Thread by @OHAOregon

OHA Director Pat Allen speaking during today's press conference: "I want to give you an update on the actions we announced earlier this week to speed vaccination in Oregon and share what our latest forecast tells us about the severity of the #COVID19 pandemic in state."

"As of January 6th, Oregon has received a cumulative total of 128,700 doses of Pfizer vaccine and 121,400 doses of Moderna vaccine for a total of 250,100 doses."

"As of yesterday, Oregon has vaccinated a total of 73,286 health care workers, first responders, and others – as well as staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities and memory care centers, where our most vulnerable seniors live."

"According to the latest CDC data, Oregon ranks 36th in the nation at 1.5 percent of our residents who are vaccinated. We are ahead of California, which is at 1.3 percent and just behind WA, which has vaccinated 1.6 percent of their residents."

"Oregon ranks 37th in the nation at 24 percent of the amount of vaccine doses administered so far. We’re ahead of both WA and CA, who are at 23 percent."

"It’s not good enough to be in the middle of the pack. We need to get vaccines to every Oregonian because vaccination is the safest, most effective and most reliable way to prevent yourself and the people around you from becoming infected with COVID-19."

"Because Oregon has done a better job at containing COVID-19, we’re also more vulnerable to an overwhelming spike in hospitalizations and deaths if the virus takes hold and cases spin out of control. That’s why we want to vaccinate every person we can, as soon as possible."

"Our goal is to achieve the Governor’s target of 12,000 doses being delivered per day by the end of next week. On Tuesday, I described 5 actions OHA was taking to reach that goal: The first action was to simplify and speed-up the Phase 1A process."

"We want to get health care workers, first responders, people living in congregate settings and others in that priority group vaccinated so we can move to teachers, critical workers, vulnerable populations and the general public as fast as our supplies allow."

"OHA has delivered vaccines to 190 sites already. Next wk., we'll allocate vaccines 30 addt'l. sites, incl. hospitals, local public health agencies, Fed. Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics, urgent care clinics, retail pharmacies and emergency response agencies."

"I want to be clear: OHA allocates vaccines to sites, but they are shipped directly to these vaccine administration locations through vaccine manufacturers or the federal government. These vaccines don’t pass through OHAs hands but are routed immediately."

"Many partners have experienced significant data under-reporting issues. Others appear to have significant numbers of vaccines on hand. That’s affecting Oregon’s statewide total to date. Here’s how we’re solving that problem."

"Yesterday, OHA staff called 100+ sites to review their vaccination plans. We wanted to identify sites that are able to maximize throughput and assess their ability to distribute more doses, if we allocated additional vaccines to those locations."

"Based on that info, we've adjusted the way we allocate doses to vaccine administration sites around the state next week. Sites with plans to administer the doses they receive within 7 days are being prioritized."

"We will also prioritize sites with the commitment and capacity to deliver high volumes of doses to health care workers, first responders, long-term care residents and other members of the Phase 1A group."

"@salemhealth is conducting a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic for members of Phase 1A who live in Marion County, which has been hard-hit with high COVID-19 infection rates since the start of the pandemic. Members of the Oregon National Guard are helping to administer vaccines."

"To support the effort, OHA is distributing 10,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to Salem Health."

"Another step we announced on Tuesday was our intent to activate contracts with Part B of the Federal Pharmacy Partnership to dramatically expand and accelerate vaccinations in long-term care programs."

"As a result, federal pharmacy partners will begin receiving doses next week to vaccinate residents and staff in an expanded number of settings."

"The first allocation of 19,500 doses to supply vaccine to this program will be made next week and shipped by CDC to pharmacies the following week at Oregon’s direction."

"Consonus, Walgreens, and CVS pharmacies are working hard to prepare plans to vaccinate the 75,000 staff and residents enrolled in this program as quickly as possible."

"We have identified pharmacy partners in all Oregon counties who will enable us to serve more of the 300,000-400,000 people in Phase 1A sooner, as well as in the following phases of distribution."

"Finally, let me share a brief summary of our latest COVID-19 forecast. We estimate the statewide transmission rate fell dramatically in late November to 0.8 and stayed near that level through mid-December. Oregonians stayed home at Thanksgiving and it made a difference."

"We saw a sharp increase as we approached the rest of the winter holidays. As of Dec. 23, the statewide transmission rate was likely between 1.14 and 1.45, with a best estimate of 1.29. This does not reflect any potential further increase in transmission."

"This means we would continue to see a sharp increase in diagnosed cases, with daily reported cases reaching 1,780 cases by January 26th – if the rate didn’t increase due to holiday gatherings. Under this scenario, new hospitalizations would increase to 85 per day by January 26."

"If people are more cautious starting January 9, and COVID-19 transmission rates dropped back to the early Dec. level of 0.9, our outlook appears a little less grim:"

"New diagnosed cases would be 470 per 100,000 people for the two-week period between January 13 and January 26, an average of 1,400 new diagnosed cases per day.
There would be about 55 new hospitalizations per day by January 26."

"The good news? Our model is a little more pessimistic than other national models. In Oregon, mask use remains at an all-time high. Vehicle traffic remains down, as does air travel, apart from spikes surrounding the holidays."

"Most Oregonians continue to see #COVID19 for the serious threat it represents, & their actions reflect their concern. But the virus is spreading faster again across the nation. The holidays brought many people together. And the coming weeks could be our greatest challenge yet."

"I know it’s hard to hear about cases going up again, especially after more than 10 months of fighting COVID-19. Every day, we look for a ray of hope.

There is hope. The vaccines are here and more people get immunized every day."

"Until a mass of Oregonians get vaccinated and we end this pandemic I want to encourage all of us to stay strong. Let’s count on each other. Wear your mask, limit indoor social gatherings, avoid large groups, stay home when you’re sick & wash your hands often & wash them well."