Live updates: Oregon reports younger deaths from COVID pandemic

By Courtney Sherwood (OPB)
July 26, 2020 3:30 p.m.

UPDATE (12:07 p.m. PT) — Oregon reported one of the state's younger deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, a 40-year-old Multnomah County woman who died three weeks after she received her diagnosis. The two other people whose deaths were disclosed by health officials were also younger than most whose lives COVID-19 has claimed: a 56-year-old man from Marion County and a 63-year-old woman from Malheur County.

All three had underlying medical conditions, but the Oregon Health Authority did not release other details.

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Related: COVID-19 in Oregon: By the numbers

Health agency data on death and survival rates by age show that through Friday shows that very few people younger than 50 have died of the virus, and death rates are particularly higher for those older than 80.

The agency's charge appears to show that nobody age 40 or younger has died of the virus, but other information provided by the Oregon Health Authority says that at least two people in their 30s have died. A spokesman was not able to immediately explain the discrepancy.

The state's figures also show that 1% of Oregonians 50 to 59 who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus have died, 4% of diagnosed people in their 60s have died, 9% of diagnosed people in their 70s have died, and 23% of diagnosed Oregonians older than 80 have died.

As of Sunday, 289 people are known to have died of the coronavirus in Oregon, and 16,758 have been diagnosed with the virus — though officials believe both counts likely miss many cases.

Many of the 277 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 diagnoses disclosed on Sunday were in the Portland metro area, with 20 in Clackamas County, 44 in Multnomah County and 39 in Washington County. Also in the Willamette Valley, Marion County reported 30 new coronavirus cases.

To the east, Umatilla County saw 43 new diagnoses, and neighboring Morrow County saw 13.

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Those two counties have the highest infection rates in Oregon, followed closely by Malheur County.

Infections climb, but no new deaths in Clark County, Washington

Clark County, Washington, officials reported 27 new positive COVID-19 test results on Friday and no new deaths. That brings to 1,632 the number of people who are known to have had the coronavirus in Clark County, and 37 who have died from it.

The latest available data from the Washington Department of Health shows 50,824 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the state and 1,495 are known to have died of it. As of Thursday night, COVID-19 has led to the hospitalization of 5,301 people in Washington.


New Oregon COVID-19 Cases By ZIP Code

This map shows new cases of COVID-19 in each ZIP code in Oregon. ZIP codes are colored by the number of cases per 10,000 residents. ZIPs are shaded to show contrast; rates in Oregon remain lower than most of the U.S.

Jacob Fenton, The Accountability Project at the Investigative Reporting Workshop Sources: OHA's current and prior weekly reports. OHA does not report case counts in smaller ZIP codes, and doesn't provide an exact figure for ZIP codes where fewer than 10 cases have been recorded. ZIP codes are shaded by the lowest possible rate in the new cases view. ZIP code populations and outlines are from Esri's "Updated Demographics 2019" so rates differ from those published by OHA.

Correction: An earlier version of this story relied on Oregon Health Authority data which misreported the number of people age 40 and younger who have died of the coronavirus. At least two people in their 30s have died of the virus. This story has been updated to correct the error.

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