Umatilla County sets monthly pandemic record for COVID-19 deaths
Published 8:00 am Thursday, September 23, 2021
- Christina Garcia, right, receives her first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine from Sharon Waldern during a vaccination clinic at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston on Feb. 12, 2021. Umatilla County in August set a monthly record for COVID-19 deaths.
PENDLETON — Umatilla County reported more COVID-19 deaths in August than any month since the pandemic began.
The county in a press release Wednesday, Sept. 22, reported its 126th COVID-19 death. The latest victim is a 54-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 Aug. 7 and died Aug. 31 at Oregon Health & Science Hospital, Portland. She had unspecified underlying health conditions.
The disclosure raises August’s death toll to 22, topping the county’s previous monthly record set in July 2020.
The record-setting spike in COVID-19 deaths come after a dramatic surge in cases driven by the delta variant, which shattered pandemic records, infected large amounts of unvaccinated people and filled regional hospitals.
This year, the unvaccinated have accounted for approximately 49 out of every 50 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Umatilla County, according to data from the county’s health department.
“Our hospital system is plugged up right now with unvaccinated people with COVID,” said Dr. Jon Hitzman, Umatilla County’s public health officer.
Delta surge breaks grim records
Since the pandemic started, the rate at which COVID-19 has infected and killed Umatilla County residents has been among the highest of all Oregon counties, according to a newsroom analysis of state data. Just six Oregon counties have reported a higher death rate than Umatilla County.
The county’s death rate is now nearly twice as high as some densely populated Portland metro counties such as Multnomah County, which has more than 10 times as many people, state data show. The downtown Portland county’s vaccination percentage is nearly 30% higher than Umatilla County’s.
The county on Sept. 22 reported 72 new presumed and confirmed COVID-19 cases. Average daily cases have declined slightly since the peak of the delta surge last month, when the county reported more than 400 cases for seven straight weeks, smashing all previous pandemic records.
Umatilla County’s total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 12,808. Approximately 1 in 6.25 Umatilla County residents have tested positive.
Since the start of the pandemic, Umatilla County residents have been infected with COVID-19 at a higher rate than any county in Oregon, according to state. Last week, according to data from Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock, 970 people received a COVID-19 vaccination.
Although the county’s COVID-19 vaccinations increased for more than a month, its total remains the fifth worst in Oregon. Roughly two out of every five Umatilla County residents have been fully immunized, according to the state.
