DECEMBER 24, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A15
Oregon health officials urge boosters, say Omicron
surge will see thousands hospitalized by February
BY SAPHARA HARRELL AND
RACHEL ALEXANDER
Of the Salem Reporter
State health officials warned Friday,
Dec. 17 that the Omicron variant of the
coronavirus is expected to put thousands
of Oregonians in the hospital by February
- more than double the peak during previ-
ous surges.
They urged Oregonians to get booster
COVID shots and outlined an ambitious
plan to deliver 1 million booster doses
across the state by the end of January.
Dr. Peter Graven, lead data scientist at
OHSU’s Business Intelligence Unit, said
the Omicron variant is more contagious
and resistant to vaccines and is putting
more people in the hospital. Cases across
the state will begin to increase signifi-
cantly by mid-January, he said.
“By the time we reach a peak, we do
unfortunately expect the number of hospi-
talized Oregonians could eclipse the num-
ber from the Delta surge in September,” he
said during a press conference Friday.
According to Graven’s modeling, more
than 3,000 people could end up hospital-
ized statewide by early February, compared
with 1,200 at the peak of the late summer
Delta surge.
That scenario would place significant
strains on Salem Hospital, the flagship
hospital for the six-county Willamette
Valley region.
At the peak of the Delta surge, Salem
Hospital recorded one in four beds occu-
pied by a COVID patient, peaking with 112
patients with COVID on Sept. 6. Twenty-
two of them were in the hospital’s 30-bed
ICU.
Since the Delta surge has waned, the
hospital has remained far busier than
was typical before the pandemic, at times
going over its licensed bed capacity.
Hospital leaders say that’s due to a mix of
factors including chronic illnesses wors-
ening for people who have delayed care
during Covid peaks, and delay in discharg-
ing patients to short-staffed long-term care
facilities.
On Dec. 9, Salem Hospital had 504
inpatients, despite being licensed for just
494 beds.
Federal pandemic waivers allow the
hospital to care for more patients than its
licensed capacity.
Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Wood said
Friday that Salem Health is continuing to
evaluate its surge plans and was “confident
that the scalable plans we’ve developed
will enable us to expand care to meet the
anticipated surge.”
“We are encouraged by the early model-
ing that omicron variant COVID inpatients
are less likely to require ICU-level care;
however, this variant will impact hospital
capacity. Through Salem Health’s surge
planning and execution, we have become
adept at the flexibility and rapid response
required to accommodate the daily patient
census and care for the needs of the com-
munity,” Wood wrote in an email.
The hospital for three months relied on
help from the Oregon National Guard to
care for a record number of patients. Guard
members ended that work Dec. 10.
Pat Allen, Oregon Health Authority
director, said the agency is extending its
staffing contract to bring more nurses and
health care workers from out of state into
hospitals and vaccination clinics to help
handle the surge.
He said an emergency management
command center will coordinate the use of
available beds and ventilators.
Graven said even if 14,000 people a day
get their booster shot, the peak could still
be higher than in September.
He said Omicron has a dramatically
lower death rate than previous variants,
but if people contract the virus and get ill
they’re still going to fill hospital beds past
capacity.
Gov. Kate Brown didn’t announce any
new restrictions during the press confer-
ence Friday, instead saying her focus was
on vaccinating vulnerable Oregonians.
“I am absolutely committed to keeping
our schools open to the extent that we can
do that safely,” Brown said.
Allen said people may hear Omicron is
more resistant to vaccines and say there’s
no point in getting vaccinated.
But he said people who are vaccinated
are less likely to become severely ill.
“Preliminary research tells us that a
booster dose further builds antibodies to
fight against the virus,” he said.
Allen said Oregonians have had issues
accessing booster doses because of staff-
ing shortages, not dose shortages.
He said OHA will add three new
high-capacity vaccine sites and resume
mobile vaccine clinics with support from
the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
As of Dec. 16, more than half of
Oregonians 65 and older have gotten a
third vaccine dose, Allen said.
In Marion County, 74.9% of people 18
and older are vaccinated with at least one
dose and 24% have gotten a third dose. In
Polk County it’s 77.9% vaccinated and 28%
have gotten a third dose.
Jacqui Umstead, Polk County’s public
health administrator, said her department
has already been planning for additional
Covid vaccination and testing events.
Those include a weekly walk-in vacci-
nation clinic at Mi Casita 'Los Primos'
market in Independence which has oper-
ated on Saturdays since the beginning of
November. The clinic will run from 12-5
p.m. Saturday and then reopen after the
holidays on Jan. 8.
Marion County spokesman Jon Heynen
did not immediately respond to questions
from Salem Reporter about how the health
department plans to prepare for the surge.
Allen said the state’s priority will be
getting older adults in nursing homes and
long-term care facilities, as well as commu-
nities of color vaccinated.
He said OHA will send mobile vacci-
nation teams to skilled nursing facilities.
There are 35 vaccination events for com-
munities of color and an additional 93
scheduled in the coming weeks, Allen said.
Gubser Miracle of Lights wraps up this weekend
The route is approximately 3.5 miles
and runs through the Gubser neighbor-
hood beginning at 14th Avenue NE and
Lockhaven Drive.