Oregon reports 20 more COVID-19 related deaths, one from Deschutes County; 1,896 new cases

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are 20 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, one a 77-year-old Deschutes County woman, raising the state’s death toll to 3,791, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.

OHA also reported 1,896 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 330,054.

OHA releases new COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report

OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, found that 79.2% of the 11,567 reported COVID-19 cases between Sept. 19 through Sept. 25 occurred in people who were unvaccinated. There were 2,401 breakthrough cases, accounting for 20.8% of all cases.

The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 48. Sixty-eight breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 85 breakthrough cases in people aged 12 to 17.

To date, there have been 25,347 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," OHA said. "The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is currently approximately five times higher than in vaccinated people."

To date, 4.6% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and 0.9% have died. The average age of vaccinated people who died was 80.5.

"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 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.

OHA updates its Weekly Breakthrough Report to include more specific data on deaths

Starting this week, OHA will resume publishing monthly totals of COVID-19 deaths by vaccination status in the Weekly Breakthrough Report. New data for the previous month will be added at the beginning of each calendar month.

In August 2021, 94 (23.2%) out of 405 total COVID-19 deaths were breakthrough cases. In other words, four times as many COVID-19 deaths occurred in unvaccinated individuals as compared to fully vaccinated individuals.

The proportion of vaccine breakthrough cases who died with COVID-19 has increased over time. This trend is likely attributed to several factors and may be associated with increased COVID-19 transmission in communities, increased disease severity associated with infection caused by the Delta variant and waning immunity over time in elderly populations, the agency said.

Breakthrough deaths are a result of more disease in the community caused by the Delta variant and the small decrease in vaccine effectiveness found among the elderly, especially among older residents in long-term care facilities, who were vaccinated early in the vaccination roll-out.

 All COVID-19 vaccines continue to provide very high protection against severe illness, including hospitalization and death, OHA said.

Pediatric Weekly dashboard update

On Thursday, OHA published its latest 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.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 816, which is five more than Wednesday. There are 231 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four fewer than Wednesday.

There are 64 available adult ICU beds out of 649 total (10% availability) and 335 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,245 (8% availability).

9/30/2021 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	64 (10%)	30 (8%)	4 (4%)	11 (25%)	7 (12%)	3 (30%)	6 (13%)	3 (12%)
Adult non-ICU beds available	335 (8%)	99 (5%)	12 (2%)	98 (15%)	37 (8%)	9 (18%)	36 (9%)	44 (38%)

St. Charles Bend reported 75 COVID-19 patients early Thursday, seven of whom were in the ICU, with six on ventilators. All of the ICU patients were not fully vaccinated, while 60 of the 75 patients were not fully vaccinated, the hospital reported.

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

OHA reported Thursday that 11,996 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Wednesday.  Of this total, 6,468 were administered on Wednesday: 1,523 were initial doses, 1,653 were second doses and 131 were third doses. The remaining 5,528 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Wednesday.

The seven-day running average is now 7,270 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 2,985,884 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 1,904,960 doses of Moderna and 215,138 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Thursday, 2,737,724 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,508,807 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 Thursday.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Baker (11), Benton (40), Clackamas (130), Clatsop (13), Columbia (32), Coos (36), Crook (34), Curry (9), Deschutes (161), Douglas (76), Gilliam (1), Grant (18), Harney (10), Hood River (7), Jackson (76), Jefferson (17), Josephine (23), Klamath (78), Lake (7), Lane (142), Lincoln (9), Linn (115), Malheur (50), Marion (169), Morrow (7), Multnomah (212), Polk (23), Sherman (3), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (102), Union (26), Wallowa (7), Wasco (44), Washington (158) and Yamhill (47)

Oregon’s 3,772nd COVID-19 related death is a 93-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Sept. 2 at Adventist Health Portland. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,773rd COVID-19 related death is a 97-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Sept. 4; location of death is being confirmed. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,774th COVID-19 related death is an 80-year-old man from Lincoln County who tested positive on Sept. 7 and died on Sept. 12 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,775th COVID-19 related death is a 58-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on Sept. 7 and died on Sept. 28 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,776th COVID-19 related death is a 46-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Aug. 23 and died on Sept. 28 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,777th COVID-19 related death is a 51-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on Sept. 20 and died on Sept. 22 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,778th COVID-19 related death is a 69-year-old man from Jackson County who died on Sept. 15 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 3,779th COVID-19 related death is a 77-year-old woman from Deschutes County who tested positive on Sept. 14 and died on Sept. 24 at St. Charles Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,780th COVID-19 related death is a 44-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on Sept. 9 and died on Sept. 16 at Providence Portland Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,781st COVID-19 related death is a 97-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Sept. 3; location of death is being confirmed. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,782nd COVID-19 related death is a 72-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Sept. 9. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,783rd COVID-19 related death is an 87-year-old man from Polk County who tested positive on Sept. 21 and died on Sept. 28 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,784th COVID-19 related death is a 50-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on Sept. 13 and died on Sept. 29 at Salem Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 3,785th COVID-19 related death is a 55-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on Sept. 9 and died on Sept. 26 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,786th COVID-19 related death is an 86-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Sept. 28 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,787th COVID-19 related death is a 64-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 27 and died on Sept. 20 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,788th COVID-19 related death is a 92-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on Sept. 10 and died on Sept. 19 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,789th COVID-19 related death is a 77-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on Sept. 10 and died on Sept. 19 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,790th COVID-19 related death is an 87-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on Sept. 12 and died on Sept. 23 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 3,791st COVID-19 related death is an 86-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on Sept. 10 and died on Sept. 24 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations  

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information