UNION COUNTY — The Oregon Health Authority reported a 43-year-old man in Union County died this week from COVID-19. He became the 20th victim to die of the disease in the county and the 2,314th victim statewide.

He died Tuesday, March 9, at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande, and tested positive for COVID-19 the next day, according to the OHA. He also had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s COVID-1 death toll as of Friday stood at 2,319, according to the OHA.

A Baker County resident also died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the county’s death toll during the pandemic to 11.

The Oregon Health Authority reported an 85-year-old man in Baker County who tested positive on Feb. 22 died on March 6 at his home. He had underlying conditions.

OHA reported earlier two Baker County residents died after testing positive, but one of those was mistakenly listed as a county resident, said Holly Kerns, a spokesperson for the county.

Four Baker County residents have died from COVID-19 since Feb. 26, according to the OHA, including a 64-year-old woman who died March 7 after testing positive for the virus on Feb. 18. She, too, had underlying conditions.

Union County had 12 news cases Thursday and four on Friday, bringing the county’s total to 1,332 confirmed cases of the disease, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Wallowa County’s total is 144, with no new cases Thursday or Friday. Baker County had three new cases Friday, bumping the total there to 687.

The Oregon Health Authority also reported statewide there were 402 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 159,037.

More than 19% of Union County’s 26,841 residents have received at least one vaccination, according to the OHA, with 2,202 residents fully vaccinated and 2,390 more in progress. Wallowa County’s vaccination rate is nearing 22%, with 1,566 vaccinated (631 in progress, 935 fully vaccinated) out of a population of 7,151.

Statewide, about 19.2% of the population has been at least partially vaccinated.

Meeting president’s goal

Oregon would need up to double the doses of COVID-19 vaccine it now receives to fulfill President Joe Biden’s seven-week sprint to allow all adults to be offered inoculation, Oregon health officials said Friday.

Gov. Kate Brown and top state medical experts held a press call Friday to say they hoped to meet Biden’s timeline, but would move cautiously. Brown said she welcomed Biden’s “audacious announcement.”

“I will do everything I can to make it happen,” she said.

Oregon’s staggered priority groups wouldn’t match Biden’s deadline until July 1.

States have the central authority over public health, and Brown said the present plan would stay in place until there was a guaranteed supply before she would unleash additional demand onto the already strained system.

Oregon officials were only recently told they would receive 200,000 doses per month, up from the previous 120,000 doses. But Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen said meeting Biden’s schedule could take as much as doubling the doses.

“It would need to be an increase on that kind of order of magnitude,” Allen said. “Maybe 300,000.”

Part of the math problem has to do with the vaccines themselves. Until recently, Oregon was only receiving the Pfizer and Modern vaccines, each of which requires two shots given about a month apart.

The state has received the initial shipments of a new vaccine from Johnson & Johnson that requires a single shot.

Brown and Allen both said their caution came from not wanting to set off the kind of policy whiplash that hit Oregonians in mid-January.

When the Trump Administration announced the immediate release of a large stockpile of additional doses, Brown dropped her carefully crafted priority tier policy. She announced everyone in Oregon age 65 and over would be eligible for shots.

Trump officials said within 48 hours that there was no stockpile of new doses.

“This is a deception on a national scale,” Brown said at the time.

The governor had to reverse herself and put eligibility restrictions back in place.

Biden in a national address Thursday said he wanted the vaccination program to be far enough along to allow for small celebrations of July 4.

“If we all do our part, this country will be vaccinated soon, our economy will be on the mend, our kids will be back in school, and we’ll have proven once again that this country can do anything,” Biden said.

Though Oregon officials have a much higher level of confidence in Biden’s streamlined transport system and increased manufacturing of vaccine, Allen said supply needed to be on the way first.

“We know the previous administration made previous announcements it was unable to fill,” Allen said.

Oregon is limiting shots to health workers, residents of nursing homes, educators and daycare workers, and most recently, all residents age 65 and older as of March 1.

The next eligible group can seek shots March 29. It’s a long list that includes adults age 45 and older with specific medical issues, agricultural and other food processing workers, homeless people, residents of low-income housing, those displaced by last year’s wildfires and wildland firefighters.

Pregnant women age 16 and over were recently added to the group.

OHA has not been able to give estimates on how many people will become eligible on March 29.

May 1 — the date that Biden wants eligibility to be offered to all adults nationwide — is currently listed as adding front-line workers (those who deal daily with the public), those living in multigenerational households, and those age 16-44 with certain medical conditions.

Brown’s plan calls for everyone age 45 and older to be eligible June 1. On July 1, all adults would be able to seek shots.

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state’s top infectious expert, said officials were looking at studies from around the country about school reopenings. Some indicate Oregon’s mandate for students to be spaced 6 feet apart when they return to the classroom could be cut to 3 feet. No policy change is in the pipeline, despite requests to Brown from school districts.

Allen said the vaccination effort involving seniors was going well statewide, though he noted some counties — such as Deschutes —were ahead of the goal to have 75% of eligible seniors inoculated, while other counties lagged behind.

Brown praised the support of Oregon’s congressional delegation for Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation, which includes $1,400 direct payments to Americans, aid for COVID-19 distribution, unemployment aid, and funds to buttress state and local budgets strained by the pandemic.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario joined all House Republicans in opposing the bill, saying it was too expensive and included too much non-pandemic related spending. The rest of Oregon’s congressional delegation — all Democrats — supported the bill.

Risk levels improve

New COVID-19 risk levels for Oregon’s 36 counties showed continued improvement in the latest two-week report, signaling more areas will be able expand business and dining occupancy starting Friday, while allowing for more activities.

“We are largely seeing case rates decline across the state, with the most counties in the Lower Risk level since the framework was introduced in November,” Brown said in officially announcing the new levels on Tuesday, March 9. They went into effect Friday.

In all, 13 counties lowered their risk level ratings, while three showed worsening trends to move up a level. Only Coos and Douglas counties remain on the extreme risk level, which once contained well over half of Oregon’s counties.

Union County remained in the moderate risk group, along with Baker County.

Statewide, Oregon reported 4,615 cases between Feb. 26 and March 6. The statewide average was 108.9 cases per 100,000 residents and the positive test rate dropped to 3.2, indicating that numbers statewide should continue to drop.

— EO Media Group staff contributed to this article.

The Center for Human Development,La Grande, is adding a first-dose clinic on Monday, March 15, and expanding second doses Thursday, March 18.

“As we move through these next weeks, we ask our community to please be patient as this may be a long and slow process, and we anticipate that our clinics will fill up very quickly due to vaccine shortage,” according to a press release from the center.

First dose clinic:

1A Priority Groups 1-4 and Phase 1B Priority Groups 1-5.

Group 5 includes people 65 years or older.

Second dose clinic:

Booster clinic for those that got their first vaccine dose on Feb. 19 and Feb. 22.

The center warned those who received the first dose not to skip on the second. The second shot is critical to be fully immunized.

“Get the second shot even if you have side effects after the first shot unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get a second shot,” according to the CHD.

The center also warned those with an appointment to not come early.

More information is available at the center’s vaccination website: www.chdinc.org/covid19-vaccine.