Clackamas County Sees Bump In COVID-19 Cases; Pediatric Cases Increasing

OREGON CITY, Ore. – Clackamas County’s COVID-19 curve has hit a bump, “Our case count the past week did go up a little bit. It’s disappointing, but were’ really hoping the state’s forecasts continue to go downward.”

Public Health Director Philip Mason-Joyner says one of the problems is an increase in pediatric cases, “We’re seeing an increase in youth who are testing positive for COVID-19. The good news is that we aren’t seeing significant severe illness or hospitalization within this population at this time.”

At last count, pediatric cases made up 166 per 100,000 of the County’s cases. That’s compared to about 22 percent of statewide cases.

Of the pediatric cases, 52% were symptomatic, about 11 percent were asymptomatic, and almost 37 percent had unknown symptom status, “For pediactric…it looks like just around half dozen youth remain hospitalized. So, it still remains low. It’s not an area of concern at this point.”

Mason-Joyner also reports the county lags behind the state when it comes to vaccination rate, “We are close to 270,000 residents who have received at least one dose. We’re hovering around 73 percent (of adults vaccinated). The state is at 75 percent.”