PORTLAND, Oregon. (KTVZ) – There are four new COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, increasing the death toll in the state to 2,353, the Oregon Health Authority reported on Thursday.
The Oregon Health Authority reported 393 new confirmed and presumed cases of COVID-19 at 0:01 am on Thursday, bringing the state total to 160,622.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Observation: On Thursday, OHA recorded the highest number of vaccination events sent to the ALERT IIS system in a single day (49,166), reflecting that sites are recovering from the delivery of doses administered during the ALERT IIS outage earlier this week .
Today, OHA reported that 49,166 new doses of COVID-19 vaccines were added on Thursday to the state’s immunization registry. Of this total, 18,412 doses were administered on March 17 and 30,754 on previous days, but entered the vaccine registry on March 17.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to complete because providers have 72 hours to report administered doses and technical challenges have caused many providers to delay reporting. OHA has provided technical support to vaccination sites to improve the opportunity for their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
Oregon has already administered a cumulative total of 1,412,232 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,797,545 doses of the vaccine have been delivered to locations throughout Oregon.
These data are preliminary and are subject to change. OHA panels provide regularly updated vaccination data, and the Oregon panel was updated on Thursday.
The St. Charles Health System reported 33,363 vaccinations given on Thursday.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across Oregon is 116, eight more than on Wednesday. There are 38 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, nine more than on Wednesday.
The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between reporting times. The numbers do not reflect hospitalizations per day, nor the length of stay. Personnel limitations are not captured in this data and can further limit the capacity of beds.
More information about the hospital’s capacity can be found here.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumed COVID-19 cases reported on Thursday are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (19), Clackamas (21), Clatsop (2), Columbia (1), Coos (22), Crook (5), Curry (5), Deschutes (11), Douglas (16), Grant (2), Jackson (42), Jefferson (1), Josephine (25), Klamath (5), Lane (12), Lincoln (7), Linn (10), Malheur (2), Marion (44), Morrow (1), Multnomah (66), Polk (4), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (6), Union (3), Wallowa (1), Wasco (2), Washington (45) and Yamhill (7).
The death of 2,350th COVID-19 in Oregon is a 79-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on March 12 and died on March 14 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
The death of 2,351th COVID-19 in Oregon was that of a 44-year-old man in Marion County, whose test was positive on February 16 and died on March 15 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
The death of 2,352th COVID-19 in Oregon was a 54-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on December 21 and died on March 15 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
The death of 2,353 COVID-19 in Oregon is that of a 75-year-old man in Lane County, whose test was positive on March 14 and died on March 14. He had underlying conditions.
In case you missed it: dance company pivots to provide COVID-19 resources
In yesterday’s edition of the Oregon Coronavirus Update, we highlight the work of the Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre in Medford. The dance company had deep connections with members of the community who were not receiving information from COVID-19 in a useful way.
“There are resources out there, but if people don’t know how to access them, then we have a barrier,” says Luisa Zaragoza, the artistic and administrative director. She knew that her relationship with families in the community was an opportunity to help.
Last year, Ballet Folklorico Ritmo Alegre partnered with OHA and some other local organizations to develop an educational campaign providing information about COVID-19 and local resources through Facebook posts, calls, Zoom meetings and various drive events -through.
The Rhythm Alegre Folk Ballet is also featured in a public awareness announcement (English, Spanish) that is being broadcast through the Safe + Strong campaign. Read the full story in yesterday’s newsletter. To sign up, visit this page.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines
To learn more about the status of the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, visit the OHA website, which contains an analysis of distribution and other useful information.