Used masks fill a garbage can at Salem Hospital on Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Covid hospitalizations in both Oregon and in Salem are falling from their peaks during the omicron surge, but remain high.
On Friday, Salem Reporter asked our evening newsletter readers whether you wanted to continue getting regular Covid data updates as cases and hospitalizations continue to fall.
We got roughly two dozen responses, most from readers who wanted to continue seeing updates, though several suggested moving to a weekly or less frequent format. Many said they particularly value seeing data about how full our largest local hospital is, and several suggested data points to give a better sense of trends over time.
We’ll continue daily updates this week while we work on a format for presenting data on pandemic trends and hospital capacity on a less frequent basis.
Here’s Salem Reporter’s Covid report for Monday, Feb. 21.
Due to the President’s Day holiday, the Oregon Health Authority had not reported updated data as of Monday afternoon.
Total Salem Hospital patients with Covid: 79 as of Monday morning, four fewer than Sunday.
Of those, eight are in the intensive care unit, and two are on ventilators.
Fifty-one of those are not vaccinated against Covid, and 28 are vaccinated.
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.
-Saphara Harrell and Rachel Alexander
