Today, Governor Brown announced statewide indoor mask requirements. More information will be available at her press conference tomorrow.
We all hoped the days of regular mask-wearing were a thing of the past for vaccinated Oregonians. Unfortunately, the Delta variant has changed everything.
Based on the modeling released this week from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), August and September will challenge all of us, because it’s clear that the pandemic is raging back. As you can see in the chart projections below, the fifth wave is much more severe than could have been anticipated just weeks ago.
Today, Oregon smashed its previous record for hospitalizations due to the virus with 635 people in hospitals across the state. The previous record was 584 last November. We are on pace to exceed the number of available hospital beds in the state by around 500 patients by early September, per OHSU projections.
This means our hospital capacity is as low as it’s ever been. While this is a risk for COVID patients, it’s also an enormous risk for other Oregonians who are sick or need surgery but won’t have access to a hospital bed.
While this news is certainly distressing, let’s remember that we’ve successfully flattened the curve four times. Now, we do it again.
If you are unvaccinated, please get vaccinated as quickly as possible. Vaccines are safe, effective and widely available. While it’s discouraging to see some breakthrough cases, vaccinated people are still much less likely to get severely ill or die. The CDC noted this week that 99.999% of fully vaccinated Americans have not had a deadly COVID-19 breakthrough case.
Vaccines are also the best way to prevent the growth of a new variant that may be stronger than Delta. Let’s all commit to stopping the next variant!
Original source can be found here.
