Oregon reports 11th COVID-19 death, 5 new Deschutes cases for 316 total statewide
State offers new, detailed reports; ER visits decline, some hopeful models under stay-home order
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- COVID-19 has claimed another life in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 11, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday. But they also reported some early signs of hope that the stay-home order and other steps are slowing spread of the virus in the state.
OHA also reported 50 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 316, as of 8:00 a.m. Thursday.
The COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Clatsop (1), Deschutes (5, for a total of 15), Josephine (2), Lane (2), Linn (1), Marion (14), Multnomah (12), Polk (3), Tillamook (1), Wasco (1), and Washington (8).
Oregon Health Authority reports new cases once a day on its website and today new demographic information was added: : www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Oregon’s 11th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on March 15 and died Wednesdsay at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. She had underlying medical conditions.
The Oregon Health Authority is now releasing the daily situation status report, which is produced jointly with Oregon Office of Emergency Management. It details the overall picture of the COVID-19 outbreak and the response across government agencies.
Among elements of the seven-page report are a total of 316 positive test results and 6,953 negative ones.
On the OHA COVID-19 page, the county breakdowns show Deschutes County has had 15 positive cases and 130 negative results, Crook County has had six tests, all negative, and Jefferson County has had nine tests, all negative.
The OHA page also, for the first time, lists hospital capacity statewide: 362 available ICU beds, 2,193 available non-ICY beds and 684 ventilators.
The daily report notes that COVID-like symptom visits still making up a small percentage of reported ER visits, and that total ER visits might be declining, but the percentage of visits for COVID-like symptoms is generally on the rise.
The "Health & Medical Lifeline Summary" indicates a "projected influx to Oregon hospitals in the coming week if infection rates continue will cause significant surge and personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage throughout the region."
But at an afternoon teleconference with reporters, state health officials said if Oregonians stay home and follow the other directives, models indicate the hospitals could handle the load of patients with available resources.
However, they also noted a sharp drop in recent hospital visits, including emergency departments, and a resulting revenue loss that could be 40-60% in some cases, which could lead to possible staff layoffs.
There are early indications that the steps taken by the state and residents may be slowing the spread of COVID-19, though it will likely take weeks to confirm, said Dr. Dean Sidelinger of the Oregon Health Authority.
Sidelinger said if roughly 8-9 of 10 follow the directives related to social distancing, the case count could remain under 500 who are ill in early May, with abouy 20 percent (100 people) needing hospitalization and a subset of them needing intensive care.
"So those numbers are small, but do depend on a lot of factors," Sidelinger said. "We know without social distancing, cases will increase dramatically in the next 2-3 weeks," as seen in places like New York City.
"We want to make sure we get to a point where we don't do that dramatic increase, that we see see slow increases or hopefully decreases," he said.
Read more of the daily report here: https://govsite-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/SLdyToaAQ2i1P0EsaL7t_Oregon-COVID-19-SitStat-03-26-2020-FINAL.pdf
Stay informed about COVID-19:
Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority leads the state response.
United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
