Oregon Now Has More Than 2,000 Cases of COVID-19

It’s been 16 days since the state announced 1,000 cases.

April 21, 2020 1:51PM PDT

Nurses greet Portland firefighters thanking them with a parade April 16. (Wesley Lapointe)

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Oregon has 2,002 known cases of COVID-19, according to Oregon Health Authority data released April 21. The state now counts 78 deaths as officially caused by COVID-19.

The number of patients currently in the hospital due to confirmed or suspected cases is at 297, with 70 in the ICU and 35 on ventilators.

Sixteen days ago, Oregon had 1,000 known cases and had 27 deaths. The rate at which the state's deaths are increasing has fallen steeply over that time.

Currently, an analysis by The New York Times shows the state's deaths from the virus are doubling every 13 days. It's among the slowest growth rates in the country. On April 5, Oregon's deaths from COVID-19 were doubling every four days, according to the same analysis.

Fewer than 5 percent of Oregon's tests for COVID-19 have come back positive for the virus, which health officials have highlighted as an indication of the state's effective response to the virus. In New Jersey, 1 in 2 people tested had the disease, and in eight states, the proportion of people who tested positive was more than 1 in 5, The Atlantic reported April 16.