The grim figures from Oregon health officials trickle in each day as the state grapples with a growing coronavirus epidemic: the number of known cases, the death toll, how many people are hospitalized and how many are on ventilators.
As for those who have made a full recovery?
The state can’t offer the metric that might offer a small consolation to many in the face of a deadly pandemic.
Because it has no clue.
The Oregon Health Authority isn’t tracking recovery figures because hospitals and county health departments don’t report them to the agency, said Susan Mills, a spokeswoman with the Oregon COVID-19 Joint Information Center.
“We recommend contacting those entities directly,” Mills said.
The Oregonian/OregonLive did.
Several Portland-area hospital systems said they had no plans to publicly disclose data about their COVID-19 patients, including those operated by Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health & Services and Legacy Health.
OHSU Hospital is the only local system regularly disclosing patient data. It had admitted 19 coronavirus patients and discharged nine of them through Tuesday morning, according to figures published on its website.
Whether those who no longer need to be hospitalized are free of symptoms is unknown.
Local health officials aren’t able to offer many answers either.
Oregon’s three largest counties — Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas — each said they aren’t tallying recoveries at this time, citing a lack of personnel and resources to do so.
“We are currently focusing our attention on interviewing (current) cases and their multiple contacts,” said Wendy Gordon, a spokeswoman for Washington County, with 186 known coronavirus cases – the most of any county in the state.
“Hopefully in the future we will have the capacity to reinterview and complete follow-up medical record reviews on our cases,” Gordon said.
That also goes for Marion and Linn counties, which currently have 141 and 37 coronavirus patients respectively, officials in each county said.
Jason Davis, a Lane County Public Health spokesman, said the county’s relatively low number of confirmed cases has allowed health officials there to track recoveries. They define that as going 72 hours without displaying any coronavirus symptoms.
Out of 18 current Lane County residents who have tested positive for the virus, only one so far has met the recovery criteria.
“We have fortunately been late to the epi curve, so to speak,” Davis said, referencing statistical displays that chart an outbreak’s trajectory. “Our data collection remains manageable for now.”
-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632
Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com
Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh
This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving health issue.
