Oregon reports 2 more COVID-19 related deaths, 704 new cases

Cases have nearly doubled in past month; nearly 39,000 Oregonians vaccinated daily

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — There are two new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,457, the Oregon Health Authority reported Friday.

OHA also reported 704 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Fridday, bringing the state total to 173,626.

Here is a link to the recording and a link to the talking points from Friday morning’s media briefing, led by Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority.

The number of cases has nearly doubled in a month, officials said at a news conference on Friday. Officials attribute that to a variety of factors, from schools back in session to the rise of virus variants and “pandemic fatigue.”

Several cases were linked to social gatherings.

“There was a multi-night karaoke event that led to 36 cases, three of whom are hospitalized and tragically one death,” said Dr. Dean Sideliner, state epidemiologist.

“There was an indoor concert at a small music venue where we saw 15 cases coming from that event, and a backyard gathering with 10 people, with all of them falling ill,” he said.

Meanwhile, the number of Oregonians receiving vaccinations has risen to nearly 39,000 a day.

More than 1.5 million Oregonians have received first dose of COVID-19 vaccine  

OHA reported that 47,407 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added Friday to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 28,146 doses were administered on Thursday and 19,261 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Thursday.

The seven-day running average is now 38,239 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered a total of 1,268,433 doses of Pfizer, 1,089,987 doses of Moderna and 87,666 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 988,584 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,542,429 who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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, 1,513,395 doses of Pfizer, 1,313,100 doses of Moderna and 215,000 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.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 199, which is four more than Thursday. There are 52 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one fewer than Thursday.

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.

St. Charles Bend reported 15 COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Friday, three of whom were in the ICU, one on a ventilator.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported Friday are in the following counties: Baker (9), Benton (7), Clackamas (79), Clatsop (3), Columbia (6), Coos (6), Crook (15), Curry (3), Deschutes (59), Douglas (7), Grant (25), Hood River (3), Jackson (54), Jefferson (3), Josephine (29), Klamath (43), Lake (2), Lane (57), Lincoln (6), Linn (20), Malheur (1), Marion (63), Morrow (5), Multnomah (88), Polk (13), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (9), Union (2), Wallowa (1), Wasco (6), Washington (69) and Yamhill (8).

Oregon’s 2,456th COVID-19 death is a 45-year-old man in Columbia County who tested positive on April 12 and died on April 15. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed. 

Oregon’s 2,457th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on April 8 and died on April 12 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Note: Due to a delay in laboratory reporting, OHA received roughly 4,400 electronic laboratory reports (ELRs) on April 15, 2021 from Josephine County. The reports are from Dec. 2020 to April 2021. As a result, daily ELR totals are higher and percent positivity is lower for April 15 than anticipated for Josephine County.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations? 

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit OHA’s web page (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.

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News release from Gov. Kate Brown:

Vaccine eligibility for all Oregonians, 16 and older, opens Monday, April 19
 (Salem, OR) — Governor Kate Brown held a press conference today to provide an update on the status of COVID-19 in Oregon, and to urge Oregonians to make a plan to get vaccinated. The Governor was joined by Patrick Allen, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director, and Dr. Dean Sidelinger, State Epidemiologist.

“Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself against serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Governor Brown. “They are the best way to protect yourself from variants. And they are the key to unlocking the restrictions this pandemic has forced on us, so we can return to doing the things we love and seeing the people we miss.

“This Monday, vaccine eligibility will open up to everyone age 16 and older. If you haven’t already had a chance to get vaccinated, make a plan to do so now. Tell your loved ones and neighbors you plan to get vaccinated, and share your reason why. And if you have already signed up for an appointment, help a friend sign up, too.

“And as our friends, family members, and neighbors await their vaccine, it’s critical we all work together to keep them safe. Let’s not forget the basics: wear your mask, limit gatherings—especially with friends and family who aren’t fully vaccinated—and maintain social distance.

“With almost one in four Oregonians fully vaccinated, every day, we are getting closer to reaching the community protection we need from this virus. We must keep our eyes on the horizon, and honor the personal responsibility we all share to follow public health safety measures.”

A copy of the Governor’s prepared remarks from today’s press conference is available here.

More information on vaccines is available at covidvaccine.oregon.gov.

Video Links

• A recording of today’s live-streamed press conference is available on YouTube. Please note the video starts at the 31:45 mark.
• A recording of a Spanish language translation is available on OHA’s Facebook page.