The Oregon Health Authority on Tuesday announced 517 new cases of COVID-19, along with 38 new deaths, bringing the coronavirus death toll in the state to 2,094.
The new cases come when four people in Oregon tested positive for COVID-19 even though they had been fully vaccinated and enough time had passed for their second dose to become fully effective, public health officials announced Friday.
Oregon is one of the first states in the nation to identify such so-called “breakthrough cases” in which people who were considered immune have now fallen ill with the disease. Given that both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are believed to be nearly 94% or 95% effective, the breakthrough cases were not “unexpected,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger.
State health officials are currently testing samples taken from the four fully vaccinated people who tested positive. They had no symptoms or mild symptoms.
The snow covering the Portland area forced the state to close massive COVID-19 vaccination sites at the Oregon Convention Center on Fridays and Saturdays and Portland International Airport or Saturdays and Sundays. More than 12,000 Oregonians are said to be vaccinated at these two locations and staff will be in touch to schedule them at a later date.
Where the new cases are by province: Benton (31), Clackamas (43), Clatsop (1), Columbia (3), Coos (8), Crook (5), Curry (5), Deschutes (32), Douglas (18), Harney (3) , Hood River (2), Jackson (35), Jefferson (11), Josephine (16), Klamath (10), Lake (7), Lane (48), Lincoln (4), Linn (13), Marion (59 ), Morrow (4), Multnomah (57), Polk (13), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (19), Union (3), Wallowa (2), Wasco (1), Washington (50) and Yamhill (13 ).
Who died: Deaths are under review and will be released at a later date, the health authority said.
Prevalence of infections: On Friday, the state reported 622 new positive tests out of 19,326 tests performed, which equates to a positivity rate of 3.2%.
Who became infected: New confirmed or suspected infections grew among the following age groups: 0-9 (17); 10-19 (126); 20-29 (90); 30-39 (79); 40-49 (69); 50-59 (62); 60-69 (48); 70-79 (35); 80 and older (9).
Who is in the hospital: The state reported that 202 Oregonians with confirmed coronavirus infections were hospitalized Friday, seven fewer than Thursday. Of these, 48 coronavirus patients were in intensive care, two less than Thursday.
Vaccines administered: Oregon has received 649,602 first and second doses administered out of the 884,275, which is about 73.5% of the supply. Oregon reported 25,772 newly administered doses, including 16,877 on Thursday and the rest of previous days.
Since it started: Oregon has reported 149,576 confirmed or suspected infections and 2,094 deaths, one of the lowest per capita numbers in the country. To date, the state has reported more than 3,383,703 lab reports of tests.
– Jaimie Ding
[email protected]; 503-221-4395; @j_dingdingding