The Oregon Health Authority announced 251 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, along with nine new deaths.
The new cases came when Governor Kate Brown announced that she would require all schools to return to face-to-face education within a month and a half.
Brown said at a news conference that he would order the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Education to revise guidelines on how to operate schools during the pandemic by March 19. schools must do the same by April 19.
Districts that fail to meet Brown’s deadlines risk losing some state funding. But Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Brown, told The Oregonian / OregonLive that the governor does not believe this will happen based on the conversations she has had with local leaders.
Virtual learning will still be an option for students, but districts must offer face-to-face education or a hybrid model based on community infection rates, Brown said.
Where new cases are by county: Baker (7), Benton (5), Clackamas (17), Clatsop (1), Coos (31), Crook (1), Curry (5), Deschutes (15), Douglas (24), Grant (3), Jackson (29), Jefferson (1), Josephine (7), Klamath (4), Lake (1), Lane (14), Linn (4), Malheur (4), Marion (22), Multnomah (13), Polk (10), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (10), Union (2), Wallowa (1), Washington (15) and Yamhill (1).
Who died: The death of 2,285 COVID-19 was a 77-year-old woman from Deschutes County, who tested positive on December 25 and died on January 20 at her home.
The death of 2,286 COVID-19 is an 88-year-old woman from Deschutes County, who died on January 24 at her home.
The 2,287th death of COVID-19 is an 82-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on January 28 and died on March 3 at the Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
The death of 2,288 COVID-19 is that of an 80-year-old man in Jackson County, whose test was positive on January 27 and died on February 26 at his residence.
COVID-19’s 2,289th death was a 64-year-old woman from Josephine County who tested positive on December 22 and died on February 19 at the Stanford Health Center.
The death of 2,290th COVID-19 is from a 95-year-old man from Lane County, who tested positive on February 19 and died on February 27 at his home.
The death of 2,291th COVID-19 was an 88-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive on December 23 and died on December 29 at her home.
The death of 2,292th COVID-19 is an 84-year-old woman from Polk County, who died on January 27 at her residence.
The death of 2,293 COVID-19 was an 81-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on December 31 and died on January 10 at her home.
Unless noted above, each person who died had underlying health problems or state officials were working to determine whether the person had underlying health problems.
Prevalence of infections: On Friday, the state registered 827 new cases in 52,906 tests performed. This is a positive rate of 1.5%.
Who was infected: New or suspected infections increased among the following age groups: 0-9 (14); 10-19 (30); 20-29 (44); 30-39 (34); 40-49 (13); 50-59 (37); 60-69 (31); 70-79 (15); 80 and older (2).
Who is in the hospital: On Friday, 132 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state, eight fewer than the day before. There were 30 patients with the virus in intensive care, one more than on Thursday.
Vaccines administered: The state reported that 38,632 new doses of vaccine were added to its immunization record on Friday. Of that total, 22,438 doses were administered on Thursday and 16,194 on previous days, but entered the register on Thursday. Oregon has already administered 1,082,241 first and second doses of vaccine – about 80% of its total supply.
Since it started: Oregon has had 156,884 confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 and 2,293 deaths since the start of the pandemic, one of the lowest positivity rates in the country. The state reported having administered 3,850,973 tests.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; [email protected]; @JRamakrishnanOR
Eder Campuzano of The Oregonian / OregonLive contributed to this report.