The Oregon Health Authority on Friday announced 251 new cases of COVID-19, along with nine new deaths.
The new issues came when government Kate Brown announced that she would have to return to personal learning from all schools within the next month and a half.
Brown told a news conference that she would order the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Education to review guidelines by March 19 on how to run schools during the pandemic. schools must do the same by 19 April.
Districts that do not meet Brown’s deadlines could lose state funding. But Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Brown, told The Oregonian / OregonLive that the governor did not believe this would happen based on talks she had with local leaders.
Virtual learning will continue to be an option for students, but districts should by default not offer personalized instruction or a hybrid model based on community infection rates, Brown said.
Where the new cases are by country: 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).
Who died: The death of 2,285 COVID-19 is a 77-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died in her home on Jan. 20.
The 2,286th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Deschutes County who died on January 24 in her residence.
The 2,287th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on January 28 and died on March 3 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
The 2288th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 27 and died Feb. 26 in his residence.
The 2,289th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old Josephine County woman who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died Feb. 19 at Stanford Health Care.
The 2,290th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Feb. 19 and died in his home on Feb. 27.
The 2,291st COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died in her home on Dec. 29.
The 2,292nd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Polk County who died on January 27 in her residence.
The 2,293rd COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died in her home on Jan. 10.
Except as noted above, each person who died underwent underlying health conditions or government officials to determine if the person had underlying medical conditions.
Incidence of infections: The state reported 827 new cases out of 52,906 tests performed on Friday. This is a positive percentage of 1.5%.
Who became infected: New or suspected infections grew among the following age groups: 0-9 (14); 10-19 (30); 20-29 (44); 30-39 (34); 40-49 (13); 50-59 (37); 60-69 (31); 70-79 (15); 80 and older (2).
Who is in the hospital: As of Friday, 132 patients across the state were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, eight fewer than the previous day. There were 30 patients with the virus in intensive care, one more than Thursday.
Vaccines administered: The state reported that 38,632 new vaccine doses were added to the vaccination registry on Friday. Of the total, 22,438 doses were administered on Thursday and 16,194 on previous days, but were recorded in the register on Thursday. Oregon has now administered 1,082,241 doses of vaccinations – about 80% of its total supply.
Since it started: Oregon has had 156,884 confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 and 2,293 deaths since the onset of the pandemic, one of the lowest percentages in the country. The state reported that it conducted 3,850,973 tests.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; [email protected]; @JRamakrishnanOR
Eder Campuzano of The Oregonian / OregonLive contributed to this report.