March 5, 2021
Unfortunately, older adults and others who are awaiting vaccine appointments can fall prey to scammers. Though there have not been reports of this sort of scam happening in Oregon, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum released information to help people avoid being the target of fraud regarding COVID-19 vaccines.
Here are six tips on how to spot a vaccine scam:
- You cannot pay to get early access to the vaccine. If someone calls to offer an appointment for a payment, it is a scam.
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Do not pay to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone who wants money to put you on a list, make an appointment for you, or reserve a spot in line is a scammer.
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Worried about cost? If you are uninsured, on Medicare, an employer plan, private insurance, or the Oregon Health Plan, you do not have to pay to get the vaccine. That is a scam.
- Ignore sales ads for the vaccine. The vaccine is only available through federal or state partners. You cannot buy it anywhere.
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Nobody legitimate will call, text or email about the vaccine and ask for your Social Security number, bank account information or credit card number.
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You are not required to provide a Social Security number when registering for a vaccine appointment.
Please share these tips with your friends and family, and if you know a senior who is not tech-savvy, offer to help them get an appointment for their vaccine — and then, help them find a way to get to the appointment.
If you have information, or think you may have fallen victim, to a fraud or scam contact the Oregon Department of Justice online at www.oregonconsumer.gov, or call the Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint Hotline at 877-877-9392.
 
Every day, more Oregonians are becoming eligible for vaccination and finishing their vaccine series. If you’re one of them, you probably already know that until enough people get vaccinated, we’re all going to need to continue to wear face coverings, limit group size, physically distance, wash our hands and stay home when we’re sick — even when fully vaccinated.
So, what do you say to friends and family who are pressing you to take off that mask and loosen up once you’ve gotten your full series (and are 14 days past your last shot)? Here are some things to consider when having these conversations:
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Acknowledge what the COVID-19 vaccine does and doesn’t do. Fully vaccinated individuals will be much less likely to become ill with COVID-19. However, we still don't know if a fully vaccinated person can carry and transmit COVID-19 to others.
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Explain why following precautions matters. For people at heightened risk, exposure to COVID-19 could potentially be fatal. Out of an abundance of caution and care for others, we all need to wear our masks and physically distance, even if we’re not worried about our own risks.
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Encourage patience. The known and potential benefits from the vaccine outweigh the known and potential harms from getting COVID-19. Once more folks get vaccinated, we can return to some sense of normality. Until then, we’ll need to keep working together.
On Wednesday, March 3, we held a Live Q&A on coping with grief with OHA senior health advisor Dr. Meg Cary, Dr. Robert Neimeyer with the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and Dr. Ruth Zúñiga of Pacific University. They spoke about the direct and indirect losses and grief that the pandemic has caused and provided some resources and tips.
You can watch the video here. Timestamps for the questions are below:
15:11: It’s hard to pretend that all is normal and just go to work. Everyday problems are so much harder to deal with and I am so exhausted. Any tips?
19:35: What about Oregonians who can’t access therapy because we can’t afford it?
21:12: What about those of us grieving because our family members died of other rare diseases, but not COVID? I feel like this fixation on COVID invalidates my right to grieve and people expect me to be resilient and strong because other rare diseases aren’t COVID.
23:34: What about the pandemic’s effects on children who are anxious, depressed and exhausted like most of us adults?
28:42: What about the mental health of owners and workers who are dealing with struggling businesses?
After the weeks of March 29 and April 19, all public schools in Oregon will operate under either a fully on-site or a hybrid instructional model when counties meet or exceed Oregon’s advisory COVID-19 metrics. Those who want to remain in comprehensive distance learning, or who have health needs, may do so. Comprehensive distance learning for all will be an option for school districts when community transmission rates of COVID-19 warrant a transition, as determined by state or local public health directives. OHA and the Oregon Department of Education will issue updated guidance to match the directives set out by the Governor by March 19.
OHA has adjusted how it reports race and ethnicity data on its COVID-19 dashboards for persons entered in the state’s immunization registry, also known as ALERT Immunization Information System (ALERT IIS). The change became effective in late February.
The system previously counted race and ethnicity data for persons who have received a COVID-19 vaccine as non-exclusive categories, where an individual contributed to the counts of all races that were indicated in their ALERT IIS record.
Starting Feb. 25, race and ethnicity data began to be counted in only one racial or ethnic group. This change followed recommendations provided by the Oregon Office of Equity and Inclusion. The race and ethnic categories include: American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, White, other race and unknown. The category of Hispanic is treated as a racial group.
Individuals may still have multiple indications for race on their ALERT IIS record.
Age category listings for persons also changed on Feb. 25 to reflect the state state’s phased approach in opening up vaccine eligibility to older Oregonians. The dashboards now show older Oregonians in five-year grouping, for ages between 60 and 80 years old.
Starting today, data on Oregonians who have been vaccinated will include race and ethnicity information at the county level on the COVID-19 dashboards.
There are nine new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,293, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 251 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 156,884.
Today, OHA reported that 38,632 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 22,438 doses were administered on March 4 and 16,194 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on March 4. Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize. Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 1,082,241 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,348,255 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 (7), Benton (5), Clackamas (17), Clatsop (1), Coos (31), Crook (1), Curry (5), Deschutes (15), Douglas (24), Grant (3), Jackson (29), Jefferson (1), Josephine (7), Klamath (4), Lake (1), Lane (14), Linn (4), Malheur (4), Marion (22), Multnomah (13), Polk (10), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (10), Union (2), Wallowa (1), Washington (15) and Yamhill (1).
Note: A server issue yesterday and a large volume of approximately 29,000 electronic laboratory reports (ELRs) received on March 3 contribute to today’s high ELR counts. The large volume of test results is from March 2020 through March 2021. Today’s test counts include this grouping of ELRs. Percent positivity is lower than anticipated today.
Oregon’s 2,285th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 20 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,286th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Deschutes County who died on Jan. 24 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 2,287th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 28 and died on March 3 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,288th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 27 and died on Feb. 26 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,289th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Feb. 19 at Stanford Health Care. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,290th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Feb. 19 and died on Feb. 27 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,291st COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Dec. 29 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,292nd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Polk County who died on Jan. 27 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 2,293rd COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on December 31 and died on Jan. 10 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 132, which is eight fewer than yesterday. There are 30 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one 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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