Oregon reports 11 more COVID-19 deaths, 2,242 cases, 1,027 hospitalizations

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are 11 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 3,547, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.

OHA also reported 2,242 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 307,768.

Oregon Health Authority holds media briefing with Dr. Dean Sidelinger

Find a link to watch Thursday’s media briefing here.

Here are Dr. Sidelinger’s talking points, as well as a link to today’s slides.

Oregon Healthcare Workforce COVID-19 vaccine uptake: September update

The September update to the Oregon Healthcare Workforce COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Dashboard adds new data for all visualizations up to Sept. 5. It now includes three new license types: Psychologist at 93% vaccinated, Licensed Social Worker at 88% vaccinated and Licensed Dietitian at 80% vaccinated.

All trend weeks have been updated with the most current information, which may have been previously missing due to the lag in data reporting.

There has been an increase in overall vaccination rates for health care workers since the vaccine mandate was announced in early August.

Weekly Breakthrough Case Report

OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, found that 81.3% of the 14,046 reported COVID-19 cases between Sept. 1 through Sept. 15 occurred in people who were unvaccinated. There were 2,632 breakthrough cases, accounting for 18.7% of all cases.

The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 48. Ninety breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 68 breakthrough cases in people aged 12 to 17.

To date, there have been 19,549 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. The average age of all cases is 48. Breakthrough cases have been reported in all 36 counties.

Cases of COVID-19 are far more common in unvaccinated people. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is currently approximately five times higher than in vaccinated people.

To date, 4.7% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and 0.9% have died. The average age of the people who died was 81.

Vaccination remains the most effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19, OHA said.

The number of vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon remains very small, they noted, when compared to the more than 2.7 million Oregonians who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination series.

The latest breakthrough report can be found here.

Pediatric Weekly dashboard update

OHA published Thursday its newest dashboard report of pediatric COVID-19 case data in Oregon.

This dashboard replaces the previous report and is published weekly on Thursdays with the most recent full week’s data.

Dashboard will change the reporting of neonatal and pediatric intensive care unit beds

The Hospital Capacity tab of the Daily Data Update dashboard starting Thursday will report neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) bed capacity separately. Prior to the change, NICU and PICU bed counts were combined on the dashboard summary. Reporting these bed categories individually better reflects hospital capacity for pediatric patients with COVID-19 who need intensive care.  

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 1,027, which is 40 fewer than Wednesday. There are 286 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is eight fewer than Wednesday.

There are 41 available adult ICU beds out of 658 total (6% availability) and 334 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,308 (8% availability). 

St. Charles Bend reported 89 COVID-19 patients as of early Thursday, 17 of whom were in the ICU, with 13 on ventilators. One of the 17 ICU patients is fully vaccinated, while 76 of the 89 patients are not fully vaccinated, the hospital said.

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.

Note: Please do not visit an emergency department for COVID-19 testing, unless you require emergency care for your symptoms.

Emergency departments in Oregon are under significant strain responding to the current surge in COVID-19. You can find a test here.  

If you have a medical condition that doesn’t require emergency care, contact your provider. An urgent care center may also help you get the care you need and will save emergency departments from added strain.  

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, OHA reported that 9,805 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Sept. 15. Of this total, 4,243 were administered on Sept. 15: 1,887 were initial doses, 1,756 were second doses and 555 were third doses. The remaining 5,562 were administered on previous days, but were entered into the vaccine registry on Sept. 15.

The seven-day running average is now 7,444 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 2,899,668 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 1,880,143 doses of Moderna and 208,242 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of today, 2,694,868 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,453,495 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series.

Cases and COVID-19 deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Baker (22), Benton (34), Clackamas (84), Clatsop (47), Columbia (33), Coos (48), Crook (26), Curry (13), Deschutes (169), Douglas (81), Grant (1), Harney (14), Hood River (13), Jackson (149), Jefferson (10), Josephine (70), Klamath (68), Lake (6), Lane (184), Lincoln (20), Linn (167), Malheur (42), Marion (205), Morrow (8), Multnomah (249), Polk (42), Sherman (2), Tillamook (11), Umatilla (63), Union (31), Wallowa (4), Wasco (19), Washington (243) and Yamhill (64).

Oregon’s 3,537th COVID-19 related death is a 64-year-old woman from Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 3 and died on Sept. 14 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,538th COVID-19 related death is a 62-year-old woman from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 31 and died on Sept. 14 at Providence Medford Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,539th COVID-19 related death is a 75-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 5 and died on Aug. 15 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,540th COVID-19 related death is a 75-year-old man from Douglas County who tested positive on Sept. 12 and died on Sept. 15. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,541st COVID-19 related death is a 59-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 5 and died on Sept. 14 at Providence Medford Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,542nd COVID-19 related death is a 78-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 8 and died on Sept. 14 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,543rd COVID-19 related death is a 93-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 8 and died on Sept. 14 at Ashland Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,544th COVID-19 related death is a 38-year-old man from Jackson County who died on Sept. 5 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,545th COVID-19 related death is a 70-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 24 and died on May 8 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,546th COVID-19 related death is an 86-year-old woman from Wallowa County who tested positive on Aug. 25 and died on Aug. 27. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,547th COVID-19 related death is a 69-year-old woman from Josephine County who tested positive on Sept. 14 and died on Sept. 8 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Updated information is known about Oregon’s 3462nd death, a 44-year-old man from Jackson County. He was originally reported as a Klamath County resident.

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.