31 Percent Increase in Oregon COVID Cases

Oregon reports 239 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 3 new deaths

Image: Oregon Counties based on COVID risk

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released today, shows increased daily cases and declines in hospitalizations and deaths in comparison to the previous week.

OHA reported 2,272 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 8 through Sunday, March 14. That represents a 31% increase over the previous week.

New COVID-19 related hospitalizations also dropped to 130, down from 139 last week.

Reported COVID-19 related deaths dropped to 26, down from 86 last week.

There were 94,079 tests for COVID-19 for the week of March 7 through March 13 — a 27% drop from last week. The percentage of positive tests was sharply higher, at 3.6%.

People 70 years of age and older have accounted for 40% of COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 77% of COVID-19 related deaths.

There are three new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,349, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 239 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 160,259.

Oregon counties have new outdoor capacity limits for outdoor recreation and outdoor entertainment

As of today, outdoor entertainment establishments and outdoor recreation and fitness establishments in all Oregon counties may allow the following:

• Lower risk: Maximum 50% occupancy
• Moderate risk: Maximum 25% occupancy
• High risk: Maximum 15% occupancy
• Extreme risk: Maximum 50 people

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today's vaccine totals are lower than usual due to an outage in the ALERT IIS system that affected several states. It is anticipated that the number of doses from March 15 and 16 will increase over the coming days as providers catch up on submitting data to ALERT IIS.

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).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 1,363,311 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,777,145 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 37 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed cases and one or more COVID-19 related deaths.

OHA encourages all Oregonians to keep taking the protective measures to help keep themselves, families, coworkers, loved ones, friends and communities safe and healthy.

OHA continues to recommend that all Oregonians:

• Maintain 6 feet of physical distance;
• Wear a face covering when outside the house;
• Practice good hand hygiene;
• Avoid any gatherings with non-household members;
• If you start to have symptoms — even mild ones — consult with a medical provider quickly to get instructions on how to care for yourself and your household members and to determine whether to get tested;
• And finally, if you get a call from a local public health authority, answer it, and take their advice on how to protect yourself and those around you.

INFORMATIONAL LINKS (COVID-19):

• OREGON RESPONSE: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
• OHA/CORONAVIRUS: See more case and county level data (Oregon)
• UNITED STATES RESPONSE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
• GLOBAL RESPONSE: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
• COVID-NET: A national surveillance network that collects detailed medical information about hospitalized patients.
• HOSPITAL CAPACITY INFO

Source: Oregon Health Authority