PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — Following three confirmed cases of the highly omicron variant in Oregon, health officials warned Friday the state’s peak number of hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic — about 1,200 —could more than double by the end of February.
1111r
Gov. Kate Brown and health authorities are urging people to get their COVID-19 booster shot.
“Today’s forecast is a warning we can’t ignore. Like a tsunami alert, the (Oregon Health & Science University) forecast is telling us that a big wave is coming,” said Patrick Allen, the director of the state health authority. “And it threatens to be bigger than any wave we’ve seen before.”
Officials say the threat the omicron variant poses is “deeply troubling and demoralizing.”
“It’s the holidays and many people have plans to see family and friends they’ve missed during the course of a two-year pandemic,” Allen said. “We all want to put COVID-19 behind us, once and for all. ”
As of Thursday, there are only 57 available adult intensive care unit beds available and only 6% of the state’s 4,139 adult non-ICU beds available.
Local scientists say omicron could become the dominant variant in the state within a month and possibly trigger a fifth wave of infections. The first three cases of...
×