SOUTHERN OREGON, —Things are looking up in southern Oregon, as Covid numbers go down after the Omicron surge. The latest report from the Oregon Health Authority says last week it saw 16,991 news cases.
That’s a 40% drop from the week before and a 70% drop from the last month.
“We feel some relief that the predictions are coming true that we’re seeing this rapid drop off in cases and hospitalizations,” said county health officer, Dr. Leona O’Keefe.
Jackson County is seeing a similar decline. Its case numbers have dropped by about a third each week over the last two weeks, according to Dr. Leona O’Keefe. As for hospitalizations, the OHA says at the start of February, region 5, which makes up Jackson and Josephine county, saw 140 hospitalized patients. Tuesday that number was down to 85.
Valeree Lane with Klamath County Public health says her county went from 609 in a week early this month, to nearly half that amount, 374 last week.
“That’s a substantial downtrend, we have crested Omicron and we are coming down on that bell curve so that’s a great thing,” said Lane.
With a decline in cases, also comes a decline in testing. According to the OHA, tests results have dropped 16%.
“This is part of us getting to the place of living with Covid,” said Lane.
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