April 6, 2021
This morning, Governor Kate Brown announced that people in Oregon who are 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 19.
Governor Brown said, “We are locked in a race between vaccine distribution and the rapid spread of COVID-19 variants. Today, Oregon will pass the threshold of 2 million vaccine doses administered. And yet, in communities across Oregon, COVID-19 is spreading at concerning rates. We must move as quickly as possible to get more shots in arms. Beginning April 19, all Oregonians over the age of 16 will be eligible to receive a vaccine.”
Governor Brown emphasized that we need to continue to focus on equity in our vaccine distribution, noting that “Oregon’s Black, Indigenous, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and communities of color have been disproportionately hard-hit by this disease. We must reach Oregonians where they are, including those who may not have easy access to health care or the ability to take time off from work.”
Dr. Jessica Hart, a psychologist resident at Northwest Forensic Institute, got both of her vaccines at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. She shared her vaccination experience with us:
When asked why getting the vaccine was important to her, Dr. Hart told us, “to protect myself, my family, my coworkers, and the individuals we evaluate through work.”
I was vaccinated at the Oregon State Fairgrounds through Salem Health. The first dose required several hours of standing in line, but I was able to make an appointment for my second dose and received the shot within 10 minutes! I had minimal side effects the first time (mostly body aches) and moderate side effects after the second dose (body aches, fatigue, headache, foggy brain).
A few days of feeling under the weather was definitely worth getting immunized against COVID and starting to get life back to normal though!
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“Do you have your mask?” All over Oregon there are people asking this like it’s a mantra every time someone they live with leaves the house. We walk down the street and step out of the way if we see someone coming, and we wait patiently to grab our box of tea off the shelf because someone is nearby trying to find their favorite blend of chai. Many folks in Oregon have been working hard to take care of each other.
As more and more of us are getting vaccinated, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter, but we’re still not out of the tunnel. Even though we may be tired of this diligence, once again we’re seeing rates of COVID-19 cases climb higher and hospitalizations increase in Oregon.
Let’s continue to make the choice to keep each other, and ourselves, safe from COVID-19.
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Today, county risk levels under the state's public health framework to reduce transmission and protect Oregonians from COVID-19 were updated. The framework uses four different risk levels for counties based on COVID-19 spread — Extreme, High, Moderate and Lower — and assigns health and safety measures for each level.
Effective April 9 through April 22, there will be 14 counties in the High Risk level, six at Moderate Risk, and 16 at Lower Risk. Four counties have been given a two-week caution. As case counts and hospitalizations increase and counties qualify for higher risk levels, restrictions on businesses and activities will resume. A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are a key indicator of severe illness in Oregon communities. As vaccine distribution increases, case counts and percent positivity will not be adequate indicators on their own for measuring the threat COVID-19 poses to public health.
Beginning this week, for counties to move to (or remain in) Extreme Risk, they must meet the county metrics for case rates and percent positivity, plus a new statewide metric: COVID-19 positive patients occupying 300 hospital beds or more, and a 15% increase in the seven-day average over the past week. Counties that meet the criteria for Extreme Risk but for the statewide trigger will be assigned to High Risk. This week there are three counties that qualify for Extreme Risk based on their county metrics but are assigned High Risk because the statewide trigger has not been met: Josephine, Klamath, and Tillamook.
Read the full news release here.
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There are 33 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,427, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 544 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 167,658.
Today, OHA reported that 32,955 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 21,170 doses were administered on April 5 and 11,785 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on April 5. Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize.
Oregon has now administered a total of 1,040,314 doses of Pfizer, 938,182 doses of Moderna and 51,618 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 784,476 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,290,755 people who have had at least one dose.
To date, 1,306,305 doses of Pfizer, 1,187,500 doses of Moderna and 168,100 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines 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 (4), Benton (11), Clackamas (86), Clatsop (1), Columbia (5), Coos (10), Crook (2), Curry (2), Deschutes (35), Douglas (7), Grant (9), Harney (3), Hood River (2), Jackson (33), Jefferson (2), Josephine (12), Klamath (21), Lane (41), Lincoln (3), Linn (17), Malheur (4), Marion (36), Multnomah (68), Polk (10), Sherman (1), Tillamook (7), Umatilla (8), Union (4), Wasco (1), Washington (97) and Yamhill (2).
Note: Details of today’s reported deaths will be published on this webpage later.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 163, which is 14 fewer than yesterday. There are 42 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is unchanged from 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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