Oregon reports 251 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 9 new deaths; Tillamook County adds 4 more cases

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are nine new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,293, the Oregon Health Authority reported today March 5, 2021.

Oregon Health Authority reported 251 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 156,884.

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported are in the following counties: Baker (7), Benton (5), Clackamas (17), Clatsop (1), Coos (31), Crook (1), Curry (5), Deschutes (15), Douglas (24), Grant (3), Jackson (29),Jefferson (1), Josephine (7), Klamath (4), Lake (1), Lane (14), Linn (4), Malheur (4), Marion (22), Multnomah (13), Polk (10), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (10), Union (2), Wallowa (1), Washington (15) and Yamhill (1).

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, OHA reported that 38,632 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 22,438 doses were administered on March 4 and 16,194 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on March 4.

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 1,082,241 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,348,255 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.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 132, which is eight fewer than yesterday. There are 30 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is one more 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.

OHA updates methods for counting age and race data in vaccination records

OHA has adjusted how it reports race and ethnicity data on its COVID-19 dashboards, starting in late February, for persons entered in the state’s immunization registry known as ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS), or ALERT IIS.

The system previously counted race and ethnicity data for persons who have received a COVID-19 vaccine as non-exclusive categories, where an individual contributed to the counts of all races that were indicated in their ALERT IIS record. Starting Feb. 25, race and ethnicity data began to be counted in only one racial or ethnic group. This change followed recommendations provided by the Oregon Office of Equity and Inclusion. The race and ethnic categories include: American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, White, other race and unknown. The category of Hispanic is treated as a racial group.

Individuals may still have multiple indications for race on their ALERT IIS record.

Age category listings for persons also changed on Feb. 25 to reflect the state state’s phased approach in opening up vaccine eligibility to older Oregonians. The dashboards now show older Oregonians in five-year grouping, for ages between 60 and 80 years old.

Starting today, data on Oregonians who have been vaccinated will include race and ethnicity information at the county level on the COVID-19 dashboards.