The good news: COVID-19 news in Oregon has been mostly upbeat in recent weeks. Oregon case numbers are improving, hospitalization rates are dropping, and the winter triple threat of COVID-19, flu and RSV have been retreating.

“A welcome sign,” wrote Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, whose weekly newsletter has delved deeply into the pandemic in Oregon over the past two years.

Not so good news: Astoria, Medford, Sunriver, Forest Grove, Grants Pass and Hillsboro, Port Orford were showing “sustained increases” in the presence of omicron in local wastewater according to Oregon Health Authority tests.

With the rise of home COVID-19 test kits, the percentage of positive cases that get reported to health officials isn’t as strong an indicator of current trends, OHA has said.

Epidemiologists have leaned on sewers and septic tanks to tell a more accurate story. Data compiled by testing sewage water indicates how prevalent the virus has become in nearby homes, schools and businesses.

Getting better is good enough

Statewide, the trends were enough for OHA to announce hospitals and other health facilities could choose to no longer require masks on their premises.

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the Oregon Health Officer, said data showed COVID-19 test positivity rates at 10% and falling. Influenza test positivity is 1.2%, while Respiratory Syncytial Virus — known by its acronym RSV — had test positivity at or under 3.5%.

But there is daily evidence that COVID-19 is still very much among the population in the form of more contagious but less virulent infections from omicron subvariants. 

A pandemic is worldwide and a new variant Singapore or Seaside could be the twist on the original virus that sweeps across the populous. Jet travel and rapid ocean cargo commerce can move a variant from continent to continent in days, sometimes hours.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported this week that there have been 676 million cases worldwide, and more than 6.87 million deaths. The United States has had 103.6 million cases and 1.12 million deaths. 

Rising wastewater numbers could be a harbinger of a wider spread, or an anomaly, Sidelinger said.

“So it’s possible that we may well see the numbers rise again in the coming weeks,” Sidelinger said. “However, the combination of vaccines and prior infections seems to be keeping Oregonians from being sick enough to need serious treatment.”

Mix of familiar and new names at OHA

Sidelinger remains the main holdover on the state’s team monitoring COVID-19. While Dr. Peter Graven and his virus forecasting team at Oregon Health & Science University also remain, both the OHA and OHSU reports on the status of the virus have become less frequent.

New Gov. Tina Kotek asked for and received the resignation of Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen, who has taken a public health position with the state of New Mexico. 

Kotek on Tuesday had to announce the second interim OHA director since she was sworn in as governor on Jan. 9.

David Baden, OHA’s chief financial officer, will take over for the previous interim director, James Schroeder, who resigned after only about two months on the job. 

Schroeder is the former CEO of Health Share Oregon, the state’s biggest Medicaid insurer. Kotek’s office said the governor had not sought Schroeder’s resignation.

Baden was responsible for helping bring over 2,000 staff to Oregon, Kotek said. He also oversaw a successful vaccine distribution program, even if the level of anti-vaccination sentiment in many areas saw inoculations slow, then stall.

The announcement on Baden noted that Oregon had the second-lowest COVID-19 case rate and eighth-lowest death rate in the nation.

Oregon has reported 961,523 positive cases since February 2020, resulting in 9,361 cases. There are currently 232 patients with COVID-19 in state hospitals.

Oregon ranks 18th in the nation in terms of hospitalizations with COVID-19, with a daily average of 338 cases over the past two weeks. But the numbers are dropping. The state is in the middle of the pack on vaccination, with a report of 71% considered fully vaccinated. 

Masks are still a good way to avoid becoming infected — Oregon reported 2,025 new cases over the past week.

OHA underlined it was issued the mask order a month ahead of time to give managers, workers and facilities involved in health care time to prepare for the change — and opt out of the rules if they wish. Individual medical care facilities could continue to require masks past April 3. Individual health care workers can make the decision to continue to wear masks. It is not a “no masks” mandate.

The new policy covers hospitals, mobile clinics, ambulances, outpatient facilities, dental offices, urgent care centers, counseling offices, school-based health centers, and complementary and alternative medicine locations.

The trend is likely for fewer restrictions around COVID-19 if overall numbers stay low. There are no plans for going back to mandatory statewide restrictions on the statewide level, OHA has said.

Finding detailed information on COVID-19 will be a bit harder for researchers and journalists starting next week.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center announced early last month that it will cease the collection and reporting of COVID-19 data on March 10. 

“It’s bittersweet,”  Lauren Gardner, an engineering professor involved in launching the project in March 2020 told NPR. “But it’s an appropriate time to move on.”

The center said federal and state agencies, along with the World Health Organization, were compiling enough data to keep public health and scientific researchers up to speed as COVID-19 changes its contagiousness and virulence in coming months. 

Background:

The CDC is currently monitoring 17 subvariants of omicron.

The XBB.1.5 variant is dominant across the United States.

It has also grown as a percentage of total infections in CDC Region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

On Jan. 1, it accounted for less than 10% of all infections. It surpassed 30% in early February and now accounts for an estimated 77% of cases. It’s prevalence has pushed out other omicron subvariants, including a sharp drop in the percentage of cases of BQ.1.1 — the previously most dominant infection in the state.

As of March 4, the omicron variant XBB.1.5 makes up over 85% of infections in the United States, while BQ.1.1 comes in second at less than In CDC’s northwestern district, XBB.1.5 makes up 77% of infections, while XBB.1.5

As of March 1, 2023, the current 7-day average of weekly new cases (32,374) decreased 5.1% compared with the previous 7-day average (34,102).

A total of 103,499,382 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States as of March 1, 2023.