Oregon health officials announced 370 new coronavirus cases Thursday and 10 newly reported deaths.
Gov. Kate Brown is planning to hold a press conference Friday at 11 a.m. to talk about the state of the pandemic and the vaccine drive in Oregon, where fewer than 100,000 Oregonians need to begin the vaccination process for Brown to lift pandemic restrictions.
But demand for vaccines has been waning despite an oversupply of doses, including the impending wastage of 120,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses. That’s how many doses of the vaccine will soon expire and, at current vaccination rates, will likely remain unused before then.
Oregon is now on pace to at least partially vaccinate 70% of the population June 28. That date fell backward Thursday because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed only 210 newly vaccinated Oregonians.
The Oregon Health Authority said it is working to determine why the federal vaccination figures changed only minimally and pledged a more complete explanation Friday. The state uses the federal numbers for Oregon in its tracking toward the 70% threshold for lifting restrictions.
SEE STATE AND COUNTY COVID-19 TRENDS
Vaccines: Oregon reported 27,113 newly administered doses, which includes 11,182 Wednesday and the remainder from previous days.
Where the new cases are by county: Baker (1), Benton (8), Clackamas (30), Clatsop (1), Columbia (4), Coos (2), Crook (11), Deschutes (85), Douglas (17), Harney (1), Hood River (4), Jackson (15), Jefferson (1), Josephine (8), Klamath (10), Lane (23), Linn (11), Malheur (2), Marion (35), Multnomah (59), Polk (7), Umatilla (8), Union (1), Washington (22) and Yamhill (4).
Who died: The state did not immediately release information about the 10 people who died. This post will be updated when that information is available.
Hospitalizations: 173 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, up nine from Wednesday. That includes 41 people in intensive care, up five from Wednesday.
Since it began: Oregon has reported 204,291 confirmed or presumed infections and 2,726 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 4,152,140 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 1,991,717 people and partially vaccinating 311,768 people.
— Fedor Zarkhin