PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There is one new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,491, the Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday.
OHA also reported 928 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday, bringing the state total to 183,830.
Vaccinations in Oregon
OHA reported Thursday that 39,560 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 26,858 doses were administered on Wednesday and 12,702 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Wednesday.
The seven-day running average is now 35,429 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered a total of 1,564,698 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,274,713 first and second doses of Moderna and 93,723 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Thursday, 1,229,497 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,794,112 who have had at least one dose.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
To date, 1,864,395 doses of Pfizer, 1,581,100 doses of Moderna and 228,700 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
These data are preliminary and subject to change.
OHA’s dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated Thursday.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 339, which is 13 more than Thursday. There are 71 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is seven more than Thursday.
The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 2,174, which is a 30.4% increase from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 339.
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.
St. Charles Bend reported 36 COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Thursday, five of whom were in the ICU, with three on ventilators.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Thursday are in the following counties: Baker (4), Benton (8), Clackamas (93), Clatsop (13), Columbia (9), Coos (3), Crook (10), Curry (3), Deschutes (125), Douglas (17), Harney (2), Hood River (5), Jackson (32), Jefferson (15), Josephine (23), Klamath (24), Lake (4), Lane (60), Lincoln (2), Linn (44), Malheur (3), Marion (81),Morrow (2), Multnomah (177), Polk (14), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (10), Union (5), Wallowa (3), Wasco (6), Washington (109) and Yamhill (17).
The Deschutes County count was two less than the record of 127 cases, reported on Dec. 4.
Oregon’s 2,491st death is an 88-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on April 9 and died on April 27 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Delivering hygiene support to help reduce COVID-19 transmission
LoveOne describes itself as a love-driven nonprofit serving neighbors in Clackamas County. The organization provides laundry services, showers, hygiene items, food and other services to people who need them in Oregon City, Milwaukie, Molalla and soon, Sandy.
It is one of the community-based organizations that Oregon Health Authority partners with to provide COVID-19 education, outreach and wraparound services.
The urgent need for access to soap and running water became clear very soon after the shutdown in 2020. Public restrooms closed leaving folks without access to running water or soap, says executive director Brandi Johnson. People’s small cuts and insect bites soon became badly infected.
“We immediately realized we needed to set up hand washing stations at laundry events,” says Johnson. Eventually, out of this need, “the shower cart came to be funded and built.” The hygiene support LoveOne offers to more than 200 people a month helps reduce COVID-19 transmission.
Folks who use the showers get fifteen minutes in a shower stall that is stocked with shampoo, conditioner and body wash, and leave with new socks, underwear and undershirts.
“These events,” says Johnson, “are a great opportunity to build relationships, because folks have to be there a while.” Getting to know people’s names, where they camp, their phone numbers and their medical information, she adds, has proven instrumental in referring them to housing.
LoveOne partners with other community organizations to offer services including HIV and Hepatitis-C testing, food boxes, Oregon Health Plan support and sometimes COVID-19 vaccines. Plans are in the works to pair some shower services in rural areas with community court.
For more information, visit their events page or Facebook page.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations?
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit OHA’s webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.