.529 and all other BA lineages), both with the total counts and the charts that show the proportion of variants in Oregon over time. 

COVID-19 weekly cases, hospitalizations, deaths, decline

The COVID-19 Weekly Data Report, released Wednesday, showed declines in weekly cases, COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths.

OHA reported 1,769 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 14 through Sunday, March 20 – a 19% decline from the previous week.

There were 156 COVID-19-related hospitalizations, a 31% decrease over the previous week and the lowest weekly total since late July. There were 90 COVID-19-related deaths, down from 142 the previous week.

Reported COVID-19 test results dropped by 5.7%. There were 89,917 tests administered. Test positivity dropped to 2.5%, the lowest since mid-July. Weekly tests have fallen 69% since the Omicron peak in mid-January. The percent positivity rate has fallen from 24.5% to 2.5% over the same period.

Wednesday’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 98 total active outbreaks in care facilities, senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed COVID-19 cases or one or more COVID-19-related deaths.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 165, which is 14 fewer than Tuesday. There are 27 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one fewer than Tuesday.

There are 89 available adult ICU beds out of 677 total (13% availability) and 359 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,259 (8% availability).

3/23/2022 Available Beds (and Percentage of Staffed Beds Available)
	Statewide	Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 9
Adult ICU beds available	89(13%)	49(14%)	5(5%)	10(10%)	5(8%)	2(20%)	9(20%)	9(35%)
Adult non-ICU beds available	359(8%)	102(5%)	43(6%)	45(8%)	51(12%)	11(22%)	66(17%)	41(36%)

Statewide regions are as follows:

Region 1: Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah, Tillamook and Washington counties

Region 2: Benton, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties

Region 3: Coos, Curry, Douglas and Lane counties

Region 5: Jackson and Josephine counties

Region 6: Hood River, Gilliam, Sherman and Wasco counties

Region 7: Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake and Wheeler counties

Region 9: Baker, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties

St. Charles Bend reported 17 COVID-19-positive patients as of early Wednesday, three of whom were in the ICU, two on ventilators. One of the three ICU patients was not fully vaccinated, the hospital said, and nine of the 17 COVID patients were not fully vaccinated.

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.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Wednesday that 2,785 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry Tuesday. Of that total, 234 were initial doses, 270 were second doses and 700 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 1,453 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry Tuesday.

The seven-day running average is now 2,278 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 4,184,493 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 243,842 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,735,604 doses of Moderna and 269,994 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Wednesday, 3,172,738 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,880,941 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series.

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.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Benton (10), Clackamas (18), Clatsop (1), Columbia (2), Coos (9), Curry (1), Deschutes (12), Douglas (7), Grant (3), Hood River (3), Jackson (17), Jefferson (2), Josephine (5), Klamath (5), Lane (26), Linn (5), Marion (25), Multnomah (106), Polk (2), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (1), Wasco (1), Washington (45) and Yamhill (3).

Oregon’s 6,984th COVID-19-related death is a 76-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Jan. 17 and died March 11 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,985th COVID-19-related death is an 83-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Jan. 23 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 6,986th COVID-19-related death is a 70-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive Jan. 6 and died Jan. 28 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,987th COVID-19-related death is an 81-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 6 and died Jan. 28 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,988th COVID-19-related death is an 81-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 29 at Portland VA Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 6,989th COVID-19-related death is an 88-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive Jan. 20 and died Jan. 29 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,990th COVID-19-related death is a 78-year-old man from Benton County who tested positive Jan. 19 and died Jan. 29 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,991st COVID-19-related death is a 98-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive Jan. 15 and died Jan. 29 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,992nd COVID-19-related death is a 73-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive Jan. 4 and died Jan. 29 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,993rd COVID-19-related death is a 58-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Jan. 30 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,994th COVID-19-related death is a 94-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 7 and died Jan. 31 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,995th COVID-19-related death is a 58-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 24 and died Jan. 31 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 6,996th COVID-19-related death is a 71-year-old woman from Curry County who tested positive Jan. 30 and died Feb. 1 at Curry General Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 6,997th COVID-19-related death is an 88-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive Jan. 28 and died Feb. 2 at Providence Milwaukie Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 6,998th COVID-19-related death is an 85-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Feb. 2 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 6,999th COVID-19-related death is a 65-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Jan. 26 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,000th COVID-19-related death is a 79-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Feb. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,001st COVID-19-related death is a 74-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Feb. 9 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,002nd COVID-19-related death is a 98-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive Feb. 3 and died Feb. 10 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,003rd COVID-19-related death is a 53-year-old woman from Klamath County who tested positive Jan. 28 and died Feb. 5 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,004th COVID-19-related death is a 44-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 22 and died Feb. 5 at Providence Portland Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7005th COVID-19-related death is a 78-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive Feb. 25 and died March 21 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,006th COVID-19-related death is an 88-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 8 and died on March 18 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,007th COVID-19-related death is a 97-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Jan. 17 and died Jan. 31 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 7,008th COVID-19-related death is a 72-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive Jan. 24 and died March 19 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,009th COVID-19-related death is an 88-year-old man from Grant County who tested positive Feb. 20 and died March 11 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,010th COVID-19-related death is a 91-year-old man from Grant County who tested positive Jan. 31 and died Feb. 28 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,011th COVID-19-related death is an 80-year-old man from Coos County who tested positive March 9 and died March 21 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,012th COVID-19-related death is an 88-year-old man from Clatsop County who tested positive Dec. 16, 2021 and died March 18 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,013th COVID-19-related death is a 53-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive March 11 and died March 11 at Silverton Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

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