PORTLAND, Ore. — There are three new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,373, the Oregon Health Authority reported today March 26, 2021.
Oregon Health Authority reported 505 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 163,295.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (14), Clackamas (74), Clatsop (5), Columbia (9), Coos (15), Crook (2), Deschutes (26), Douglas (11), Grant (4), Harney (2), Hood River (1), Jackson (30), Jefferson (2), Josephine (16), Klamath (6), Lane (25), Lincoln (2), Linn (11), Malheur (3), Marion (27), Multnomah (108), Polk (14), Tillamook (8), Umatilla (7), Union (1), Wallowa (1), Wasco (1), Washington (67) and Yamhill (10).
Note: Due to a delay in laboratory reporting, OHA received a large quantity of approximately 5,800 electronic laboratory reports (ELRs) on March 25 for Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. The reports are from Jan. 20, 2021, through March 23, 2021. As a result, daily ELR totals and case counts are higher for March 25 than anticipated for these three counties.
Information from today’s media briefing
Here are the slides, a link to the recording and a link to talking points from this morning’s media briefing by the Oregon Health Authority.
COVID-19 sequencing at Oregon State Public Health Laboratory
The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory (OSPHL) has continually worked to modernize and improve testing for COVID-19 in Oregon.
As part of this effort, OSPHL is pleased to announce that COVID-19 viral genome sequencing will be performed at OSPHL for specimens of public health significance beginning Monday, March 29, 2021.
Sequencing at OSPHL will enhance public health response by providing timely sequencing results for variants of interest, concern and high consequence. OSPHL and state epidemiologists have collaborated to provide the Criteria for Requesting COVID-19 Sequencing at OSPHL.
This guidance outlines:
- The situations in which COVID-19 sequencing at OSPHL will be approved,
- How to request sequencing at OSPHL, and
- Specimen types that will be accepted.
We are honored to provide this service to further support Oregon’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to request sequencing, please follow the instructions in the Criteria for Requesting COVID-19 Sequencing at OSPHL.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 41,716 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 25,541 doses were administered on March 25 and 16,175 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on March 25.
Oregon has now administered a total of 826,177 first and second doses of Pfizer, 791,858 first and second doses of Moderna and 36,674 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
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).
To date, 1,021,995 doses of Pfizer, 1,003,700 doses of Moderna and 61,200 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 108, which is the same as yesterday. There are 18 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.
Eligibility timeline
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.