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June 8, 2021
Vaccine Voices: Grateful for life-saving efforts and public health measures
As a long-haul truck driver, Randolph Proksch spends most of the day inside the cab of his truck driving with an hour or two each day at truck stops and shipping and receiving offices.
The vaccine was important to Randolph as the sole wage earner for his family and because “others in my family won’t get vaccinated so I knew I wanted to protect them, as best I could, from any buggies I might unknowingly bring home.”
Randolph in Walmart after getting his shot.
He’s grateful for the “life-saving efforts of so many smart and caring people . . . and the public health measures we were encouraged to adopt to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
He reflects: “Sure we saw America its worst, and are learning the very bad reasons behind the tragic disparities in our health system but we have also seen the very best of humanity, and I sincerely believe that we can create a medical system that always respects excellent, humane, compassionate healthcare as a right for each and every one of us.”
You can read Randolph’s full story on our blog.
Randolph’s truck pulled over on I 80 in Iowa.
Fewer than 100,000 people to go before reopening
According to Governor Kate Brown, 67.1% of Oregonians 18+ are now vaccinated with a first dose—which means we need 97,168 more people to get their shot. Once we cross 70% statewide, we can begin to more fully reopen our economy.
How can counties move to lower risk?
With so many things going on in the world, it might have been a little confusing to keep up with the changes to risk levels in the past few weeks. To make it easier to understand, OHA has created an infographic that you’ll find at the end of this article.
There are two routes that counties can take to move to lower risk.
Route one:
- Vaccinate 65% of county residents who are 16 and older with at least one dose of vaccine.
- Have an equity plan that has been reviewed and accepted by OHA.
- This move to lower risk is permanent.
Route two:
- Meet low infection rates approved by the Governor’s office.
- If COVID-19 rates rise, the county may return to a more restrictive level.
Effective Wednesday, June 9, Lane County will move to lower risk permanently due to exceeding 65% vaccination of residents 16 and older.
As a result of decreasing infection rates, Coos and Wasco counties will move down to Lower Risk, and Josephine and Yamhill counties will move down to Moderate Risk.
Harney County will move up from Lower Risk to Moderate Risk due to rising case counts, effective Friday, June 11.
A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here.
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Guidance for COVID-19 hospital visitations
Hospitals across the state have received questions from the public about the need to continue to manage and limit visitation policies for patients. Unlike other public settings, hospitals are subject to special visitation requirements.
The COVID-19 policies for hospitals and medical centers are based on federal rule and state law. You can find visitation guidance here.
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Oregon reports 307 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 2,700, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 307 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 203,671.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 17,285 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 6,688 doses were administered on June 7 and 10,597 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on June 7. Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize.
The 7-day running average is now 14,560 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered a total of 2,305,442 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,645,747 first and second doses of Moderna and 151,144 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 1,951,646 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 2,292,591 people who have had at least one dose. The number of adult Oregonians needing vaccinations to reach the 70% threshold is 106,455.
To date, 2,856,645 doses of Pfizer, 2,170,640 doses of Moderna and 299,000 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.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 172, which is 34 fewer than yesterday. There are 36 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is 14 fewer than yesterday.
The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 1,446, which is an 18.9% decrease from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 228.
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.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (5), Clackamas (35), Clatsop (6), Columbia (6), Coos (4), Crook (4), Curry (1), Deschutes (8), Douglas (21), Harney (3), Hood River (1), Jackson (18), Jefferson (3), Josephine (7), Klamath (3), Lane (27), Linn (12), Malheur (3), Marion (35), Multnomah (31), Polk (4), Umatilla (14), Union (3), Wasco (1), Washington (45), Yamhill (4).
Oregon’s 2,695th death is a 71-year-old man from Douglas County who tested positive on May 18 and died on June 6 at Mercy Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,696th death is a 57-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on May 19 and died on May 31 at Legacy Silverton Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,697th death is a 93-year-old woman from Klamath County who tested positive on May 28 and died on June 4 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,698th death is a 100-year-old man from Union County who tested positive on May 10 and died on June 4 at Grande Ronde Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,699th death is a 75-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on June 2 and died on June 5 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,670th death is a 70-year-old man from Deschutes County who tested positive on May 18 and died on May 27 at St. Charles Bend Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
