May 25, 2021
Sophie is 18 and about to graduate high school. She got her first shot of Pfizer at Portland International Airport (PDX). She will be fully vaccinated long before she heads for college to study film and cinema. Sophia’s senior picture is at left.
What are your vaccine reasons?
Vaccines are the best way to prepare your body to combat the virus and become immune. Vaccines are the best defense against whatever virus you might want to protect yourself from.
Since my mom is a nurse in the emergency room (ER) I felt it was best for me and people I might be around for me to be vaccinated and then I can keep myself and other people safer. I felt it was the least I could do to normalize the vaccine, get people used to having the vaccine for COVID-19. This might be something that we get every once in a while like a flu shot. I felt like this is a bare-minimum obligation as a citizen to protect others and yourself.
If anybody is anxious about getting the shot, I just hope they know it’s really not bad at all. It doesn’t hurt anymore than any other shot. The chances of you dying from the vaccine are infinitesimal compared to the chances of you dying from COVID-19.
What is she looking forward to when fully vaccinated?
I’m looking forward to taking a graduation road trip with some of my friends who are also fully vaccinated. It’s a last hurrah before we have to go off to college or whatever places that life might take us.
|
The good news? More and more people are getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The free vaccine is one of the best ways we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from getting COVID-19. Sadly, there are still people getting this terrible disease. That means contact tracing is still a thing.
When someone tests positive for COVID-19, the results are reported to local public health or tribal health authorities. Health workers try to call everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 but are focused on reaching those who are at higher risk of developing serious illness or infecting many more people.
So, what can you expect if a contact tracer reaches out? Contact tracers will connect you with resources in your local community if you need to quarantine, help you understand how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and give you advice on how to care for yourself or others,
It is safe to answer the call from a contact tracer. Your information is strictly confidential and will be treated as a confidential public health record. Your information will not be shared with other agencies, including immigration officials. Contact tracing is another tool in our belt to help save lives. Please answer the call.
Correction: The incorrect time was listed for this week's Facebook Live in yesterday’s newsletter. The Q and A will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26.
Governor Kate Brown recently issued revised guidance on face coverings. Join Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for a Facebook Live on Wednesday to get answers from our experts.
There are four new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,628, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 424 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 199,391.
Today, OHA reported that 25,851 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 15,160 doses were administered on May 24 and 10,691 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on May 24.
The seven-day running average is now 30,070 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered 2,124,214 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,550,655 first and second doses of Moderna and 135,220 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today,1,755,318 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 2,182,229 people who have had at least one dose.
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).
To date, 2,619,045 doses of Pfizer, 2,053,920 doses of Moderna and 285,800 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 (2), Benton (4), Clackamas (48), Columbia (7), Coos (3), Crook (5), Deschutes (48), Douglas (19), Grant (1), Harney (1), Jackson (24), Jefferson (12), Josephine (7), Klamath (18), Lane (26), Linn (16), Malheur (3), Marion (41), Morrow (1), Multnomah (57), Polk (3), Umatilla (21), Union (5), Washington (39), Wheeler (1) and Yamhill (12).
Oregon’s 2,625th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on April 12 and died on May 21 at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,626th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on May 1 and died on May 1 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,627th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive on May 3 and died on May 11 at Salem Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,628th COVID-19 death is a 24-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on May 18 and died on May 18. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 274, which is eight more than yesterday. There are 75 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is no change from yesterday.
The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 1,938, which is an 18.5% decrease from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 306.
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.
Did someone forward this to you? You can subscribe here.
|
