Oregon’s fourth omicron case emerges in Lane County

Lane County has detected its first case of omicron.

Health officials said the person was in their 20s and had traveled to the United States before testing for the virus, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported.

“The confirmation of omicron in Lane County reminds us of several important truths,” according to a statement from public health official Dr Patrick Luedtke. “We don’t live in a bubble, travel increases our chances of variant circulation and we have the tools to prevent the impact of omicron.”

The person’s symptoms appeared just as she was returning to Oregon, according to Jason Davis, a Lane County communications manager. Davis did not know the person’s gender or if he was a student at the University of Oregon, which did the genomic sequencing.

The person was initially tested on Tuesday, December 14, and sequencing began the next day. The University of Oregon completed the sequencing on Friday, but then confirmed the results on Monday, Davis said.

A statement from the University of Oregon said it was receiving Covid test samples from local, state vendors and its own monitoring program. These samples do not contain any identifying information.

The person is in quarantine but does not know they have the omicron. A Lane County Public Health investigator informed the person last week that she had Covid but did not follow up to tell her she had the highly infectious strain.

This is the fourth known case of omicron in Oregon. Three more cases were announced a week ago among people in their 20s and 30s in Multnomah and Washington counties. State health officials have not disclosed information about their symptoms.

Davis said the Lane County resident was not hospitalized.

“The symptoms are classified as mild,” he said.

Two more cases were reported Monday in Clark County, Washington. Omicron was first detected in Washington state earlier this month. Since then, more than a dozen cases have been identified there, including at least three cases associated with wrestling matches, Clark County health officials said.

Omicron is more infectious than the delta variant and it can cause milder symptoms although this has not been confirmed. Omicron cases double every two to three days. A forecast from Oregon Health & Science University scheduled for Friday that omicron could become the dominant strain in Oregon within two weeks.

That means that as of February, 3,000 infected people in Oregon may need a hospital bed, according to forecasts. This compares to 1,200 in early September when cases of the delta variant peaked.

Oregon doesn’t have enough staffed beds to handle so many people at once.

The state announced a schedule friday bring in health workers from out of state to scale up immunizations and add staff to health facilities. It is not known where the additional healthcare workers will come from. There is a strong demand for temporary healthcare workers across the country, and in Oregon there are currently 15,000 unfilled healthcare jobs.

The state’s plan calls for one million additional booster doses to be administered to residents of Oregon by the end of January. Studies show that two doses of the vaccine only protect about 30% of people against infection with Omicron. A booster dose increases this to over 80%, according to a British study.

Just under 30% of adults in Oregon received a booster shot and 80% received two doses, according to state data.

“With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly across the country, and now identified in Oregon, the governor urges all Oregonians to continue to wear their masks and get vaccinated or boosted as soon as possible,” the office said. Governor Kate. Brown said Monday.

Public health officials in rural areas, which have the lowest vaccination rates, may find it difficult to increase booster doses. Several told the Capital Chronicle on Monday that they didn’t have much demand. Getting additional staff won’t make much of a difference.

– Lynne Terry, Chronicle of the Capital of Oregon