Oregon Omicron Hospitalizations Likely Peaking This Weekend: OHSU

PORTLAND, OR —After weeks of climbing numbers of Oregonians waking up in the hospital because of COVID-19-related illness, it may have finally topped out. A new study by OHSU suggests that the peak could come this weekend.

The forecast also says that if that happens, a decline world start and Oregon could reach pre-omicron levels by the end of March.

Researchers add that Oregon has seen a lower rate of severe illness that East coast states.

"The way Oregon handled omicron is almost as good as you're gong to see," Director of the OHSU Office of Advanced Analytics Peter Graven said. "Oregon pushed out booster shots, Oregonians modified their behavior early, before omicron fully arrived here, and we kept our masking rates relatively high compared with other states.

"Because of that, our surge was way lower than other places on a per capita basis."

Graven said that while the number of cases should start declining, it doesn't mean that the numbers will be low at first.

"With any hill there are just a many infections on the way down as on the way up," he said. "But we have a lot of immunity in the population now. It's gong to be harder and harder for the virus to put somebody in the hospital."

Meanwhile, new numbers released by the state show that the number of new cases are continuing their decline.

On Thursday, there were 4,872 new cases reported along with 33 new deaths, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

They added that 1,092 Oregonians woke up in the hospital on Friday, a decline from Thursday. Of those, 172 people were in beds in intensive care units, also a decline from the day before.

Graven said that while those numbers both declined, hospitals throughout the state should expect to continue under strain until the end of February.

As for the 4,872 new cases, OHA says that they were spread across 34 of Oregon's 36 counties. The forecast

Here's the county by county breakdown:

Baker (23), Benton (98), Clackamas (377), Clatsop (25), Columbia (46), Coos (84), Crook (48), Curry (24), Deschutes (258), Douglas (79), Grant (15), Harney (24), Hood River (28), Jackson (240), Jefferson (40), Josephine (129), Klamath (133), Lake (5), Lane (517), Lincoln (120), Linn (262), Malheur (46), Marion (563), Morrow (8), Multnomah (524), Polk (169), Sherman (1), Tillamook (40), Umatilla (107), Union (43), Wallowa (5), Wasco (31), Washington (641) and Yamhill (119).

Graven notes that as the number of hospitalizations drops in the Portland metro area, they are still seeing rising numbers in southwest and eastern Oregon.