A screengrab of Marion County’s daily Covid case numbers.
As Covid hospitalizations continue to rise again due to the omicron variant, Salem Reporter is again publishing case and hospitalization information daily. Here’s our report for Friday, Jan. 21.
Though the omicron variant of the coronavirus generally causes milder illness in most people, Salem Health spokeswoman Lisa Wood said about 70% of the hospital’s Covid patients during this surge were admitted to the hospital because the severity of their Covid symptoms required hospital care. The rest, she said, sought hospital care for other reasons and tested positive for Covid at the hospital, “but that is not to say that their Covid-positive status had not exacerbated the underlying conditions they already have or for which they may have been admitted.”
Wood said about three in four patients admitted to the hospital with Covid have three or four underlying health conditions.
Total Salem Hospital patients with Covid: 98 as of Friday morning, an increase of seven from Thursday.
Of those, eight are in the intensive care unit, and one is on a ventilator.
Forty-five of those in the hospital are not vaccinated against Covid, and 53 are vaccinated.
Note: Salem Health does not consistently report the number of patients who have received a booster vaccine dose because of the difficulty tracking whether patients are eligible for a booster in real time, spokeswoman Lisa Wood said. The vaccinated patient count includes any patient who has received at least two doses of a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Total Salem Hospital bed occupancy: 531 patients; the hospital is licensed for 494 beds
Total people hospitalized with Covid in Region 2 (Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton, Lincoln counties): 166. Of those, 18 are in the intensive care unit and three are on ventilators.
Total Region 2 hospital bed occupancy: 82 of 84 staffed ICU beds and 550 of 560 non-ICU beds in use.
New Covid cases reported in Marion County: 1,221
New Covid cases reported in Polk County: 261
New Covid deaths reported: 21 in Oregon
-Saphara Harrell
