Oregon health officials reported 16% fewer identified coronavirus infections last week compared to the previous one, a drop that coincided with an almost identical reduction in testing volume.
The state tallied about 9,850 new cases during the week. Test positivity, an indicator of how prevalent the disease is in the community, remained relatively constant compared to the previous week and has exceeded 15% percent since June 30.
Most of Oregon has “high” levels of COVID-19, federal health officials said last week, the results of an analysis that takes into account cases and hospitalizations. The 24 counties in that category included Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas. People in all of them are encouraged to wear masks in indoor public places, local, state and federal health officials say.
At least one Portland-area school district is now mandating masks inside its buildings. In an email to staff and families, David Douglas School District cited federal health officials’ COVID-19 levels as the reason the district was putting in place a mask requirement.
“When risk levels in Multnomah County are low, masks are optional,” the email said. “When risks are medium, masks are recommended; when risks are high, masks are required.”
Still, Oregon officials and regional COVID-19 forecasters have indicated the current case wave won’t lead to overloaded hospitals — one of the primary reasons to be concerned about high case counts.
Numbers reported Wednesday show coronavirus patients occupy 423 hospital beds — the highest level since early March. While more than nearly 100 occupied beds higher than what was previously thought to be the peak for this this surge, that number still falls far short of peaks reached during the delta wave and the first omicron wave.
The Oregon Health Authority last week stopped reporting hospitalization data each workday, now publishing once a week each Wednesday. Going forward, The Oregonian/OregonLive will publish its weekly COVID-19 summary on Wednesdays, as well.
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Since it began: Oregon has reported 819,681 confirmed or presumed infections and 7,836 deaths.
Hospitalizations: 423 people with confirmed coronavirus infections are hospitalized, up 21 since Wednesday, June 29. That includes 59 people in intensive care, unchanged since June 29.
Vaccinations: As of July 5, the state has reported fully vaccinating 2,927,827 people (68.6% of the population), partially vaccinating 297,566 people (7%) and boosting 1,697,535 (39.8%).
New deaths: In the nine days since June 27, the Oregon Health Authority has reported 45 additional deaths connected to COVID-19.
— Fedor Zarkhin
