The director of the Oregon Health Authority, Patrick Allen, told OPB that a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections could cause “more than 1,000 cases a day” within the next month if people did not change their behavior.
The spread of infectious variants and the easing of restrictions on businesses and social gatherings have already led to an increase in COVID-19 cases locally and nationwide. The increasing number of cases has led to an increase in limited restrictions on indoor dining facilities and restrictions on other businesses and personal gatherings in several Oregon counties.
The state on Tuesday moved six provinces into the ‘high-risk’ category, which imposed stricter capacity restrictions on restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and restricted private social gatherings to 8 people.
The counties involved include Multnomah and Clackamas in the Portland metro area, as well as the rural counties of Deschutes (home of Bend), Klamath, Linn and Tillamook, which have expanded Oregon’s list of ‘high-risk’ counties to 14.
Government Kate Brown has also announced a major change in the criteria used by the state to determine when to assess ‘extreme risk’ provinces, which would result in a direct ban on indoor dining, among other restrictions.
The risk level will only be activated in limited circumstances indicating that the condition may be at risk of hospital capacity shortage: COVID-19-positive patients occupying 300 hospital beds or more, and a 15% increase in the seven-day average during the past week.
Three provinces, Josephine, Klamath and Tillamook, meet the state threshold and the positivity rate to be designated as ‘extreme risk’, but are considered high risk according to the new guidelines.
The governor described the current situation as a race between the vaccination effort and the distribution of more transmissible variants of COVID-19 detected by the state.
Two countries with a large number of cases to be considered an extreme risk – Josephine and Tillamook – are among the lowest vaccination rates in the state.
Overall, Oregon vaccination rates are not yet high enough to stop the spread of COVID-19: only about one-third of Oregonians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 19% have been completely vaccinated. Across the country, 76% of the elderly 65 years and older received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 57% were fully vaccinated, but prices vary widely across the country.
Allen warned that seniors in rural parts of Oregon, where vaccination rates are lagging behind, are particularly vulnerable as the case counts, the positivity rates and hospitalizations continue to rise.
Grant County has the lowest percentage of vaccinated seniors, with just 23.6% fully vaccinated, while the highest Baker County with 87.7% is fully vaccinated seniors, according to the CDC.
Allen fears that the rates for the elderly in some rural areas will be 50% or less.
‘I think there are a lot of factors, and it’s a little hard to get under. I do not think it is due to the lack of access to vaccine. “I think in some cases it’s a lack of concern about the disease, a perception that a lot of us have that we’re healthy and strong, ” Allen said.
Oregon was one of the last states in the country to be eligible for vaccines for people 65 and older, and in many counties, a fragmented, largely online appointment registration system was difficult for older adults to navigate.
Allen says while the demand for vaccines is still greater than the supply in the Portland metro area, it is no longer true in parts of rural Oregon, where it takes longer before the vaccinations are discussed.
Overall, the rate of vaccinations has increased significantly, which is a factor in the governor’s decision to qualify for vaccine on April 19 for all Oregonians 16 and older, in line with a new deadline set by President Joe Bids have been fixed.
‘Our daily average seven days a week includes almost 35,000 people. “Even though you still get a traffic jam when you qualify for a new group, we work through the traffic jams faster,” Allen said.