Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations sit on a tray in July ready to be administered during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Downtown Bend Public Library.

The pace of COVID-19 deaths in Central Oregon appears to be increasing, with four occurring in the first six days of July.

That compares to three deaths in June and four in May. All of the deaths have been at St. Charles Health System hospitals in Central Oregon.

What’s more, about 10% of the hospital beds are occupied with COVID-19 patients who are experiencing illness from the latest subvariant circulating, said Mike Johnson, St. Charles Health System senior data scientist.

“We’re seeing a high transmissibility with the subvariants of omicron,” Johnson said. “When that many people have it, it will push more people into the hospital. COVID-19 is not over.”

St. Charles hospitals have seen on average 35 to 40 patients with COVID-19 coming through the hospital on any given day over the past two weeks, he said. It’s a concern given that the hospital system is still experiencing a staffing shortage, said Lisa Goodman, St. Charles Health System spokeswoman. Initially, the hospital cared for COVID-19 patients only at its Bend location, but recently began admitting COVID-19 patients at all of its hospitals in Redmond, Bend, Prineville and Madras.

“We already are so full that we’re boarding people in the emergency department while we wait for beds,” Goodman said. “We’re very busy.”

It’s the same at other hospitals around the state, Johnson said. More than three-fourths of the intensive care hospital beds in the region St. Charles serves — Crook, Deschutes Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake and Wheeler counties — are filled, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

Since the start of the pandemic, 300 people have died in Deschutes County, 84 in Crook County and 96 in Jefferson County. Since the beginning of the pandemic, St. Charles has cared for 3,650 patients with COVID-19, Johnson said.

In Central Oregon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had classified Deschutes County in the high risk category, said Emily Horton, Deschutes County Health Services COVID-19 program manager. That was because of the number of hospitalizations, not because of high case counts, Horton said.

Keeping COVID-19 transmissions down is vital to keeping the hospital from becoming overrun with COVID-19 patients, said Horton. With so many home tests being completed, the exact number of COVID-19 cases is not known, and cannot be used as a measurement of transmission in the community, Horton said. A good measurement of the severity of COVID-19 in Central Oregon is wastewater and hospital capacity, she said.

Tests on wastewater samples show that both Sunriver and Bend have a sustained increase of the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Oregon Health Authority dashboard.

“Wastewater samples have been high for the past month,” Horton said. “We saw a dip, and it’s a leading indicator for COVID-19. Everyone flushes, so if there’s COVID-19 in the wastewater, then we know it’s in the community.”

The rise in COVID-19 in Central Oregon is being felt in community health centers as well. At Mosaic Medical, with its 16 clinics in Central Oregon, medical professionals confirm that they’re seeing more people coming in for COVID-19 symptoms.

Medical staff are seeing an increased demand on virtual visits from patients who tested positive or had been exposed to someone who had the virus.

“The current strains of COVID-19 are highly contagious, making transmission far easier,” said Diana Burden, Mosaic Medical Prineville clinical medical director and family nurse practitioner. “While individuals who have been vaccinated can still get COVID-19, we do see that they have less severe illness than those not vaccinated.”

Health officials recommend that the best way to ward off the disease is by getting vaccinated, engaging in frequent hand washing and wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces. The county is still hosting free vaccination clinics around the community. Details can be found at https://www.deschutes.org/health/page/covid-19-vaccine.

“We’re not done with the pandemic,” Horton said. “It’s prevalent in our community. Vaccinations, infection-prevention education and outbreak management is our focus in the community.”

Ways to keep yourself from getting COVID-19:

• Stay fully up to date with vaccinations and boosters. Everyone age 6 months or older is eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

• Wear a mask in public indoor places like retail stores, movie theaters or gyms and move any social activities to outdoors.

• When you do wear a mask, wear a well-fitting mask that provides a high level of protection.

• If you visit someone who is immune-compromised or vulnerable to illness, consider testing even if you don’t have symptoms.

Source: High Lakes Health Care, Bend