January 22, 2021
Governor Kate Brown held a news conference today to update Oregonians on the status of COVID-19 vaccinations in Oregon, particularly as they relate to seniors and educators. The Governor was joined by Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Public Health Director Rachael Banks.
Director Banks spoke of Oregon’s plan to vaccinate people who work in childcare, early learning or K-12 school settings starting Jan. 25. “As long as supplies are scarce, we’ll face really tough calls on who to immunize next. There are good reasons to prioritize educators and good reasons to prioritize seniors.”
Director Banks emphasized that now is the time to start vaccinating educators to give schools a chance at reopening this school year with a vaccinated staff. They pointed out that if Oregon starts vaccinating seniors first, there may not be enough supply for educators this school year.
The press conference included testimony supporting the vaccination of educators from 2021 Oregon Teacher of the Year Nicole Butler-Hooton (Irving Elementary) and Regional Teacher of the Year Mayra Pelayo (Aiken Elementary). South Medford High School Student—and member of the Governor's Healthy Schools Reopening Council— Yosalin Arenas Alvarez who spoke of her experience as a high school senior.
Ms. Arenas spoke of students’ experiences, “Some of us are frustrated, tired and lack motivation to open up our computers” and spoke of the hardship students face such as, taking on extra work to support their families, experiencing families, experiencing houselessness and losing loved ones.
“Over this past year,” Ms. Arenas said, “I have been astonished to hear some of my peers come to me and say, ‘I just can’t do it anymore. I just can’t.’ I keep telling them, ‘One more year.’ We have one more year. Yet some days I think that one year feels longer than all three years of high school combined.”
Ms. Arenas says that they understand going back to school will look different, saying, “There will be no rallies, no group huddles, and there will be limited extracurriculars, but we will have warm lunches, a desk, shelter and most importantly – each other.”
You may wonder whether you still need to quarantine when you have been exposed to COVID-19 if have received your vaccination. OHA has updated its COVID-19 Investigative Guidelines to address this question.
If you have been fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine and it's been at least 14 days since your final dose, you are no longer required to quarantine if you have had close contact with someone with COVID-19.
If you’re fully immunized, you should still monitor yourself for symptoms of COVID-19 during the 14 days after exposure, and if symptoms develop, you should isolate and seek testing.
People who have been fully vaccinated should continue to follow measures to protect themselves and others, including maintaining six feet of physical distance, avoiding crowds, washing hands often and wearing a mask.
The pandemic has changed our routines and increased our stress and anxiety. It has many of us losing sleep. Perhaps you lie awake worrying about keeping yourself and loved ones safe as COVID-19 spreads. Or maybe anxiety about your job, supervising online school, or feeling isolated is stopping you from sleeping. These steps may help you sleep better:
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Make a schedule: Set a fixed time to wake up and go to bed every day.
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Go outside: If you can, spend some time in natural light. A short walk in the morning can help regulate your body clock.
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Stay active: Exercise can reduce stress.
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Go easy with alcohol and caffeine: They can disturb sleep.
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Try a meditation app: Meditation lowers stress and can improve sleep.
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Wind down before turning off the lights: Try not to use your mobile phone, tablet or computer for an hour before bed. It’s also best not to eat or exercise just before turning off the lights.
Oregon reports 877 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 22 new deaths
There are 22 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,865, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 877 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 136,839.
Vaccinations in Oregon: Today, OHA reported that 16,763 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 12,341 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 21 and 4,422 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 21.
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 270,453 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).
To date, 487,700 doses of vaccine 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 today.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (24), Clackamas (71), Clatsop (8), Columbia (15), Coos (10), Crook (14), Curry (1), Deschutes (28), Douglas (18), Grant (4), Hood River (5), Jackson (33), Jefferson (9), Josephine (15), Klamath (17), Lake (3), Lane (90), Lincoln (5), Linn (9), Malheur (11), Marion (101), Morrow (7), Multnomah (136), Polk (24), Umatilla (52), Union (9), Wallowa (1), Wasco (3), Washington (138) and Yamhill (15).
Here is more information on the deaths reported today:
Oregon’s 1,844th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 20 at Portland VA Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,845th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 8 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,846th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 12 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,847th COVID-19 death is a 46-year-old man in Harney County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 20 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,848th COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Harney County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 20 at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,849th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old woman in Jackson County who died on Jan. 4 at her residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,850th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 1 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,851st COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 18 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,852nd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Jan. 11 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,853rd COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Jan. 19 at Rogue Valley Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,854th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Jan. 19 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,855th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Jan. 10 and died on Jan. 20 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,856th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Jan. 10 and died on Jan. 11 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,857th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 12 and died on Jan. 16 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,858th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 20 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,859th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Dec. 20 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,860th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 12 at OHSU Health Hillsboro Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,861st COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man in Union County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 15 at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,862nd COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 29 and died on Dec. 26 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,863rd COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 20 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,864th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 10 at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,865th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 21 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
COVID-19 hospitalizations: The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 317, which is 12 fewer than yesterday. There are 79 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is eight fewer than yesterday. 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.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.
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