Oregon reports 5 more COVID-19 related deaths, 603 new cases

New pediatric report shows about 12% of state's cases under 18 years old

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are five new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,606, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.

OHA also reported 603 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 197,356.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Thursday that 37,228 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 20,028 doses were administered on Wednesday and 17,200 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Wednesday.

The 7-day running average is now 29,005 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered a total of 2,019,003 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,502,574 first and second doses of Moderna and 127,500 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Thursday, 1,656,783 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 2,114,580 people who have had at least one dose.

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).

To date, 2,442,375 doses of Pfizer, 1,988,260 doses of Moderna and 281,700 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines 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 Thursday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 301, which is five fewer than Wednesday. There are 77 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one fewer than Wednesday.

The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 2,288, which is a 2.2% decrease from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 342.

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 47 COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Thursday, seven of whom were in the ICU, all on ventilators.

OHA Pediatric COVID-19 Report

As of 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, May 12, there have been 193,014 COVID-19 cases reported in Oregon. Pediatric cases, as defined as people under 18 years old, accounted for 23,161, or 11.9%, of the total cases. There have been 35 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) reported in Oregon. Oregon witnessed two surges in pediatric COVID-19 cases in 2020 and is currently experiencing a third in 2021. Similar to cases in adults, pediatric cases began to rise again at the beginning of April.

The full report indicates that while pediatric case counts have increased, pediatric patients remain far less likely than adults to develop severe cases of COVID-19. Only 1.0% of pediatric patients have been hospitalized at some point during their COVID-19 illness. Comparatively, 6.1% of adults with COVID-19 have been hospitalized.

COVID-19 vaccine a game changer for one 12-year-old

OHA has been collecting and sharing stories about what the COVID-19 vaccine means to Oregon families. Today, we introduce you to Paul Carson. Paul’s 12-year-old son, Anthony, has Down syndrome, which puts him at much higher risk for severe complications from COVID-19.

Because the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for emergency use in individuals ages 12–15, Anthony was able to get vaccinated last week at the Oregon Health & Science University-run drive-through vaccination site at the Portland International Airport (PDX).

Paul and his wife Susan are beyond thrilled. Both described their son’s vaccination at PDX as a great experience and called the vaccine a “game-changer” for their family — especially for their son. They didn’t know if they were going to be able to send Anthony back to school in the fall because of the risk, and now they can.

Take a listen to Paul talk about the experience here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (6), Clackamas (73), Clatsop (3), Columbia (7), Coos (10), Crook (8), Curry (1), Deschutes (42), Douglas (25), Harney (7), Hood River (1), Jackson (19), Jefferson (5), Josephine (18), Klamath (15), Lane (36), Lincoln (2), Linn (46), Malheur (4), Marion (51), Morrow (3), Multnomah (90), Polk (9), Umatilla (24), Union (1), Wasco (5), Washington (74) and Yamhill (17).

Oregon’s 2,602nd COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman from Benton County who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 15 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,603rd COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on April 22 and died on May 18 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,604th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on April 20 and died on May 18 at Mercy Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,605th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man from Baker County who tested positive on May 3 and died on May 15 at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center in Boise, ID. He had underlying conditions.

Orgon’s 2,606th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on May 8 and died on May 17 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He 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.