Oregon reports 2 more COVID-19 deaths, 306 new cases

Case counts, hospitalizations declined again last week, but deaths increased

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are two new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,305, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday.

OHA also reported 306 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state total to 158,291.

Weekly COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations decline

The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released Wednesday, shows decreases in daily cases and hospitalizations from the previous week. However, weekly reported deaths were higher.

OHA reported 1,729 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 1 through Sunday, March 7 — a 35% decrease from the previous week.

New COVID-19 related hospitalizations also dropped from 164 to 139, which is a 15% decline from last week and the lowest weekly total in five months.

But reported COVID-19 related deaths increased to 86, up from 57 last week.

There were 129,442 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Feb. 28 through March 6 — a 7% increase from the previous week. The percentage of positive tests was 2.8%, which represents the lowest percentage since Oregon adopted the test-based method in mid-November.

People 70 years of age and older have accounted for 41% of COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 77% of COVID-19 related deaths.

Wednesday’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 44 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 that 24,924 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added Wednesday to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 14,081 doses were administered on Tuesday and 10,843 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Tuesday.

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).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 1,204,418 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,542,635 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated Wednesday.

St. Charles Health System reported 32,064 COVID-19 vaccinations given as of early Wednesday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 122, which is 12 fewer than Tuesday. There are 22 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is nine fewer 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.

St. Charles Bend reported eight COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Wednesday, one of whom was in the ICU and on a ventilator.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (7), Clackamas (23), Clatsop (3), Columbia (4), Coos (19), Crook (2), Curry (2), Deschutes (17), Douglas (12), Grant (6), Jackson (21), Jefferson (3), Josephine (17), Klamath (2), Lane (15), Lincoln (1), Linn (4), Malheur (2), Marion (29), Morrow (1), Multnomah (61), Umatilla (6), Union (2), Wasco (2), Washington (36) and Yamhill (8).

Oregon’s 2,304th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Feb. 28 and died on March 8 at Providence Medford Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,305th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Feb. 15 and died on March 8 Salem Hospital. She 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, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.