The Oregon Health Authority reported on Thursday 867 new confirmed or presumed cases of coronavirus and 10 more deaths, as the state said, for the second consecutive day, that technical problems have reduced the case count.
On Wednesday, the agency said the case count was lower than expected because of a server crash that affected the state’s database and that the count should be back to normal soon. On Thursday, however, officials said “today’s case count is lower than expected because of technical problems”, but did not specify what the problem was.
The Oregon Health Authority did not immediately answer questions about how far away the count was or how long it would take to correct.
Before the artificially low numbers, Oregon’s seven-day average rose last week, from a minimum of 879 new cases a day on December 29 to 1,174 on Tuesday. The positivity rate also increased, with the weekly average rising from 6.5% to 7.8% as of Thursday.
These are worrying signs. The increase in case rates and test positivity preceded the peak drop that led to a record daily average of about 1,500 in early December – resulting in record deaths that month.
The slow pace of vaccine distribution continued this week, with 3,428 doses administered on Wednesday, according to preliminary state data. In total, the state distributed 66,920 doses of the 250,100 that it received, which means that almost 75% of the state’s supply has not yet been distributed.
Governor Kate Brown has asked the state to administer at least 12,000 doses a day by the end of next week. She will give a press conference at 11 am on Friday to discuss the state’s response.
Where the new cases are by municipality: Baker (3), Benton (30), Clackamas (44), Clatsop (1), Columbia (1), Coos (7), Crook (15), Curry (1), Deschutes (44), Douglas (14), Grant (3), Harney (3), Hood River (10), Jackson (71), Jefferson (20), Josephine (5), Klamath (3), Lake (10), Lane (76), Lincoln (7) , Linn (33), Malheur (17), Marion (134), Morrow (3), Multnomah (17), Polk (27), Sherman (10), Tillamook (7), Umatilla (159), Union (14) , Wallowa (2), Wasco (9), Washington (33) and Yamhill (34).
New deaths: The coronavirus-related 1,559 death in Oregon was an 88-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on December 3 and died on January 3 at her home.
The 1,560th fatality is a 74-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on December 22 and died on January 2 at the Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
The death of 1,561 in Oregon was an 85-year-old woman from Tillamook County who tested positive on December 29 and died on January 5 at her home.
The 1,562th fatality is a 56-year-old man from Umatilla County who tested positive on December 30 and died on January 2 at his home.
The death of 1,563 in Oregon is that of an 87-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on December 14 and died on December 20 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
The 1,564th fatality is an 88-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on December 21 and died on January 1 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
The 1,565th fatality is a 72-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive on December 4 and died on December 24 at her home.
The 1,566th fatality is a 73-year-old Linn County man who tested positive on December 31 and died the same day. Authorities were working to confirm where he died.
The 1,567th fatality is an 88-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on December 3 and died on January 5 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.
The 1,568th fatality is an 81-year-old man from Josephine County who tested positive on December 15 and died on December 26 at his home.
Each person had underlying health conditions or state officials were working to determine whether the person had underlying medical conditions.
The Oregon Penitentiary Department also reported two deaths among inmates diagnosed with COVID-19 – a man between 85 and 95 years old housed at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla County who died on Wednesday in a hospital and a man between 70 and 80 years at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, who died Thursday in prison. These deaths have not yet been included in the official count of the Oregon Health Authority.
The prevalence of infections: On Thursday, the state reported 1,758 new positive tests out of 21,215 tests performed, equaling a positivity rate of 8.3%.
Who was infected: New confirmed or suspected infections increased among the following age groups: 0-9 (39); 10-19 (84); 20-29 (183); 30-39 (149); 40-49 (131); 50-59 (131); 60-69 (75); 70-79 (46); 80 and older (29).
Who is in the hospital: The state reported that 462 Oregon residents with confirmed coronavirus infections were currently in the hospital on Thursday, 18 less than on Wednesday. Of these, 91 patients with coronavirus were in intensive care units, 29 less than on Wednesday.
Vaccines administered: Oregon administered 66,920 doses of 250,100 received, or 27% of its supply. Almost 1,000 of these doses were from the second injection, completing the complete inoculation schedule.
Since it started: Oregon reported 121,085 confirmed or suspected infections and 1,568 deaths, among the lowest totals in the country. To date, the state has reported 2,762,331 test lab reports.
– Kale Williams; [email protected]; 503-294-4048; @sfkale