Oregon again smashes COVID-19 daily record, with 6,203 more cases; 9 more deaths

Big uptick in testing key factor in 140% case jump in past week; hospitalizations also rise sharply, deaths decline; Deschutes County rate again tops state

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There are nine new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 5,719 -- and a record 6,203 cases, in part due to a rapid rise in testing, as well as the rapid advance of the Omicron variant, the Oregon Health Authority reported Wednesday.

OHA reported 6,203 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state total to 441,648. That's a jump of more than 2,000 cases from Tuesday's report.

Oregon receives 1 million COVID-19 tests as testing numbers soar

COVID-19 testing is in high demand, and OHA is recording a high volume of tests being performed. The number of COVID-19 tests reported Tuesday, at 34,728, is the sixth-highest single daily count reported statewide during the pandemic.

This week, the OHA warehouse will receive nearly 1.1 million test kits. Beginning next Monday, the warehouse will receive five trucks per week — for five consecutive weeks — until the order is fulfilled. Since iHealth Labs is planning to ramp up product of the test kits, Oregon’s order may be fulfilled ahead of schedule.

Click here for video of the COVID-19 tests arriving at the OHA warehouse this week in Wilsonville. The kits will be disseminated to numerous OHA partner agencies and organizations. OHA does not have the capacity to individually send out tests, so it will prioritize distribution to the following partners that can disseminate them to their communities as they see fit:

• Local public health authorities and Tribes based on population size and some health equity metrics.
• Migrant and seasonal farm and agriculture workers.
• Head Start and some other high-risk early learning settings.
• K-12 schools to support at-home test to stay.
• Health care workers.
• Shelters.
• Community-based organizations.

The test kit order comes as Omicron continues its steady overtake of Delta as the state’s dominant COVID-19 variant. With its high transmissibility, Omicron is already thought to be driving a steady increase in hospitalizations over recent days. Any scarcity of tests is a function of disease in the community and not a lack of supply.

As of late last month, more than 60% of Oregon's new COVID-19 cases were the Omicron variant.

As the number of cases increase, rapid testing will be critical to efforts to encourage people to take steps that reduce transmission, including isolating and quarantining at home, wearing masks and face coverings, keeping their distance from others and getting vaccinated as soon as they’re healthy.

COVID-19 weekly cases spike, hospitalizations increase, deaths decline

OHA’s COVID-19 Weekly Report released Wednesday showed skyrocketing daily cases and a sharp increase in COVID-19 related hospitalizations, while deaths declined.

OHA reported 16,791 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, Dec. 27, through Sunday, Jan. 2 — a staggering 140% increase over the previous week.

There were 290 new COVID-19 related hospitalizations, compared to 185 last week — a 57% increase. There were 43 reported COVID-19 related deaths, down from 89 reported the previous week.

There were 136,474 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. with the percentage of positive tests doubling from 7.4% to 15.7%.

Wednesday’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 64 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.

State continues march toward goal of boosting a million more people in Oregon

Oregon continues to move closer to meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal, announced Dec. 17, of getting 1 million more people in the state a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of January.

When the challenge began, 949,749 people had received a booster dose. Since then, 229,691 Oregonians have received a booster.

As of Wednesday, Oregon needs 770,309 people to get a booster to reach the goal and make our state safer from the Omicron variant. Find a booster here.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 523, which is 13 more than Tuesday. There are 108 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is three fewer than Tuesday.

There are 33 available adult ICU beds out of 668 total (5% availability) and 226 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,098 (6% availability).

1/5/2022 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	33(5%)	12(3%)	2(2%)	6(7%)	5(8%)	1(10%)	2(5%)	5(19%)
Adult non-ICU beds available	226(6%)	31(2%)	6(1%)	63(11%)	34(8%)	3(6%)	46(12%)	43(38%)

Statewide regions are as follows:

Region 1: Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah, Tillamook and Washington counties

Region 2: Benton, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties

Region 3: Coos, Curry, Douglas and Lane counties

Region 5: Jackson and Josephine counties

Region 6: Hood River, Gilliam, Sherman and Wasco counties

Region 7: Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake and Wheeler counties

Region 9: Baker, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties

St. Charles Bend reported 29 COVID-19-positive patients as of early Wednesday, three of whom were in the ICU, two on ventilators. None of the ICU patients were fully vaccinated, the hospital said, while 23 of the 29 COVID-19 patients were not fully vaccinated.

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. 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 Wednesday that 18,558 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry Tuesday. Of that total, 1,499 were initial doses, 1,342 were second doses and 7,426 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 8,161 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry Tuesday.

The seven-day running average is now 10,435 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 3,834,242 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 171,115 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,528,826 doses of Moderna and 257,571 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Wednesday, 3,061,076 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,776,628 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 Wednesday.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are in the following counties: Baker (17), Benton (214), Clackamas (594), Clatsop (46), Columbia (49), Coos (136), Crook (37), Curry (5), Deschutes (716), Douglas (93), Gilliam (1), Grant (26), Hood River (37), Jackson (264), Jefferson (77), Josephine (89), Klamath (24), Lake (2), Lane (518), Lincoln (52), Linn (206), Malheur (14), Marion (395), Morrow (29), Multnomah (1268), Polk (94), Tillamook (29), Umatilla (218), Union (10), Wallowa (9), Wasco (23), Washington (874), Wheeler (3) and Yamhill (34).

Once again, Deschutes County tops the state in cases per 100,000 in the past week, jumping to nearly 1,100 in Wednesday's report. Gilliam County is second, at about 754, followed by Jefferson at about 737.

Oregon’s 5,711th COVID-19-related death is a 47-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive Dec. 27 and died Dec. 27 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,712th COVID-19-related death is a 72-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive Oct. 23 and died Nov. 28 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,713th COVID-19-related death is a 62-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive Dec. 1 and died Dec. 30 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,714th COVID-19-related death is a 93-year-old woman from Tillamook County who tested positive Dec. 27 and died Jan. 1 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,715th COVID-19-related death is a 58-year-old woman from Tillamook County who tested positive Dec. 10 and died Jan. 3 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,716th COVID-19-related death is a 69-year-old woman from Polk County who tested positive Dec. 2 and died Jan. 2 at Salem Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,717th COVID-19-related death is an 80-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive Dec. 17 and died Jan. 4 at Good Samaritan Regional Hospital. He had no underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,718th COVID-19-related death is a 76-year-old woman from Josephine County who tested positive Dec. 13 and died Jan. 4 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,719th COVID-19-related death is a 74-year-old man from Coos County who tested positive Dec. 6 and died Dec. 20 at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Idaho. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations  

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