New eligibility groups and FEMA support for vaccination announced
Governor Kate Brown was joined by OHA Director Patrick Allen and Public Health Director Rachel Banks in today’s press conference on COVID-19 vaccination. The Governor announced plans to vaccinate new eligibility groups including frontline workers and people with underlying health conditions, in the coming weeks.
“By summer, provided supplies from the federal government continue as planned, any Oregonian who wants the vaccine will be eligible to receive it,” said Governor Brown. “And while that gives us all a reason to breathe a sigh of relief, it should also serve as a reminder that the finish line is in sight, and we cannot let up.”
Governor Brown also announced that FEMA will be supporting vaccination clinics and helping to develop long-term, sustainable solutions to support and relieve hospital staff and frontline health care workers.
Director Allen spoke of what the next few weeks may hold for those eligible for the vaccine. The state still has fewer doses than needed for those who are eligible. The shortage will continue to for the next week or two.
This means that appointments will be hard to get, many seniors still won’t get a vaccine right away, and many people will be frustrated and unhappy.
Things will begin to look better in mid-March. We should receive 1.4 million cumulative first doses the week of March 21st, more than the 1.3 million people currently eligible. These projections depend on vaccines arriving in Oregon from manufacturers and the federal government.
More information on eligibility is available on the OHA webpage. You can watch a video of the press conference here.
Adults 65 and older eligible for vaccine Monday; more groups in the coming weeks
We are entering a stage of the pandemic that is both exciting and difficult at the same time. We are seeing an overall decrease in cases, deaths and hospitalizations. This decrease and the first waves of vaccination add hope that our lives will someday look different.
Starting March 1, we begin vaccinating people who are 65 and older. As the federal government is increasing the production of the available vaccines, Oregon will be able to add the last group of people in Phase 1B no later than March 29. See the capture below for more details or view all eligible populations here.
Right now, vaccines are being offered across the state in many different locations, such as county public health clinics, hospitals and large event venues. While the vaccine supply is growing rapidly, supplies and the infrastructure to vaccinate are unable to fully keep up with the demand for vaccines. As supply increases, you may be able to take the vaccine at other locations like your local pharmacy.
It will take time for everyone who wants to be vaccinated to move through the process. We are doing our best to make this new phase of the rollout smooth. We realize waiting can be frustrating and are grateful for your patience.
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Oregon reports 336 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 2 new deaths
There are two new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,206, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 336 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 154,878.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 30,594 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 22,353 doses were administered on Feb. 25 and 8,241 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Feb. 25.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 911,648 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,177,945 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA’s dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (2), Benton (7), Clackamas (20), Columbia (5), Coos (15), Curry (8), Deschutes (17), Douglas (19), Harney (1), Hood River (1), Jackson (16), Jefferson (1), Josephine (14), Klamath (9), Lane (28), Linn (12), Malheur (2), Marion (38), Morrow (2), Multnomah (47), Polk (10), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (8), Union (6), Washington (38) and Yamhill (8).
Note: Due to a server error, a large volume of electronic laboratory reports (ELRs) were not processed until after business hours yesterday. Today’s test counts include all ELRs received yesterday. Case counts are lower than anticipated because local health departments were not able to create cases from positive ELRs that were received after hours.
Oregon’s 2,205th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Feb. 10 and died on Feb. 24 at Mercy Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,206th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 28 and died on Feb. 23 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 152, which is four fewer than yesterday. There are 34 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four fewer than yesterday. The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity. More information about hospital capacity can be found here.