Feb. 3, 2021
Starting Feb. 8, people age 80 and older can begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The Oregon Health Authority is committed to getting all older Oregonians vaccinated. There will be more seniors who want to get vaccinated than there will be vaccines available to them.
When will you be eligible?
Everyone 65 and older will be eligible for vaccine by the end of February. Here are dates that each age group becomes eligible for the vaccine:
Next week, OHA will launch a new tool that will allow people to determine if they are eligible for a vaccine and register to get email alerts or text notifications about vaccine events in their area. The tool will be open to all Oregonians and information will be available in 11 languages. We will provide information about how to access the tool in Coronavirus Update after it goes live. In the meantime, Oregonians can:
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Call 211 or 1-866-698-6155 (TTY: dial 711 or call 1-866-698-6155)
Across Oregon, some schools are starting to reopen. If your student is returning to school, you may be worried or hopeful or both. For students who return to the classroom, some things will look different. Here are some new health and safety routines to know about:
Staggered arrival and dismissal times: This cuts down on crowding in hallways and common spaces. Your student may be assigned to a particular entrance and exit. There might be stricter sign-in/out processes to make contact tracing easier. How you can help: Schools are asking caregivers to keep drop-off and pick-up as brief as possible.
Face coverings: Students from kindergarten up must wear a face covering indoors and outdoors, as well as on the school bus. How you can help: Make sure young students can get their masks on and off without help. Wash masks daily. If you can, pack a spare mask in your student’s backpack.
Outdoor learning: Some lessons may happen outside when weather allows. How you can help: Pack extra layers; make sure your student has rain gear.
Meals at school: Students may be asked to eat outdoors or in classrooms instead of in the cafeteria. School meals will not be self-service or buffet-style. How you can help: Young students often struggle to open containers. If your student brings a packed lunch, make sure they can open all their food and drink so that they don’t have to ask for help.
Ready Schools, Safe Learners has all the latest health and safety information.
You may have started to see new advertisements on broadcast TV and online through the #PracticeSafeSocializing campaign. Created in collaboration with Oregon ad agency Wieden+Kennedy as part of the Oregon Health Authority’s ongoing public awareness campaigns, the ads help remind us of the small steps every Oregonian can take to protect the people we love – adding inspiration and some levity to ongoing public health directives.
OHA’s COVID-19 Weekly Data Report, released today, shows an increase in daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the previous week. Here are some key findings:
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OHA reported 4,786 new daily cases during the week of Monday, Jan. 25 through Sunday, Jan. 31, a 16% increase from the previous week.
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COVID-19 related hospitalizations also increased from 229 to 251 — an average of 36 hospitalizations per day. That represents a 14% increase from the previous week.
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COVID-19 related deaths increased as well, but only slightly, from 74 to 76.
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There were 119,390 COVID-19 tests administered for the week of Jan. 24 through Jan. 30, which is slightly more than the previous week. The percentage of positive tests increased to 5.4%.
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People age 20 to 49 have accounted for 52% of COVID-19 cases, while people 70 and older have accounted for 77% of deaths associated with the virus.
Starting with this week’s report, OHA will be releasing age-adjusted rate ratios of cases, hospitalizations and deaths by race and ethnicity in the COVID-19 Weekly Report. Age-adjustment is a method to quantify disparities among different racial and ethnic groups.
Disparities among age-adjusted rates are evident when looking at the Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, Latinx, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native groups.
Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 139 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.
There are 10 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,991, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 649 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 144,605.
Today, OHA reported that 17,720 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 12,173 doses were administered on Feb. 2 and 5,547 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Feb. 2.
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 471,966 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 706,575 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.
COVID-19 variant tracking:
Starting today, OHA will report on the number of people in Oregon with confirmed variant strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 on Oregon’s COVID-19 Update dashboard. New variant cases will be reported via this dashboard Monday through Friday.
New SARS-CoV-2 variants have been documented in the United States and globally during this pandemic, and information about the characteristics of these variants is rapidly emerging.
Viruses constantly change through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Most variants do not change how the virus behaves and many disappear.
OHA continues to monitor variants that are being identified and will provide updates.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (5), Benton (32), Clackamas (40), Clatsop (5), Columbia (1), Coos (16), Crook (7), Curry (1), Deschutes (20), Douglas (19), Harney (4), Hood River (1), Jackson (41), Jefferson (7), Josephine (22), Klamath (4), Lake (2), Lane (91), Lincoln (8), Linn (21), Malheur (5), Marion (66), Morrow (1), Multnomah (57), Polk (26), Umatilla (31), Union (7), Wallowa (3), Wasco (4), Washington (62) and Yamhill (40).
Oregon’s 1,982nd COVID-19 death is a 59-year-old man in Baker County who tested positive on Feb. 1 and died on Feb. 1 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,983rd COVID-19 death is a 99-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 26 and died on Jan. 24 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,984th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 24 and died on Jan. 25 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,985th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 20 and died on Jan. 28 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,986th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 31 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,987th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on Jan. 31 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,988th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 26 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,989th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 29 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,990th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 16 and died on Jan. 29 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,991st COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 21 and died on Jan. 30. Location of death is being confirmed. She had underlying conditions.
COVID-19 hospitalizations:
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 266, which is four more than yesterday. There are 63 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two more 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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