OHA’s biweekly COVID-19 report finds rise in cases, hospitalizations, slight drop in deaths
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Oregon Health Authority's COVID-19 Biweekly Data Report, released Thursday, shows an increase in COVID-19-related cases and hospitalizations and a slight decrease in deaths since the previous six-week period.
OHA reported 21,484 new cases of COVID-19 from June 26 to July 8, a 5.3% increase over the previous biweekly total of 20,410. Over the last six weeks, reported hospitalizations have increased slightly while deaths have decreased slightly.
During the two-week period of June 26 to July 8, test positivity was 15.1%, up from 13.6% in the previous two-week period.
Thursday’s COVID-19 Biweekly Outbreak Report shows 225 active outbreaks in care facilities, senior living communities and congregate care living settings with three or more confirmed COVID-19 cases or one or more COVID-19-related deaths.
OHA publishes new quarterly age adjusted rate report
OHA is publishing an updated quarterly report on age-adjusted rate ratios of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths by race and ethnicity over time. Age adjustment is a method used to quantify inequities among different racial and ethnic groups.
When adjusted for age, people from Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, Latinx, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native communities have experienced disproportionate rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and death. These inequities were acutely pronounced earlier in the pandemic and have decreased over the course of the pandemic. However, there continues to be inequities of COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations for communities of color and tribal communities.
OHA data quality review and improvements
OHA data analysts continuously review the quality of preliminary COVID-19 data and make improvements both at the record and system level. A recent review identified an error in how the general “any underlying conditions” category, the proportion of people with at least one underlying condition, was calculated. The corrected values are reflected in this week’s update to the Oregon COVID-19 Case Demographics and Disease Severity Statewide dashboard, published Wednesday. The 2020 Annual Data Report will also be corrected and updated this week.
Values for specific underlying conditions (e.g., cardiovascular, diabetes, chronic lung disease) remain correct and were not affected by this change. An error was also found in how age was calculated for a select group of reported cases. The values have been corrected, resulting in a decrease in the number of cases in the 0-4 age group. This change is reflected in the weekly update to the Oregon COVID-19 Pediatric Report, published Wednesday. OHA will continue to complete data quality reviews on COVID-19 data and provide updates if major changes to the data are anticipated.
