Currently, Oregon is one of few states imposing an indoor mask mandate, and the Oregon Health Authority convened a new Rules Advisory Committee earlier in the past week putting the first steps in place to make Oregon’s mask mandate permanent.
Earlier in the year, back as far as February, 2021, Oregon OSHA proposed a permanent mask wearing rule that would supersede the temporary emergency rule which at that time expired on May 4th. Currently, Oregon remains under Governor Brown’s latest mask mandate reinstated in August, after the Delta Variant was observed in the State in July.
This new Rules Advisory Committee, also attended by local community leaders, has been put in place to suggest what should be included in upcoming rulings and their impact on communities.
In what new Rules Advisory Committee leaders deemed the first step in making the rule permanent, it was also noted that under current Oregon mandates by executive order under a state of emergency, authorities are only allowed to have a temporary rule for 180 days. Authorities also emphasized that “Permanent means indefinite…” and can be repealed, and that making the mandate permanent allows the State to keep the mask mandate in place.
Vaccination rates across the state now sit at 73.0% of Oregonians fully vaccinated, growing only .8% in the past week. The Oregon Health Authority and the Center for Disease Control assured individuals that the fully vaccinated are well protected from COVID, including the delta variant.
Oregon Health Authority data show breakthrough case records began being kept some nineteen weeks ago. In that same nineteen week period, approximately 179,367 Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19. However, in that same nineteen week period, there have been 43,398 vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon alone, adding 2,147 new breakthrough cases in the past week, and continues to total 24% off all new cases in the state as well as 11% of all new deaths recorded in the past nineteen weeks.
Oregon has recorded 3.7 times more Breakthrough Cases than Delta Variant cases in the past nineteen weeks with now 45,545 Breakthrough Cases, and 12,318 Delta Variant cases recorded by the Oregon Health Authority in the past 19 weeks. In the past week alone, Oregon added 2,147 Breakthrough Cases while recording only 392 new Delta Variant and 0 cases of the new Omicron Variant cases by comparison.
As of Friday, December 3rd, the state of Oregon had tested 8,142,091 individuals, an increase of 142,345 individuals and now over 3,852,651 more people than the states 4,289,440 population. 7,605,102 have tested negative for the novel COVID-19 virus 536,989 have tested positive, and there are 394,569 total cases in the state.
Individuals hospitalized rose by 388 hospitalizations statewide in the past week, and now stands at 21,104 in the entire state since the pandemic began. In the past week 127 deaths were recorded statewide, and Oregonians who have unfortunately succumbed to COVID-19 has now reached 5,243 individuals throughout the entire state since the pandemic began.
Curry County’s latest numbers as reported Friday, December 3rd, by the Oregon Health Authority, now reports testing 25,647 individuals with 23,663 negative tests, 1,984 total positive COVID-19 tests, and the latest data from the Oregon Health Authority has recorded 1,947 total cases and 39 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services reported adding 64 new cases in the past week, now reaching 3,885 total confirmed cases reported by Public Health, with 68 active cases, 0 current hospitalizations and 40 deaths.
Coos County to the north, reported testing 94,818 individuals last week with 88,442 negative results with now 6,376 total positive cases and 109 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Josephine County has seen significant increases in recent weeks and has reported testing 154,600 individuals with 140,686 negative results, 13,914 total positive test results with 10,278 total cases of COVID-19 and now 247 deaths.
Jackson County, which includes the Medford area, with a total population of 223,240, reports testing 422,227 individuals, 198,987 more people than the counties total population, with 385,805 negative test results, 36,422 positive results, and 25,105 total cases of COVID-19 with now 363 deaths as of Friday, December 3rd.
