This past week, Oregon saw its highest-ever daily number of positive cases of COVID-19, at 374 cases in a single day, on July 2—even exceeding the early days of the pandemic.
In Deschutes County, the number of new cases has trickled in—around one or two a day over the past several weeks. But in keeping with the statewide trend, case numbers are going up. The county reported 11 new cases as of today, and nine Friday.
As of Saturday, nine people are in St. Charles’ Bend hospital for COVID-19, with three of them in the Intensive Care Unit, and on ventilators. That translates to a hospitalization rate of 12% among all known COVID-19 cases in the county.
And at St. Charles Medical Center, the number of hospitalizations has gone up, too. St. Charles Health System reported Friday evening that hospitalizations at the Bend hospital had doubled over the past 24 hours—and they’re bracing for an even bigger surge.
As of Saturday, nine people are in St. Charles’ Bend hospital for COVID-19, with three of them in the Intensive Care Unit, and on ventilators. That translates to a hospitalization rate of 12% among all known COVID-19 cases in the county, Lisa Goodman, public information officer for St. Charles told the Source.
As people gather during the Independence Day weekend, St. Charles is urging people to celebrate the holiday at home.
“We know people are looking forward to celebrating the holiday weekend with family and friends. However, we are not in a position to celebrate in the ways we’re used to,” St. Charles’ Friday release stated. “After Memorial Day weekend gatherings, COVID-19 cases accelerated. This virus does not take holidays off, and our actions now will determine where we stand later in July.
“Think hard about your Fourth of July plans,” the release stated. “Please strongly consider celebrating at home this year, and limiting your interactions to a very small group of people…. If you go out in public, it is absolutely vital that you wear a mask at all times.”
Check out our Coronavirus HQ page for all the latest stories and numbers.
This article appears in Jul 1-15, 2020.
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The city of Bend is not doing their jobs to keep us safe. We need to dial it back. We need the parks closed back down during busy holiday’s such as memorial and fourth of July. Hosting fireworks although beautiful last night, brought too many tourists from everywhere to visit and this is going to cause our numbers to rise.
Totally agree with post by Nicole. Have we noticed that there appear to be more license plates from Washington & California than Oregon in town? The area is so crowded and somehow things need to be controlled. The river is crowded, the trails are crowded, the town is crowded. I’m sure business is good for retails, restaurants and hotels, but what about health and safety? The virus is no joke.
It maybe just a “uptick” at St Charles, but it’s a lot more than an uptick in case numbers for Deschutes Co.
In fact, over the over the last 7 days there were 49 cases up from 20 cases in the previous 7 days. That’s almost 2-1/2 times the number of cases.
Testing was UP only 2%.
All the data is directly from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and is current as of the data released on 07-04-2020.
Would it not do us good to approach CV19 like New Zealand? They shut down completely! No essential Costco runs, eta… Law enforcement and medical worked. They shut down hard and 2 weeks later… better than us. If we don’t act now, fall/winter will be a catastrophe! We could be like NZ but Instead we get to deal with round two. NICE!!
I would really like to know ages and underlying conditions. Were they all admitted for Covid or other issues but also tested positive for Covid? Just stating hospitalizations are going up with no other information really isn’t good reporting
Sigh.
I agree, Janis King Melsha, there are nearly always critical details left out, particularly regarding hospitalizations and deaths, that might lead us to believe the reports are being overplayed. (Do I get a “sigh” too, Mugmkr?). Even the CDC is careful not to distinguish between deaths actually caused by covid-19, and those “involving covid-19” which states nothing other than the fact that at some point, the deceased was exposed to the virus.
Across the country, testing increased a couple of weeks ago by 55% over the average of the previous 14-15 weeks (based on CDC figures). This along with a surge of people being admitted to the US from south of our border for treatment for the virus, accounts for much of the “surge” we are seeing in the sunbelt states, but it generates more fear to suggest the virus is running rampant, despite the fact we’re well into the summer and “non-flu season.”. The fact that numbers are increasing
with testing here only going up by 2% (if that is true) might very well be attributed to looser guidelines for defining a “case.”. It was already unprecedented to be labeling positive test results in the absence of symptoms a “case” (this is not done with any other disease), but now I have read that even exposures documented by “contact tracing” to a person who has tested positive are, in some cases being labeled as “cases” even before testing.
I also agree with Pacificndub above…if we don’t act now, the Fall could be a disaster! Since we know who is most vulnerable and how to protect them, since the fatality rate and total weekly death numbers continue to drop steadily, and since we’re in the season most conducive to personal health and most of us are getting lots of sunshine and fresh air, we should immediately drop all restrictions and get to work building up herd immunity by encouraging large gatherings, maskless exposures, and ceasing all fear-inducing but otherwise pointless testing. We are already near 25% exposure. If we go about this as enthusiastically as we have restricting personal rights, we could reach herd immunity well before Fall and may never need a vaccine! Stop being selfish! Drop the mask and get out there and expose yourself! Only if we do it enmasse (like we are protesting) will it be overlooked by the “authorities!”. What are we waiting for?!
Here is something worth listening to for those of you still hunkering down in your basement.
https://youtu.be/kFD5sQjIyGg