Oregon officially crossed a numerical mark on Wednesday, when health officials administered 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, less than three months after the first dose was injected in December.
As of Wednesday, about 1,019,767 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state. More than 636,000 of the state’s 4.2 million residents received at least one dose by Tuesday.
Oregon announced the news by reporting another 27 deaths due to COVID-19 and 276 new cases across the state, putting the overall number of known deaths at 2,252 since the start of the pandemic.
Patrick Allen, director of the state’s health authority, said the vaccine milestone on Wednesday would not have been possible without local partnerships. “Every day we are delivering more than 22,000 doses of vaccine that will bring us to the end of this difficult journey for so many,” he said in a statement.
Overall, cases continue to drop broadly, with Wednesday seeing Jackson County record almost double (47) the total number of cases in Multnomah County (26), which has more than three times the population.
The state is expected to announce new levels of risk next week, after the past two months of case positivity data, which could result in more flexible guidelines for Multnomah County.
Where new cases are by county: Baker (2), Benton (3), Clackamas (20), Clatsop (2), Columbia (3), Coos (24), Deschutes (10), Douglas (22), Grant (2), Harney (2), Jackson (47), Jefferson (5), Josephine (5), Klamath (2), Lane (15), Linn (4), Malheur (2), Marion (28), Multnomah (26), Polk (4), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (7), Union (10), Washington (25) and Yamhill (2).
Who died: State officials said they would release more information about the 27 people who died later.
The prevalence of infections: On Wednesday, the state registered 601 new positive tests in 27,038 tests carried out, which is equivalent to 2.2% positivity. But state officials said the rate was artificially low because they received a “large volume” of test data accumulated in the past two months, with about 99% of those results negative.
Who was infected: New confirmed or presumed infections grew between the following age groups: 0-9 (6); 10-19 (40); 20-29 (46); 30-39 (36); 40-49 (27); 50-59 (35); 60-69 (23); 70-79 (13); 80 and older (20).
Who is in the hospital: The state reported that 140 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Oregon, which is nine fewer than yesterday. There were 31 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, two more than in similar care on Tuesday.
Vaccines administered: Oregon administered 1,019,767 first and second doses until Wednesday. The state reported 22,346 new doses reported, although a split between those administered on Tuesday and in previous days has not been provided.
Since it started: Oregon reported 156,287 confirmed or suspected infections and 2,252 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the country. To date, the state has reported more than 3,787,438 test lab reports.
– Andrew Theen; [email protected]; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen