PORTLAND — As Oregon health officials prepare for a predicted surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations fueled by the omicron variant, the state reported its highest daily case count — 1,900 — since September.
Tuesday’s case count is more than double the average number of daily COVID-19 cases in December. Oregon Health and Science University data scientist Peter Graven said he expects to see cases go up dramatically in the next two weeks.
In an interview with KOIN 6, Graven said this is the beginning of the omicron variant wave with cases most likely starting in Portland then moving out to other areas of the state.
“It’s infecting vaccinated people, so I think that’s the big story, that it’s probably different for most of us who have been through the delta surge,” Graven said. “If you’re vaccinated, you had quite a bit of protection from infections. As vaccinated, you still have protection from hospitalization, but the infections are quite easy to get.”
New COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have soared to highest levels on record — more than 265,000 per day on average — due to the highly contagious omicron variant. The previous mark was 250,000 cases per day, set in mid-January, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of Americans now in the hospital with COVID-19 is running at around 60,000, or about half the figure seen in January — based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — suggesting that the figures may reflect not only the protection conferred by the vaccine, but also the possibility that omicron is not making people as severely ill as previous versions.
Public health experts will be closely watching the numbers in the coming week for indications of the vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing serious illness, keeping people out of the hospital and relieving strain on exhausted health care workers.
In Oregon, where omicron was detected in mid-December, local scientists predict that in January the state will see a new wave of hospitalizations that could surpass the peak since the start of the pandemic.
Patrick Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, called the prediction a “warning we can’t ignore.”
Officials say the threat that the highly transmissible omicron variant poses is “deeply troubling and demoralizing,” especially as hospitals continue to struggle with staffing shortages and limited available beds due to the surge caused by the delta variant.
As of Tuesday, 398 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Oregon. There currently are only 58 available adult intensive care unit beds and only 92 percent of the state’s adult non-ICU beds are full.
