Omicron In Oregon: 'We May Be Seeing A Light,' Official Says

PORTLAND, OR —First there was the COVID-19 outbreak, which became a pandemic. Then there was the surge of cases driven by the delta variant. That was followed by the omicron variant surge, which led to the record number of new daily cases being broken day by day.

Now, the state has some good news.

"I do think that the plateauing, the potential beginning of a decrease is real," Oregon's chief health officer, Dr. Dean Sidelinger, said Friday.

"We may be seeing a light, a slight slowing of omicron's momentum. Statewide daily cases appear to have crested the pandemic highs, offering a glimpse of hope in an otherwise bleak pandemic landscape."

Sidelinger said that while things are starting to indicate hope on the horizon, Oregon is not there yet.

"We saw a massive number of cases occur as we came up the peak, and we're going to see that same massive number of cases as we go down the peak," he said.

The optimistic view was also tempered by the fact that as long as the numbers remain high, Sidelinger said that "our hospital system is nearing a breaking point."

Hospitals have not only been dealing with increasing cases, something that led to points where there were zero available adult hospital beds available in several counties.

Staffing has also been affected. That prompted Governor Brown to deploy nearly 2,000 Oregon National Guard members to 40 hospitals around the state earlier this month.

Sidelinger also reminded people about the importance of mask mandates and other safety measures, saying that "these measures will not be in place forever but they are needed now."