Sept. 2, 2021
Oregon continues to see high rates of COVID-19 patients being hospitalized. Our front line health care workers, and all of those who keep the hospitals running, like janitors, security staff, cafeteria personnel and those who greet the public, put themselves in the path of the rapidly spreading Delta variant every day.
They are moms and dads. They are someone’s children. They are our neighbors. They are selfless, courageous, dedicated and surely exhausted.
Across the state, there are 1,131 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Three hundred and eight of those patients are in intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The pandemic has lasted a long time, and many have probably grown numb to reading statistics, but these numbers represent human beings. These numbers represent 1,131 people who may have loved ones waiting for them to come home. Sadly, more hospital beds are needed with every passing day.
Oregon has had eight consecutive weeks of increasing hospitalization rates. So, what can we do? We can offer our deepest gratitude to our mighty health care workers and those who support them in keeping the hospitals clean, safe and running as smoothly as possible during these most difficult circumstances.
We can also do more by getting ourselves and our families vaccinated and helping others who may be vaccine hesitant to understand the urgent need to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities. Doing our best to avoid needing a scarce hospital bed is the best way to thank frontline workers. Please offer your appreciation for the heroic efforts of health care workers by getting vaccinated, wearing masks, physically distancing and being kind to one another.
Find more information and to find a vaccine site near you visit our Find a COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon web page.
For many people, Labor Day is a final opportunity to celebrate summer. Barbecues, gatherings with our friends, and last chance summer travels fill our plans. Once again, the COVID-19 pandemic means this holiday weekend will need to look different.
You may have already made plans for the Labor Day weekend before Oregon saw cases and hospitalizations surge. If your plans involve outdoor large gatherings or indoor activities that put you and others at risk for COVID-19, it’s important to reconsider what you have planned.
Playing it safe is the best choice right now. Here’s why:
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The Delta variant is highly transmissible and is spreading rapidly, especially in areas with low COVID-19 vaccination rates.
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Oregon hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and may not have enough space for emergencies.
There just may not be space for a broken leg or food poisoning this year, so even if you’re taking precautions to avoid COVID-19 transmission, avoiding other risky behavior is also an important way to support our hospital system in this time of crisis.
While we've grown tired of having to limit our activities, it’s worth it to protect our loved ones and others in our communities. Staying close to home, spending time with members of our household, avoiding crowds and wearing face coverings in indoor public spaces and outdoors when we can’t maintain six feet of physical distance can help end this surge.
Remember, getting vaccinated is the safest and most effective way for all people in Oregon to get back to doing the things they love. If you are 12 or older, visit OHA’s Find a COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon webpage to schedule your vaccine appointment today.
This fall, students, staff and families share a homework lesson: doing what’s needed in our communities to keep schools open and thriving. Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and OHA) offer 5 health and safety tips for students and families to reduce spread of the highly-transmissible Delta variant.
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Make a plan to vaccinate all eligible household members.
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Wear face coverings or masks in public and in carpools.
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Limit gatherings with other households for now — including big events for kids, like birthday parties.
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Move social activities outdoors.
Were you hesitant about getting the COVID-19 vaccine? Did you recently decide to get the vaccine? The Coronavirus Update newsletter would love to hear your story.
OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released today, found that 84.1% of the 16,265 reported COVID-19 cases between Aug. 22 and Aug. 28 occurred in people who were unvaccinated. There were 2,592 breakthrough cases, accounting for 15.9% of the week’s cases.
The number of vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon remains very small when compared to the more than 2.4 million Oregonians who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination series.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently.
• Samples for 394,101 tests have been reported positive.
• Samples for 5,972,549 tests have been reported negative.
Pediatric weekly dashboard update
This dashboard replaces the previous report and will be published weekly on Thursdays with the most recent full week’s data.
Today, OHA reported that 11,496 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Sept. 1. Of this total, 5,113 were administered on Sept. 1: 2,733 were initial doses and 1,651 were second doses. The remaining 5,113 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Sept. 1.
The seven-day running average is now 8,795 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered 2,827,487 first and second doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 1,851,033 first and second doses of Moderna and 200,749 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
As of today, 2,641,129 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,411,810 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series.
These data are preliminary and subject to change.
Updated vaccination data are provided on Oregon’s COVID-19 data dashboards and have been updated today.
Cases and COVID-19 deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (19), Benton (18), Clackamas (180), Clatsop (27), Columbia (43), Coos (43), Crook (26), Curry (11), Deschutes (149), Douglas (146), Grant (9), Harney (13), Hood River (8), Jackson (202), Jefferson (22), Josephine (119), Klamath (38), Lane (175), Lincoln (51), Linn (131), Malheur (16), Marion (247), Morrow (14), Multnomah (248), Polk (28), Sherman (3), Tillamook (29), Umatilla (84), Union (22), Wallowa (3), Wasco (22), Washington (238) and Yamhill (65).
There are 27 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 3,248. More information on today's reported COVID-19 related deaths will be published in an updated version of today's news release here: oregon.gov/oha/erd/pages/covid-19-news.aspx
For more information, visit healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
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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