Oregon Health Authority forgoing daily COVID media releases in April

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- With the decline in cases and hospitalizations, there will no longer be a daily media release from Oregon Health Authority (OHA) regarding COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations starting next week.

Beginning April 4, information on COVID cases, deaths, hospitalizations and other data will be exclusively featured on OHA's website and social media platforms.

OHA says that the change in protocol regarding media releases does not signal an end to the pandemic and that they will continue to monitor and report updated data and information.

Additionally, OHA will no longer be sharing individual death summaries, saying that "While these summaries recognized those we lost, the shift in reporting will better capture trends over time as Oregon moves into the next phase of the pandemic."

Along with reporting cases, deaths and hospitalizations daily on their website, OHA will also publish a new daily data dashboard, which will include:

• New COVID-19 cases, the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases and total COVID-19 cases from Opera, Oregon’s COVID-19 disease surveillance system, with a chart showing the daily trend.
• Newly reported deaths with COVID-19, total deaths with COVID-19, and a chart of deaths with COVID-19 by date of death.
• Current COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized and in intensive care unit (ICU) beds statewide as reported to HOSCAP, Oregon’s hospital capacity web system, with a chart showing the daily trend.
• Percentage of statewide emergency department visits for COVID-19 like illness (CLI), as reported to Oregon ESSENCE, with a chart showing the daily trend.
• Vaccination coverage among people statewide ages 18 years and older showing people with at least one dose and people boosted as reported to ALERT, Oregon’s Immunization Information System, with a chart showing trend over time. These data will be updated weekly on Wednesdays.
• The number of COVID-19 tests reported and the percentage of tests that are positive, as reported to OHA, with a chart showing the daily trends.
• The total number of variants of concern – Delta, Omicron (B1.1.529, BA1-1.1), and Omicron (BA.2) – sequenced statewide, with a chart showing trend over time. These data will be updated weekly on Wednesdays.

OHA says that the COVID-19 vaccination dashboards, the Oregon COVID-19 Case and Testing Counts Statewide dashboard and the Oregon COVID-19 Testing and Outcomes by County dashboard will be published every Wednesday starting in April. The Data Report and Outbreak Report will be published every other week and the Breakthrough Report will be published monthly.

While there won't be a daily media release anymore, OHA says they will continue to distribute COVID-19 news releases when merited, such as when new eligibility for boosters or vaccinations are announced.