Another record: Oregon reports 7,615 new COVID-19 cases, nine more deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There are nine new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 5,728, along with another daily record of 7,615 cases amid greater testing and rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.

OHA reported 7,615 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 449,267.

Media briefing on COVID-19

OHA will host a press conference at 11 a.m. on Friday about COVID-19 in Oregon. Speakers will include Oregon State Health Officer Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill and Peter Graven, Ph.D., director of the Oregon Health & Science University Office of Advanced Analytics. The public is invited to watch the press conference on YouTube.

OHA updates vaccine metrics dashboard

OHA’s Vaccination Metrics dashboard was updated today to include:

• Tracking people eligible for a booster, if they haven’t received one yet, and showing when they are eligible.
• Seven-day running averages for people initiating with one dose and people who have received a booster dose to monitor uptake; the information will also be available at the statewide level and for each county, by age group, by rarest race and ethnicity.
• The age tab of the dashboard will include a new chart showing the percentage of people who have received at least one dose by age and rarest race and ethnicity at the statewide level.

OHA collaborated with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board’s (NPAIHB) Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center, whose efforts have improved the quality of racial data in Oregon’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS), for American Indian or Alaska Native people in Oregon.

Through this effort, NPAIHB provided information on nearly 6,000 individuals who were previously not identified as American Indian or Alaska Native in ALERT IIS, and 96% of these individuals identify as American Indian or Alaska Natives.

As a result, the statewide estimates of individuals vaccinated for COVID-19 who are identified as American Indian or Alaska Native increased by nearly 7%. Most of the individuals newly recognized in ALERT IIS as American Indian or Alaska Native following the data match were previously categorized as White. 

More than 1 million people who meet the eligibility criteria have not yet received one. The strong immune response you get from being fully vaccinated — followed by booster shots — can be highly effective against COVID-19.

Note: Booster projections for 12- to 17-year olds will be updated at a later time on the dashboard.

Oregon's epidemiologic curve dashboard update

On Thursday, OHA published more features to the dashboard with Oregon’s epi curve showing the number of COVID-19 cases by date of illness onset. This curve is frequently referenced in public health discussions about collective efforts to reduce the number of infections and to “flatten the curve.”

Sudden surges of COVID-19 infections can lead to more people needing medical care than our hospital systems can treat at one time. Reducing the number of infections also prevents healthcare systems from exceeding their capacity.

The updated dashboard features filters to explore county-level trends in COVID-19 case counts and whether the person was ever hospitalized during their illness.

Two new charts also compare case counts during statewide waves. Data collected on COVID-19 shows increases and decreases in new case counts. Factors that affect these outcomes are new variants, vaccinations and behaviors that promote transmission such as large events and gatherings. The third statewide wave that peaked in winter 2020-‘21 and the fifth statewide wave that peaked in summer 2021 were the longest in duration.

The current statewide wave that started in mid-December 2021 has recorded the highest number of weekly cases. For more details, filter by county to explore how county-level trends compare to statewide waves.

Pediatric cases update

COVID-19 cases are increasing sharply among children ages 0 to 17 as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to spread, according to the latest weekly dashboard report of pediatric COVID-19 case data in Oregon.

In the most recent full week’s data, published Thursday, pediatric case rates rose across all age groups and were highest among people ages 12 to 17. Compared to people who identify as White, pediatric case rates were 3.3 times higher among people who identify as Black, 2.4 times higher among people who identify as Asian and 1.7 times higher among people who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. OHA will continue to monitor trends in pediatric case hospitalizations.

OHA releases new COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report

OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, reported 15,239 cases of COVID-19 during the week of Dec. 26 to Jan.1.

Of those cases, 10,579, or 69.4%, were unvaccinated people and 4,660, or 30.6%, were vaccine breakthrough cases.

The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 39. Twenty-six breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 271 cases in people aged 12 to 17.

To date, there have been 58,841 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. The average age of all cases is 45. Breakthrough cases have been reported in all 36 counties.

OHA again stated: "Cases of COVID-19 are far more common in unvaccinated people. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is more than four times higher than in vaccinated people."

To date, 4% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and 1.2% have died. The average age of vaccinated people who have died is 81.

"Vaccination remains the most effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19," OHA said. "Oregonians are encouraged to get vaccinated and, if eligible, to get a booster shot."

The latest breakthrough report can be found here.

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, 245,803 Oregonians have received a booster.

As of Thursday, Oregon needs 754,197 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 588, which is 65 more than Thursday. There are 110 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two more than Thursday.

There are 42 available adult ICU beds out of 645 total (7% availability) and 221 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,072 (5% availability).

1/6/2022 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	42(7%)	20(6%)	3(3%)	10(11%)	5(8%)	0(0%)	3(8%)	1(4%)
Adult non-ICU beds available	221(5%)	20(1%)	13(2%)	54(9%)	34(8%)	3(6%)	53(13%)	44(39%)

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 37 COVID-19-positive patients as of early Thursday, three of whom were in the ICU, two on ventilators. None of the ICU patients were fully vaccinated, the hospital reported, and 31 of the 37 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 Thursday that 19,475 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry Wednesday. Of that total, 1,666 were initial doses, 1,507 were second doses and 7,087 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 8,574 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry Wednesday.

The seven-day running average is now 10,873 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 3,843,712 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 173,529 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,535,103 doses of Moderna and 258,024 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Thursday, 3,062,365 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,779,724 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 (17), Benton (317), Clackamas (756), Clatsop (45), Columbia (49), Coos (219), Crook (41), Curry (42), Deschutes (159), Douglas (91), Grant (14), Hood River (27), Jackson (441), Jefferson (62), Josephine (105), Klamath (70), Lake (4), Lane (623), Lincoln (74), Linn (204), Malheur (33), Marion (501), Morrow (34), Multnomah (1,598), Polk (275), Sherman (2), Tillamook (21), Umatilla (306), Union (27), Wallowa (1), Wasco (21), Washington (1,333) and Yamhill (103).

Deschutes County saw its cases drop to 159 Thursday, but the seven-day daily average is nearly twice that number and the cases per 100,000 in the past week still paces the state, nearly 1,040 per 100K. Second is Benton County at 946.5, with Jefferson close behind at 945.9; Crook is 674.1

Oregon’s 5,720th COVID-19-related death is an 82-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive May 15 and died on June 19 at Providence Portland Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,721st COVID-19-related death is an 85-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Dec. 31 and died Jan. 4 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,722nd COVID-19-related death is a 79-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Dec. 14 and died Jan. 4 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,723rd COVID-19-related death is a 78-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 27 and died Jan. 2 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,724th COVID-19-related death is a 52-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 31 and died Dec. 31 at Salem Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,725th COVID-19-related death is a 78-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 11 and died Dec. 30 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 5,726th COVID-19-related death is a 73-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 4 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,727th COVID-19-related death is an 82-year-old woman from Josephine County who tested positive Jan. 3 and died Jan. 5 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 5,728th COVID-19-related death is an 86-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive Dec. 30 and died Dec. 31 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

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.