Local hospitalizations due to Covid and cases in Marion and Polk counties have both fallen in the past week.
HOSPITAL CAPACITY
The average number of Covid patients at Salem Hospital and in the mid-Willamette region have declined slightly compared to last week.
As of Friday, Aug. 12, the hospital had 35 inpatients with Covid, three in the ICU and two on a ventilator.
There were 386 of 415 adult acute and critical care beds in use, and 458 total hospital beds in use.
The hospital recently expanded its licensed bed capacity from 494 to 644 with the addition of a new tower, but that total includes every potential licensed bed at Salem Hospital including those dedicated to specific uses, like pediatrics, inpatient psychiatry, and labor and delivery.
Lisa Wood, Salem Health spokeswoman, said the number of hospitalized Covid patients over the past week has remained between 25 and 35. Last week, Wood said the daily number was between 26 and 47 Covid inpatients.
Region 2, which is Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties, had 53 people hospitalized with Covid as of Aug. 10, compared with 61 the week prior and 65 two weeks ago.
CASES
The number of new Covid cases reported decreased in Marion and Polk counties as well as statewide. This data is for the week ending Aug. 10.
Marion County: 86.9 new Covid cases per day on average, a rate of 175.1 cases per 100,000 residents.
That’s down from 93.9 average daily cases for the week ending Aug. 3 and 83.7 average daily cases for the week ending July 27.
11.2% of Covid tests this week were positive, up from 10.1% last week.
Polk County: 18.6 new Covid cases per day on average, a rate of 146.2 cases per 100,000 residents.
That’s down from an average of 23.7 daily cases the week ending Aug. 3 and 25 daily cases the week ending July 27.
8.3% of Covid tests this week were positive, down from 16.3% last week.
Oregon: 939.6 new cases per day on average, down from 1,228.1 average daily cases the week prior; 11.4% of tests positive, compared with 13.4% the week prior.
VACCINATION AND BREAKTHROUGH CASES
The Oregon Health Authority switched to a monthly report on breakthrough cases and will release its next report in early September.
MANDATES
Oregon’s mask mandate lifted on March 11 at 11:59 p.m.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
