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May 4, 2021
Reaching people where they are
Some of our neighbors may find it challenging to get to a COVID-19 vaccine clinic. Folks who live in remote areas. People who can’t get time off work. Individuals who are houseless. To reach people where they are, local public health workers are getting creative.
Neva Anderson is an emergency manager and recently led an effort to get truck drivers vaccinated in Linn County where she works. Commercial truck drivers often work long hours and can travel hundreds of miles a day. To make COVID-19 vaccinations for truck drivers as easy as possible, Anderson’s team visited two truck stops in Linn County, Loves in Albany and Pioneer Villa Truck Plaza in Halsey, where they vaccinated 68 drivers on April 9. Picture of clinic below.
Anderson is also partnering with Gates Community Church of Christ in Gates to make sure folks in that community have convenient access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Anderson said, “Wildfires devasted the area last year and the church opened its doors to help coordinate supplies for people who lost their homes and needed the basics to get by, like food and shelter. Now we are collaborating with them again so we can provide outreach clinics to folks in the canyon.” That includes vaccinating people at local food banks as they pick up their groceries. Volunteers from the Linn County Medical Reserve Corp, Linn County staff and Albany Fire Department emergency personnel are helping with these vaccination efforts. All over the state people are finding creative ways to make the COVID-19 vaccine available. Here are some upcoming clinics: Heart of Hospice is holding a drop-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic at The Dalles Senior Center 1112 W 9th St in The Dalles. The clinic is on Thursday May 6 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be used. The event is open to anyone and no insurance is required. Golden Dawn Clinic offers an ongoing COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Portland at 8035 SE Holgate Blvd. They are open Mon-Sat from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 503–788–9378 to schedule an appointment. |
Vaccine Voices: It makes logical sense to just get vaccinated
Greg Schatten is an IT professional from the Portland area. We spoke with him recently about his reasons for being vaccinated, what he’s looking forward to post-vaccination, and side effects. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did you choose to be vaccinated?
I wanted to feel like I was being responsible and setting myself at the lowest risk level. My base occupation is as a project manager and you learn all about risks, how to remediate them, and how to figure out the best way to manage your risks. When you see the overwhelming data for most of these vaccines including the COVID vaccines it makes logical sense to just get vaccinated. Also, not being vaccinated makes me a higher risk to everyone around me. I don’t feel good being in that position.
What are you looking forward to doing when you’re fully vaccinated?
Going out to eat in a somewhat normal fashion again and traveling. I already have a trip to Europe planned for October that I’m hoping to be able to take.
I’d like to be able to work back in the office again. I find I’m more productive when I’m there. At the office I find out things I need to know to do my job well, by checking in with people spontaneously. You lose that social connection to your peers. Maybe it’s because I live alone there’s no going into a room and shutting a door and saying this is my work space. My house has an open floor plan so basically, I’m going 10 feet from the couch to work. I also have a short attention span so working from home can be distracting.
I walk a lot too. This whole thing about passing people on the sidewalk – the distance, the who’s going to hop off or move into the street first, all those unspoken rules – some people follow them and some people don’t. It would be nice to be done with all that.
Knowing that my risk of a serious COVID issue was heading to almost nil was a huge relief after a year of having to be scared of everyone’s shadow.
Oregon reports 748 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 6 new deaths
There are six new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,508, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 748 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 187,611.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 28,336 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 19,574 doses were administered on May 3 and 8,762 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on May 3. Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize.
The seven-day running average is now 32,503 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered a total of 1,668,141 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,324,331 first and second doses of Moderna and 98,485 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 1,314,226 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,870,643 who have had at least one dose.
To date, 2,024,685 doses of Pfizer, 1,667,200 doses of Moderna and 240,100 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines 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 (3), Benton (20), Clackamas (69), Clatsop (2), Columbia (3), Coos (5), Crook (11), Curry (1), Deschutes (58), Douglas (7), Grant (3), Harney (1), Jackson (36), Jefferson (3), Josephine (16), KIamath (52), Lake (2), Lane (50), Lincoln (2), Linn (30), Malheur (13), Marion (45), Morrow (2), Multnomah (115), Polk (15), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (16), Union (2), Wasco (2), Washington (148) and Yamhill (12).
Oregon’s 2,503rd COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man from Jefferson County who tested positive on April 6 and died on April 17 at St. Charles Bend Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,504th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on April 27 and died on April 27 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,505th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on April 18 and died on April 21 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,506th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on April 19 and died on April 22 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,507th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 19 and died on April 26 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,508th COVID-19 death is a 47-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 17 and died on May 1 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Note: Updated information is known about Oregon’s 2,493rd COVID-19 death, which was a 49-year-old man from Josephine County. He had underlying conditions, but was previously reported to have no underlying conditions.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 345, which is six fewer than yesterday. There are 79 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one fewer than yesterday.
The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 2,371, which is a 14.9% increase from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 351.
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.
