April 18, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore.— COVID-19 has claimed two more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll from 70 to 72, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 8 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority also reported 59 new cases of COVID-19 as of 8 a.m. today bringing the state total to 1,844. The new COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Clackamas (1), Curry (1), Deschutes (2), Jackson (1), Klamath (2), Linn (2), Marion (18), Multnomah (26), Polk (1), Umatilla (2), and Washington (4).
A case originally reported as a Yamhill County case was later determined to be a Polk County case. The total number of new cases in Polk County is 1 to reflect this change. However, the case that moved from Yamhill County to Polk County is not reflected in the total of new cases statewide for today.
Oregon Health Authority reports new cases once a day on its website: www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Oregon’s 71st COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Clackamas County, who tested positive on April 2 and died on April 16 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 72nd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Marion County, who tested positive on April 2 and died on April 17 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying medical conditions.
Testing update
OHA continues to provide COVID-19 testing through the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory (OSPHL) while Oregon hospitals continue building their laboratory testing capacity. Several Oregon hospital laboratories and commercial laboratories, such as Quest and LabCorp, provide external testing capacity for the state.
OHA is in the process of updating its testing guidance for providers and for OSPHL to augment testing in support of testing goals, including:
- Protect health care providers, first responders and critical infrastructure workers.
- Increase access to testing in health care settings to appropriately assess, triage and treat patients.
- Identify and control the spread of disease in congregate care settings.
- Eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 health outcomes.
Longer term, testing is a key strategy for understanding the transmission of the virus and population prevalence of disease. As of April 17, Oregon’s positive testing result has remained fairly consistent at about 5% of tests performed; as compared to the national average of 17.6%.
OSPHL continues to prioritize its testing to identify and control clusters of disease in congregate care settings, including long-term care and correctional facilities.
View the testing report.
Stay informed about COVID-19:
Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.