August was the third deadly month for COVID-19 in Oregon. May September be worse?

August toll included 67-year-old school board member and citizen pillar in Tillamook; 19 year old woman in Union CountyNS 78 year old portland man; And Roseburg patients A person who died waiting for the bed to open in an overloaded intensive care unit..

They were inside At least 378 people died of COVID-19 Last month in Oregon, it was the third highest monthly pandemic. (The numbers are not final. It may take several weeks for the death certificate to be reported to the state.)

This is a shocking sum for many reasons. In particular, the death toll in July was only 62, one of the lowest total monthly pandemics.

The Delta variant has wiped out all the advances Oregon made in the spring of last year when the vaccine became widely available. New, highly contagious Delta strains are widespread among vaccinated people, but deaths are predominantly concentrated among unvaccinated people.

Local counties in Oregon, with low vaccination rates, have recorded some of the worst hospitalization rates in the country. According to the New York Times’ continuous count..Tillamook and Josephine The county requested a refrigerated truck From the state last week after the morgue and funeral hall ran out of space to accommodate the dead.

Still, the sharp increase in deaths last month has not kept pace with the significant increase in infectious diseases and hospitalizations in Oregon.

Both indicators hit record highs in August. In the state, more than 1,100 COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital at the end of the month, more than double the pre-delta peak in Oregon.

“It’s burning like a wildfire in many parts of the state,” said Peter Graven, a data scientist at Oregon Health & Science University. He said the high number of hospitalizations suggested that there were more COVID-19 infections in Oregon than had been diagnosed.

But so far, the state is nearing its climax from autumn to winter, with more deaths in August than 349 people who died in November. The summer surge is well below the record of 476 deaths from COVID-19 in January and 603 in December.

There are many reasons why recent deaths have not increased as fast as summer infections and hospitalizations. Vaccinations and previous infections provide protection, improve treatment protocols and save more lives.

Even more frightening, many of the infections last month are still in progress, and many of those who are currently infected may still be dead.

Nevertheless There are signs that state delta outbreaks are near the apex, Oregon is still an average of over 2,200 new COVID-19 infections daily. As a result, the state may continue to hit dark milestones until September.

“We are still cruising a lot of people over the age of 20 who are at a much higher risk than they think,” Graven said. He estimates that another 500 COVID-19 deaths will occur in Oregon over the next two months, currently killing 3,272 people.

Dr. Jennifer Weins, Chief Health Officer in three counties in the Portland region, emphasized that vaccines continue to be a very effective way to protect against COVID-19. And she said it helps explain why death isn’t keeping up with infections and hospitalizations.

Approximately 73% of Oregon residents over the age of 18 have at least one shot, according to data from the Oregon Department of Health. However, vaccination rates increase among older people who are otherwise more vulnerable to COVID-19.

“So far, the greatest risk factor for COVID death is age. Duration,” said the vines. “We saw it work in 2020.”

Nearly eight in ten Oregons over the age of 80 have been vaccinated at least once, and almost all have completed a complete vaccination cycle. In other words, it is now less vulnerable to COVID-19. For people between the ages of 70 and 79, the proportion is even higher, with about 86% of the population being vaccinated at least partially.

As a result, the number of Oregons who were infected and hospitalized last month increased rapidly, but Vines said these people tended to be younger than in the early days of the pandemic and otherwise healthy. Hundreds of people have died, but the rate of death is low because the infected patients are young.

“They are hospitalized,” Vines said, “but because of their age they are more likely to survive.”

Dave Cansler contributed to this report.

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