Sept. 30, 2021
In the early days of COVID-19, Yvonne Hall wore so much protective gear, her boyfriend joked she looked like a “space alien.”
“When the disease started to hit in China, I saw it was airborne and had the mask that I wore from my previous work in a neuroscience lab rebuilt,” said Hall who lives in Yachats with her three cats and two goats. “I wore that and gloves and glasses. I got lots of dirty looks, but I felt it was better to be safe than sorry.”
But she was hesitant about the vaccine, believing it had been developed quickly. So, she turned to friends who worked in biology labs for their thoughts.
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They told her the research on the vaccination had been completed in the 1990s during the SARS epidemic. Operation Warp Speed – a federal program designed to speed up vaccine development—helped fund the trials necessary to make sure it would work and was safe.
For Hall, the information was a “game changer.”
“I knew it was my best shot at being able to live my life again and not be confined to home all the time, which for me was so very depressing.”
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September is Suicide Prevention month but preventing suicide doesn’t end on the last day of the month. Many of us have been taught that we shouldn’t talk about suicide, but it turns out that being willing to talk is an important step in preventing suicide. Knowing the warning signs of suicide and where to get help can help to prevent suicide.
We can play a part in preventing suicide by being there for others. If you think someone is considering suicide you can take these steps:
Ask. Asking the question, “Are you thinking about suicide?” communicates that you are open to speaking about suicide in a non-judgmental and supportive way. Listening to their responses and reasons for being emotional pain is important to make sure they feel heard.
Keep them safe. This is really about showing support for someone during the times when they have thoughts of suicide.
Be there. This could mean being physically present for someone, speaking with them on the phone when you can, or any other way that shows support for the person at risk.
Help them connect. Helping someone with thoughts of suicide connect with supports (see below) can help them establish a safety net for those moment they find themselves in a crisis.
Follow up. After your initial contact with the person and you’ve connected them with the immediate supports they need, make sure to follow-up with them to see how they are doing. Leave a message, send a text or give them a call.
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If you’re struggling, there are crisis lines to help:
Oregon County Mental Health Crisis Phone Lines: Find a list by county here.
Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255). En español: 1-888-628-9454. Deaf & hard of hearing access: Chat: 1-800-799-4889.
YouthLine (For teen-to-teen support). Call 977-968-8491 or text teen2teen to 839863 (peer support available 4-10pm PST)
The Veteran Crisis Line (Call 1-800-273-8255 and then press “1” or text 838255) and the Military Helpline (Call 1-888-457-4838 anytime; text MIL1 to 839863 Monday – Friday from 2-6pm PST).
OHA’s most recent update on COVID-19 breakthrough cases, released today, found that 79.2% of the 11,567 reported COVID-19 cases between Sept. 19 through Sept. 25 occurred in people who were unvaccinated. There were 2,401 breakthrough cases, accounting for 20.8% of all cases.
The average age of the breakthrough cases during that period was 48. Sixty-eight breakthrough cases involved residents of care facilities, senior living communities or other congregate care settings. There were 85 breakthrough cases in people aged 12 to 17.
To date, there have been 25,347 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon. The average age of all cases is 48. Breakthrough cases have been reported in all 36 counties.
Cases of COVID-19 are far more common in unvaccinated people. The report shows that the rate of COVID-19 in unvaccinated people is currently approximately five times higher than in vaccinated people.
To date, 4.6% of all vaccine breakthrough cases have been hospitalized and 0.9% have died. The average age of vaccinated people who died was 80.5.
Vaccination remains the most effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The number of vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon remains very small when compared to the more than 2.7 million Oregonians who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination series.
The latest breakthrough report can be found here.
OHA updates its Weekly Breakthrough Report to include more specific data on deaths
Starting this week, OHA will resume publishing monthly totals of COVID-19 deaths by vaccination status in the Weekly Breakthrough Report. New data for the previous month will be added at the beginning of each calendar month.
In August 2021, 94 (23.2%) out of 405 total COVID-19 deaths were breakthrough cases. In other words, four times as many COVID-19 deaths occurred in unvaccinated individuals as compared to fully vaccinated individuals.
The proportion of vaccine breakthrough cases who died with COVID-19 has increased over time. This trend is likely attributed to several factors and may be associated with increased COVID-19 transmission in communities, increased disease severity associated with infection caused by the Delta variant and waning immunity over time in elderly populations.
Breakthrough deaths are a result of more disease in the community caused by the Delta variant and the small decrease in vaccine effectiveness found among the elderly, especially among older residents in long-term care facilities, who were vaccinated early in the vaccination roll-out.
All COVID-19 vaccines continue to provide very high protection against severe illness, including hospitalization and death.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently.
• Samples for 454,533 tests have been reported positive.
• Samples for 6,504,573 tests have been reported negative.
Pediatric Weekly dashboard update
This dashboard replaces the previous report and is published weekly on Thursdays with the most recent full week’s data.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 816, which is five more than yesterday. There are 231 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four fewer than yesterday.
There are 64 available adult ICU beds out of 649 total (10% availability) and 335 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,245 (8% availability).
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.
Note: Please do not visit an emergency department for COVID-19 testing, unless you require emergency care for your symptoms.
Emergency departments in Oregon are under significant strain responding to the current surge in COVID-19. You can find a test here.
If you have a medical condition that doesn’t require emergency care, contact your provider. An urgent care center may also help you get the care you need and will save emergency departments from added strain.
Today, OHA reported that 11,996 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Sept. 29. Of this total, 6,468 were administered on Sept. 29: 1,523 were initial doses, 1,653 were second doses and 131 were third doses. The remaining 5,528 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Sept. 29.
The seven-day running average is now 7,270 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered 2,985,884 doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 1,904,960 doses of Moderna and 215,138 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
As of today, 2,737,724 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,508,807 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.
There are 20 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 3,791 the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 1,896 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 330,054.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (11), Benton (40), Clackamas (130), Clatsop (13), Columbia (32), Coos (36), Crook (34), Curry (9), Deschutes (161), Douglas (76), Gilliam (1), Grant (18), Harney (10), Hood River (7), Jackson (76), Jefferson (17), Josephine (23), Klamath (78), Lake (7), Lane (142), Lincoln (9), Linn (115), Malheur (50), Marion (169), Morrow (7), Multnomah (212), Polk (23), Sherman (3), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (102), Union (26), Wallowa (7), Wasco (44), Washington (158) and Yamhill (47)
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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