As of Friday, September 17th, multiple counties in Washington, California and across the country, as well as some businesses independently and over 500 colleges and universities, have announced that students and individuals patronizing campuses, area restaurants, gyms and other indoor venues will soon be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 under a new health orders.
The order in King county Washington, which goes into effect in late October, mandates that indoor restaurants and bars with the capacity to seat at least 12 people require all customers 12 years of age and older to provide proof of vaccination prior to entry.
In Oregon, multiple Oregon State Patrol Troopers and State Firesfighters have filed lawsuits against Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority over the most recent COVID-19 vaccination mandate issued requiring all K-12 school staff and volunteers, health care workers and select state workers be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18th.
Many of these individuals are the very same workers who have worked through the entire pandemic as first responders or ‘essential employees’, unvaccinated, and are now being mandated to vaccinate or lose their employment. Many are now choosing to leave their profession, and industries already struggling with staffing shortages such as healthcare, first responders, police officers, firefighters and many more, are now fearing that up to 25% or more of their staff could refuse to comply, resulting in continued serious staffing issues.
Vaccination rates for the state remained slow again in the past week as the state sat at 73.3% vaccinated last week, and to date, now sits at 74.1%, an increase of .8% in the past week. Oregon Health Authority and the Center for Disease Control assured individuals that the fully vaccinated are well protected from COVID, including the delta variant.
Through September 10th, the Oregon Health Authority has identified 13,392 COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases in Oregon after adding 2,632 breakthrough cases, accounting for 18.7% of all cases according to Oregon Health Authority report. The Delta variant also increased by 722 cases since last week, rising to 3,836 total individuals in the entire state, infected with the Delta variant.
As of Friday, September 17th, the state of Oregon had tested 6,676,193 individuals, an increase of 144,619 individuals and now over 2,386,753 more people than the states 4,289,440 population. 6,247,129 have tested negative for the novel COVID-19 virus and 429,064 have tested positive. Oregon has recorded 15,885 new cases in the past week, and 309,841 total cases.
Individuals hospitalized rose by 553 hospitalizations statewide in the past week, and now stands at 16,844. In the past week 155 deaths were recorded statewide, and Oregonians who have unfortunately succumbed to COVID-19 has now reached 3,569 individuals throughout the entire state since the pandemic began.
Curry County’s latest numbers as reported Friday, September 10th, by the Oregon Health Authority, now reports testing 19,972 individuals with 18,326 negative tests, 1,646 total positive COVID-19 tests, and the latest data from the Oregon Health Authority and has recorded 1,663 total cases and now 17 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services reported adding 152 new cases in the past week, 52 fewer than the previous week and now reaching 3,413 total confirmed cases reported by Public Health, after testing 18,422 individuals with 15,009 negative results, with 155 active cases, 12 current hospitalizations and 35 deaths.
Coos County to the north, reported testing 71,818 individuals last week with 67,158 negative results, adding 311 new cases in the past week with now 4,349 total positive cases and 69 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Josephine County has seen significant increases in recent weeks and has reported testing 128,271 individuals with 116,348 negative results, 11,833 total positive test results with now 8,536 total cases of COVID-19 and now 163 deaths.
Jackson County, which includes the Medford area, with a total population of 221,290, reports testing 347,050 individuals, 125,760 more people than the counties total population, with 316,454 negative test results, 30,596 positive results, and 20,573 total cases of COVID-19 with now 255 deaths as of Friday, September 17th.
