The Oregon Health Authority has announced changes to its reporting of COVID-19 data and provided an update on the new bivalent COVID-19 boosters. State health officials also gave an update on monkeypox in Oregon, including new demographic data and recommendations for monkeypox vaccines.

OHA Director Patrick Allen said COVID-19 data reporting is changing next week, with the COVID-19 Data Update moving to a weekly schedule and other data moving to a monthly cycle. "Shifting our reporting to match where we are in the pandemic will also allow us to free up resources that can be used for responding to other public health events that are equally important," Allen said.

Dean Sidelinger, M.D. MSEd, health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA, said the state has recorded fewer COVID-19-related cases and hospitalizations, but still has high levels of circulation based on wastewater and testing results.

Sidelinger encouraged all eligible Oregonians to get a newly approved COVID-19 booster as soon as they can. "As we head into fall, as more of us spend time indoors, the updated booster will be the best way to protect ourselves and those around us from severe illness and hospitalization caused by the predominant BA.5 and BA.4 COVID-19 subvariants," he said.

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Sidelinger also said OHA has counted 179 presumptive and confirmed cases of monkeypox as of today. He said Oregon has distributed, or is in the process of distributing, more than 40,080 doses of the Jynneos vaccine and 263 courses of the investigational antiviral drug known as tecovirimat — or TPOXX — since June 20. He encouraged people to talk to their providers about testing if they have symptoms of monkeypox. Providers should test their patients for the virus, even if it's only suspected, based on a patient's symptoms, he said.

New dashboard focuses on cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status The new dashboard will display information previously available in the Breakthrough Case Report and will highlight trends in cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status over time. Data are available at state and county levels. The updated dashboard aligns with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) COVID-19 hospitalizations by vaccination status dashboard.

According to the OHA new dashboard data demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at protecting people from developing severe illness, being hospitalized and dying. COVID-19 vaccines are widely available and free to everyone in Oregon.

The new dashboard will replace the monthly Breakthrough Case Report, which will no longer be updated. The dashboard will be published for the first time on Sept. 8 and published on the second Wednesday of the month.

The changes do not mean the pandemic is over. OHA will continue to monitor and report cases, deaths, hospitalizations, variants, vaccination and booster rates and other developments. These monitoring efforts include analyzing wastewater samples across the state to track COVID-19 spread.


--Ritch Hanneman

Post Date: 2022-09-07 18:47:03

Last Update: 2022-09-07 19:30:03