The Oregon Health Authority reported on Friday 1,755 new confirmed or presumed cases of coronavirus and seven more fatalities while the state released a new model that showed that virus transmission was growing.
Officials said the transmission “decreased dramatically between late November and mid-December, before increasing dramatically.”
At current levels, the projected number of new cases diagnosed daily could rise to 1,780 between 13 and 26 January and an additional 85 people would be hospitalized each day. If Oregon residents were able to reduce the level of transmission to what it was at the end of November, the state said, new cases diagnosed daily would average around 1,400 a day and new hospitalizations would be around 55 a day.
To do this, Oregon residents must continue wearing masks, keeping their distance from each other and avoiding large crowds of people who are not from their immediate home.
If either scenario comes to fruition, Oregon may well equal or exceed its record and death toll in December.
Where the new cases are by municipality: Baker (3), Benton (43), Clackamas (203), Clatsop (8), Columbia (12), Coos (18), Crook (3), Curry (4), Deschutes (92), Douglas (27), Gilliam (3), Harney (1), Hood River (20), Jackson (83), Jefferson (3), Josephine (60), Klamath (115), Lake (1), Lane (105), Lincoln (5) , Linn (42), Malheur (24), Marion (179), Morrow (12), Multnomah (256), Polk (42), Sherman (4), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (44), Union (20) , Wasco (18), Washington (253) and Yamhill (47).
New deaths: Oregon’s 1,569th coronavirus-related death was a 91-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on December 21 and died on January 6 at her home.
The death of 1,570 is a 76-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on December 22 and died on January 4 at his home.
Oregon’s 1,571st death was a 62-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on December 29 and died on January 6 at his home.
The 1,572th fatality is a 68-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on December 3 and died on January 3 at the Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
The 1,573th death in Oregon was of a 50-year-old man from Umatilla County who tested positive on December 27 and died on January 5 at Good Shepherd Community Hospital.
The 1,574th fatality is a 91-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on December 21 and died on January 5 at Oregon Health & Science University.
The 1,575th fatality is a 76-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on December 26 and died on January 6 at the PeaceHealth Sacred Health Medical Center in Riverbend.
Each person had underlying health problems.
The prevalence of infections: On Friday, the state registered 1,807 new positive tests out of 24,293 tests carried out, which is equivalent to a positivity rate of 7.4%.
Who was infected: New confirmed or suspected infections increased among the following age groups: 0-9 (60); 10-19 (183); 20-29 (422); 30-39 (320); 40-49 (281); 50-59 (220); 60-69 (135); 70-79 (84); 80 and older (53).
Who is in the hospital: The state reported that 451 Oregon residents with confirmed coronavirus infections were currently in the hospital on Friday, 11 less than on Thursday. Of these, 88 patients with coronavirus were in intensive care units, three less than on Thursday.
Vaccines administered: Oregon administered 74,914 doses of 252,350 received, or nearly 30% of its supply. Almost 600 of these doses were from the second injection, completing the complete inoculation schedule.
Since it started: Oregon reported 122,847 confirmed or suspected infections and 1,575 deaths, among the lowest totals in the country. To date, the state has reported 2,786,624 test lab reports.
– Kale Williams; [email protected]; 503-294-4048; @sfkale