The state is open, but local vaccination rates lag

Updated July 5, 2021

Gov. Kate Brown has lifted COVID-19 restrictions throughout Oregon, eliminating mask mandates, capacity limits and physical distancing rules.

Health care systems such as Asante, however, will continue to follow CDC guidelines, including mandatory masking and visitor restrictions, until further notice.

More than 2.34 million Oregonians, or 70%, have been vaccinated. Immunizations, however, have slowed from 50,000 a day in April to under 5,000 a day by late June.

Gov. Brown originally tied reopening the state to a threshold of 70% adult vaccinations, then later added a hard date of June 30 after two of the state’s most populous counties, Washington and Multnomah, exceeded 70% immunization. The state crossed the 70% mark on July 2.

Southern Oregon’s immunization rate falls far behind. A little more than half — 53% — of Jackson County adults are vaccinated, and just 47% of adults in Josephine County have received the vaccine. Asante has a 60% employee vaccination rate.

After a sustained drop in COVID hospitalizations in May, Asante hospitals saw inpatient numbers begin to rise in late June, although the numbers are nowhere near January’s peak of 65 hospitalized patients in one day.

“We’ve actually got 15 cases right now, which is a little higher than we would expect given that the state has seen such a decline,” Doug Ward, vice president of Operations for APP, said last week. (Asante’s inpatient COVID census changes hourly.)

Chief Medical Officer Jamie Grebosky links the uptick in hospitalizations to the slowing vaccination rates.

“Almost everyone who is hospitalized is not vaccinated,” he said, adding that without proper precautions, it’s highly likely that “everyone who is not vaccinated will get COVID at some point in time.”

Asante is now offering vaccinations by appointment in the Black Oak, Murphy and White City primary care clinics. Walk-in vaccinations are available at Asante Urgent Care in the Black Oak Medical Plaza. Jackson County Public Health has moved its vaccination clinic from The Expo to the Health and Human Services building in Medford.

Besides health care facilities, masks are also still required in airports, airplanes and public transportation.