Coronavirus cases continue to surge in Oregon. 2,331 new cases, 9 deaths

Due to the delay in processing the COVID-19 sample, the Oregon Department of Health does not yet have solid data to support the claim that it is a supercontagious Omicron variant. Has become the dominant stock It is driving a new wave of infectious diseases and a recent rise in hospitalization for state illness.

Nonetheless, public health officials claim they are trying to wipe out the state, as the wave of Omicron infections is already happening on the East Coast and throughout Europe.

Wednesday OHA reported 2,331 new cases Coronavirus has surged in the last two weeks and is rapidly approaching its pandemic peak in late August. At this time, the number of new cases reached about 2,600. Authorities also reported nine new deaths.

OHA also released a weekly report ending December 26th. This shows that the number of cases increased by 25% from the previous week to 6,798, despite a 7.1% decrease in test results reported during the holiday week. The percentage of positive tests increased from 4.8% last week to 7.4%. However, the report also showed that the number of new hospitalizations decreased from 286 to 185.

Omicron is generally considered to be a less lethal variant that causes mild infections. Public health officials say that fully vaccinated and boosted people have strong protection against serious illness, but are still vulnerable to breakthrough cases. Still, they believe that the upcoming tsunami of Omicron infections will cause serious cases, clogging the already tense healthcare system and ultimately leading to more deaths.

Hospitalization and death are usually several weeks late for infection. The latest projections by Peter Graven, lead data scientist at Oregon Health & Science University, predict that hospitalizations will surge in the coming weeks and reach 1,200 in early February. I saw it in the Delta variant last fall.

Contrary to alarming expectations, the latest data posted on OHA’s COVID-19 website identified only 24 cumulative cases of Omicron variants in the processing of viral specimens by December 25. In contrast, there were about 16,000 delta variants. to date. Eleven of these cases were identified in Region 1, which includes the counties of Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas. The other nine were in Region 3, which consists of the counties of Lane, Douglas, Couse, and Curry. And according to OHA, the remaining four were from unknown counties.

In the last week’s data, three of the 11 processed Oregon samples, or 27%, were omicrons. And authorities think it may be underestimated.

Rudy Owens, an OHA spokesman, said in an email that the data for the last few weeks is often incomplete because the results are not yet available.

“To date, Omicron hasn’t surged, as we saw during the Delta surge in Oregon, yet,” he said. “Now we are seeing that surge on the East Coast. The waves are coming.”

By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that Omicron accounted for 59% of new cases in the United States. Although in itself a significant downward revision from previous estimates, it still represents a rapid rise in new stocks compared to previous weeks. The agency estimates that Omicron accounts for three-quarters of all cases in the Pacific Northwest.

If there are new cases by county: Baker (5), Benton (67), Clackamas (141), Clatsop (16), Columbia (10), Coos (36), Crook (24), Curry (3), Deschutes (326), Douglas (47), Gilliam (2), Grant (11), Harney (1), Hood River (15), Jackson (144), Jefferson (37), Josephine (45), Clatsop (14), Lake (1), Lane (131) , Lincoln (23), Lin (85), Marur (20), Marion (168), Morrow (2), Multnomah (419), Pork (39), Tillamook (6), Umatilla (90), Union (1) , Wallowa (2), Wasco (12), Washington (286), Yamhill (102).

Dead (number: The ages of those who died are:

A 70-year-old Polk County man was positive on December 9 and died at Salem Hospital on December 26.

An 86-year-old man in Multnomah County was positive on December 23 and died on December 28 at the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

An 85-year-old man in Multnomah County was positive on December 15 and died on December 24 at the Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

A 73-year-old woman in Marion County was positive on December 11 and died at Salem Hospital on December 22.

A 74-year-old Josephine County woman tested positive on December 2, and died on December 27 at the Providence Medford Medical Center.

A 91-year-old Josephine County woman tested positive on December 21st and died on December 27th at the Asantesley Rivers Medical Center.

An 83-year-old Josephine County man was positive on October 15 and died on November 26 at the Asantesley Rivers Medical Center.

An 88-year-old Coos County man tested positive on 29 November and died at Bay Area Hospital on 26 December.

A 78-year-old man from Clackamas County was positive on December 15 and died on December 23 at the Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center.

Each deceased individual either had an underlying condition or was confirmed to have an underlying condition.

hospitalization: 419 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized, 21 more than Tuesday. That number includes 92 in the intensive care unit, five less than Tuesday.

vaccination: The state reported that 3,279 people have received their first shots since Tuesday.

Since it started: Oregon reports 418,333 confirmed or estimated infectious diseases and 5,640 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the country.To date, state Reported 6,710,482 vaccinations were given, fully vaccinated 2,763,937 and partially vaccinated 280,846.

To see more data and trends, visit the following website: https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/

-Ted Sickinger; [email protected]503-221-8505; @tedsickinger