Oregon reports 5 more COVID-19 related deaths, 320 new cases, 108 hospitalizations

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There are five newly reported COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 7,144, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.

OHA reported 320 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 704,152.

OHA releases new COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report

OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released Thursday, reported 1,599 cases of COVID-19 during the week of March 20-26.

Of those cases, 850, or 53.2%, were unvaccinated people, and 748, or 46.8%, were vaccine breakthrough cases. Among the breakthrough cases, 433, or 57.9%, were fully vaccinated and boosted.

The median age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 48. Twelve breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 29 breakthrough cases in people ages 12 to 17.

To date, there have been 197,423 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. Of those cases, 46,403 or 23.5%, were fully vaccinated. The median age of all cases is 41.

The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people last week was approximately three times higher than in vaccinated people, and in people who are fully vaccinated and boosted.

To date, 2.6% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized, and 0.6% have died. The median age of vaccinated people who died is 80.

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

The latest breakthrough report can be found here.

State response to hospital surge winds down

Thursday was the final day of operation for the Healthcare Surge Unified Command team that was mobilized in August 2021 to support Oregon’s coordinated response to the Delta and Omicron surges affecting hospitals and health systems. The team included staff from OHA and the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS).

The phased demobilization of the team began in February, after data showed dramatic decreases in the number of hospitalizations following the highest number of hospitalizations in January during the Omicron surge. Though the period of active operations ends Thursday, some team members will continue to serve through the end of June. Starting April 1, operations will transition from an active emergency response phase to one focused on building resiliency throughout the state’s health care system.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 108, which is four more than Wednesday. There are 17 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two more than Wednesday.

There are 118 available adult ICU beds out of 669 total (18% availability) and 348 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,278 (8% availability).

3/31/2022 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	118(18%)	45(13%)	14(14%)	16(18%)	7(12%)	5(50%)	19(43%)	12(46%)
Adult non-ICU beds available	348(8%)	57(3%)	52(7%)	85(14%)	50(12%)	12(24%)	57(14%)	35(33%)

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 reported eight COVID-19-positive patients as of early Thursday, none in the ICU. Three of the eight COVID 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.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported Thursday that 4,277 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry Wednesday. Of that total, 265 were initial doses, 270 were second doses and 811 were third doses and booster doses. The remaining 1,485 doses were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry Wednesday.

The seven-day running average is now 1,929 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered 4,195,714 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 245,954 doses of Pfizer pediatric, 2,742,231 doses of Moderna and 270,380 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Thursday, 3,176,337 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,884,888 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.

Daily COVID-19 vaccine dashboard updates

There were a number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on Wednesday that were recorded as "unknown/invalid dose." This is likely to continue for the next several days, due to the newly authorized second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for adults 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals. OHA will update the COVID-19 vaccination dashboards Wednesday, April 6, to incorporate these doses.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Benton (15), Clackamas (32), Clatsop (2), Columbia (1), Coos (5), Crook (1), Deschutes (17), Douglas (2), Grant (2), Harney (1), Hood River (1), Jackson (16), Josephine (7), Klamath (2), Lake (1),  Lane (38), Linn (9), Marion (17), Multnomah (88), Polk (8), Sherman (1), Umatilla (3), Wasco (1), Washington (44) and Yamhill (6).

Oregon’s 7,140th COVID-19-related death is a 35-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 12 and died Feb. 15 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,141st COVID-19-related death is a 44-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 2 and died Feb. 6 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,142nd COVID-19-related death is a 57-year-old man from Linn County who died Oct. 5, 2021, at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,143rd COVID-19-related death is a 45-year-old woman from Josephine County who died Sept. 18, 2021, at Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco, Wash. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 7,144th COVID-19-related death is a 75-year-old man from Jackson County who died Jan. 15 at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz. 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.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

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