A18
Wallowa County Chieftain
STATE
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
COVID-19 infections rising even as severe cases drop
Variant of
omicron reason
behind most
recent spread
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A new omi-
cron variant of COVID-19
is driving a rise in infections,
but is not expected to be a
signifi cantly severe wave of
the now 110-week pandemic
in Oregon, state health offi -
cials said this week.
The BA.2 “subvariant” of
omicron spreads up to 80%
faster than the fi rst omicron
wave, now called BA.1.
It’s swept across the United
States over the past month,
leading to a swell of infec-
tions and hospitalizations.
It’s now the overwhelm-
ing source of new infections
in Oregon, according to the
latest data from the Oregon
Health Authority released
Friday, April 8.
The sheer speed and
spread of BA.2 will cause
what is by most accounts
the seventh wave of new
infections since COVID-19
appeared in Oregon on Feb.
28, 2020, two months after
it was fi rst found in Wuhan,
China at the end of 2019.
COVID-19 cases rose
for the week ending April
3, breaking a streak of nine
consecutive weeks of falling
cases and hospitalizations.
OHA reported 1,988 new
positive cases, up 42% from
the previous week.
Oregon offi cials under-
lined that nearly all the
severe cases requiring hos-
pitalization and those who
die from COVID-19 are not
vaccinated.
While
breakthrough
cases in vaccinated peo-
ple accounted for more than
four in 10 new cases in the
most recent week, those
people also make up 68% of
the Oregon population.
If infected, a vaccinated
person has a less than 5%
chance of severe illness and
less than half of 1% of death.
The average age of a vacci-
Contributed Photo
The omicron variant BA.2 spreads up to 80% faster than the original omicron wave, health offi cials say.
nated person who dies from
COVID-19 is currently 80.
For the past week, deaths
were up and rising. A fore-
cast from Oregon Health &
Science University’s fore-
cast, released Friday, said
there were 140 COVID-19
deaths in the most recent
week, up from 99 the previ-
ous week.
“While the decline is
still evident, the level of
deaths per day are proving
to be closer to the numbers
seen during the delta wave,”
OHSU reported.
Hospitalizations in Ore-
gon fell to 95 in Oregon
on Friday, near the low-
est level since prior to the
deadly delta variant wave
last summer.
OHSU says it now
expects the daily count to
peak at 220 patients per day
on June 10. That’s fewer
than the 300 forecast two
weeks ago — but with a top
date a month later.
The projection was based
on patterns where BA.2 took
hold earlier. Several states
in the Northeast have seen
increases in cases. Only Ver-
mont is seeing an increase in
hospitalizations.
In comparison, a peak of
1,178 people with COVID-
19 cases were in hospitals in
Oregon on Sept. 1, 2021, the
peak of the delta wave. The
state reported 610 deaths in
September 2021, the highest
monthly total of the 7,296
deaths so far in Oregon.
With omicron, more
COVID-19 hospitalizations
were patients who came to
the hospital for other rea-
sons and were found to have
the virus during tests once
admitted. Having a COVID-
19 infection alongside an
issue requiring a hospital
visit can make the original
ailment more severe.
A sign that more infec-
tions can be expected was
the rise in the percentage of
tests that came back posi-
tive. OHSU said test positiv-
ity had dropped to 2.5% for
the week ending March 19.
The rate is expected to rise
to 3.4% by mid-April.
During the height of
the original omicron spike,
when tests were more often
at medical and public health
facilities, positive test rates
hit above 25% statewide in
January.
However, COVID-19 test
reports have fallen precipi-
tously since the beginning of
the year.
The falling totals are
due at least in part to the
increased availability of free
rapid tests sent by the fed-
eral government to any res-
ident who signed-up online.
The CDC has reported
people are unlikely to report
negative tests and less likely
to report positive tests unless
they develop symptoms.
OHSU said that one area
of uncertainty is the impact
of public behavior that could
accelerate the spread of
BA.2.
Mask mandates for all
indoor public places in Ore-
gon have been lifted. Brown
let the state’s 2-year-old
COVID-19 state of emer-
gency lapse on April 1.
The steep drop in cases
and removal of restrictions,
combined with an overall
fatigue of upholding pan-
demic safeguards has the
public returning to pre-
delta spike habits, OHSU
reported.
The forecast metrics show
voluntary mask use has sig-
nifi cantly decreased, while
restaurant visits are match-
ing the national average.
Indoor shopping is trend-
ing higher than the national
average, while attending
large events is slightly lower
than elsewhere.
Omicron’s speed shows
up in many measurements
compared to versions of
COVID-19 seen before late
November 2021.
The time from expo-
sure to admission to a hos-
pital for a severe cases has
fallen from 12 to eight days
on average.
The typical hospital stay
has fallen from seven to fi ve
days, while intensive care
unit time has dropped from
14 to 12 days.
The recovery period prior
to omicron was 12 days
compared to eight for earlier
versions.
With little advance noti-
fi cation or fanfare, the state
several weeks ago ended its
daily synopsis of COVID-19
cases provided to the public
and media since the begin-
ning of the pandemic.
The synopsis included
hospitalization
levels,
deaths and information such
as the age, gender, location
and home county of those
who die will not be com-
piled daily.
Other summaries are
being
curtailed,
while
OHSU will release a fore-
cast every other week rather
than weekly.
OHA says the data will
still be available on its many
COVID-19
dashboards
on its website, along with
weekday posting on social
media.
OHA said it was mak-
ing the changes to refl ect
the declining number of
severe cases, a decision
made before the BA.2 vari-
ant reversed more than
two months of declining
numbers.
Charles Boyle, a spokes-
man for Gov. Kate Brown
said this week the gover-
nor endorsed the change to
the timing, number and for-
mat of the state reports used
since early in the pandemic.
“As part of that shift of
living with this virus over
the long-term, we expect
to see state agencies and
entities, such as OHA and
OHSU, adjust the frequency
of their COVID-19 data
reporting towards less fre-
quent but still regular pub-
lic reporting when cases are
down,” Boyle said in a state-
ment Thursday. “If Ore-
gon is hit by another surge
of COVID-19, we would
expect them to reassess the
frequency of data reporting
as well.”
OHA cut back on the
frequency of daily reports
during last summer’s lull in
cases, ending weekend and
holiday daily reports. The
reports were not restored
when the delta variant hit
Oregon, despite calls in the
media and public for more
information.