PORTLAND, Ore. — On Tuesday, The Oregon Health Authority announced an additional 72 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state and eight presumptive cases. OHA also announced today that four more people have died from the virus.
Oregon has confirmed 2,817 positive cases, out of 65,402 people tested so far. The state's death toll has now reached 113.
Here are the details OHA provided on the four people whose deaths were announced Tuesday:
- Oregon’s 110th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 14 and died on May 2 at Providence Portland Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.
- Oregon’s 111th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 7 and died on May 2 at Adventist Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.
- Oregon’s 112th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 24 and died on May 2 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.
- Oregon’s 113th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Washington County, who tested positive on April 13 and died on May 3 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. He had no known underlying medical conditions.
In total, 622 people, or about 22% of the positive cases, have been hospitalized during their illness.
In OHA's report, numbers show that social distancing and stay-home measures have weakened the curve of the virus. COVID-19-like visits are decreasing and remain only a small portion of the emergency room visits in Oregon.
The chart below shows (in blue) the number of "COVID-like" emergency department visits since January, versus (in orange) the number of visits not related to COVID-19.
Health officials also showed in Tuesday's report that the percentage of emergency room visits related to COVID-19 symptoms has been steadily decreasing since mid-March. As of this week, that percentage is hovering around 1%.
Gov. Brown on Monday elaborated on testing and contract tracing plans that aim to further flatten the curve in Oregon. The program will ask 100,000 volunteers to take their temperature every day for a year and report it to researchers.
Here's a look at national COVID-19 projections, provided by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation: