Oregon’s COVID-19 Cases Are Down 98% Since the Omicron Peak

The Omicron surge has subsided.

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury (center) leads a memorial walk for victims of COVID-19 along the Hawthorne Bridge. (Brian Brose)
By Rachel Monahan

As of March 27, the number of COVID-19 cases in Oregon had fallen 98% since the peak of the Omicron wave in January.

There were 1,403 cases in the week ending March 27. That’s a 21% decline from just the previous week.

The number of tests coming back positive was 2.7%, up slightly from the previous week, when 2.5% of tests were positive. Hospitalizations also fell, to 148. Just 15 people were in intensive care with COVID.

Contrast that with January, when for much of the month the number of patients in ICU beds hovered above 150.

The dramatic drop in cases and dire outcomes, weeks after the end of indoor masking restrictions, suggests that—at least in the short term—Oregon public health officials correctly identified the virus burning itself out in a state with relatively high vaccination rates.

As the country and state move out of the what public health officials hope is the last significant wave of the pandemic, the Oregon Health Authority announced plans to stop publishing a daily press release listing deaths, hospitalizations and new infections. Friday was its last.

“OHA is again adapting to the pandemic as cases and hospitalizations declined following a surge due to Omicron, and members of the public have the knowledge and tools to protect themselves,” the press release said.

As of March 31, the day of the final press release, COVID-19 had killed 7,147 Oregonians in a little more than two years. Oregon saw the seventh-lowest COVID death rate in the nation over that time.

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