The regular informational Board of Commissioners briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic turned into a moment of reflection this week. As Public Health Director Jessica Guernsey and County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Vines presented new variant information and vaccination rates, they concluded by reflecting on all the people and effort it has taken to respond to the pandemic. Dr. Vines said lessons learned during the two years since the first COVID case in Multnomah County offer some perspective on what is yet to come. While infection and hospitalizations rates are once again low in the County, Dr. Vines set expectations for the new subvariant of Omicron, BA.2.
Omicron’s transmission rate was high, she said, and BA.2 is expected to spread at an even higher rate. But even though BA.2’s infection rate is expected to be higher than Omicron’s, Dr. Vines also noted that vaccinations against earlier variants of COVID and immunity acquired through previous infections will continue to keep the community protected.
Dr. Vines said BA.2 will likely reach its peak by early May 2022, and it will likely present itself as a bump in case rates as opposed to the large spike that Omicron caused.
The Health Department continues to encourage people to get their vaccinations and their boosters, wear masks if they’re considered high risk, and continue to take precautions.
“Hopefully it will not result in the level of severe disease and death we’ve seen before,” said Dr. Vines.
Vaccination rates
The Health Department continues to host vaccination clinics with community partners in an effort to protect Multnomah County residents.
Guernsey, the County’s public health director, said that although the vaccination demand has slowed down, “We’ll be here when you’re ready.”
The County is still moving toward its goal of having 80% of Multnomah County residents receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. Guernsey presented the latest vaccination rates in the County, disaggregated by race and ethnicity:
- Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 99.9%
- White: 88.3%
- Asian: 85.7%
- Black/African American: 78.1%
- American Indian/Alaska Native: 77.8%
- Hispanic/Latinx: 68.1%
Reflecting on the last two years
At the end of the presentation, Dr. Vines and Guernsey reflected on the last two years of the pandemic and thanked the commissioners for their support.
“We sat down and tried to figure out a list of people to thank,” said Guernsey. “It was thousands and thousands of people.”
Those partners helped the Health Department:
- Conduct nearly 30,000 case investigations for COVID
- Lead more than 2,500 responses to outbreaks
- Administer nearly 53,000 vaccines, 60% of which reached people who identified as Black, Indigenous or People of Color.
- Hold 440 vaccine clinics
Board members thanked the presenters and highlighted the importance of the Health Department team throughout the last few years.
“You and your teams really deserve a whole lot of gratitude from everyone in our community for getting us to this point,” said Chair Deborah Kafoury.