Benton County added 108 cases of COVID-19 to its pandemic-wide case count this past week, which continues the downward trend in reported cases that the county has seen over the last six weeks. The county’s current test positivity rate is 2.9%, which is one of the lowest positivity rates in the state. People within the age range of 18- to 29-years-old continue to test positive more frequently for the virus compared to any other age group.
The state reported at least 9,297 cases of COVID in the past week, continuing Oregon’s declining case rate trend. Weekly case reports are now comparative to the highest weekly rates reported during Oregon’s second wave of the virus back in April and May.
Nationwide, the U.S. reported over 503,000 cases within the past week, which is the second straight week of increasing case reports since the start of September. Approximately 58.4% of all Americans have been fully vaccinated.
New Study on Vaccinations & Breakthrough Cases
As Oregon’s COVID-19 vaccination rate continues to increase compared to its lowest point during the summer, newly announced results of two studies strengthen reasons for those left unvaccinated to get their shots.
According to a review of both studies by CNN, one study that is looking at nearly 800,000 veterans who have received a variety of the three vaccines currently available in the U.S. found that all three vaccines protected against death in breakthrough cases. However, a current summary of findings of the ongoing research published in the journal Science, also reported a concerning decline in effective protection of vaccinated individuals over a six-month period. Researchers found that effectiveness of all three vaccines decreased significantly from March to September in the study participants, which may support the need of booster administration to vulnerable and elderly individuals.
While the study has also found that vaccines had a lower ability to protect against infection from the Delta variant compared to other variants, authors concluded that a decreased risk of death in infected individuals is reason to support vaccinations.
The second study, a collaborative project between the CDC and multiple medical universities throughout the country, was published over the weekend in the Journal of American Medical Association. This study followed over 4,500 hospitalized adults from 18 different states to evaluate the benefits of mRNA vaccination. The research group found that of the COVID-positive adults admitted, 85% of them were unvaccinated. Results of the study also indicated that the need of ventilator assistance to breathe, as well as death, were significantly higher amongst infected individuals who were not vaccinated.
Both of these newly published studies point to the benefits of vaccination, and its usefulness in beating the pandemic.
U.S. Reopens Travel to 33 Countries in Time for Holidays
Yesterday, the U.S. reopened travel to dozens of countries that have been on travel “ice” since the start of the pandemic. This is welcome news to people who have loved ones and family members across seas and are now able to reunite after nearly a year and a half of travel bans.
However, while thousands of people are eager to see family and plan trips abroad, there are also numerous concerns with the impending wave of travel in and out of the country. Multiple airlines have already been reporting pilot and labor shortages in the past few months, which have resulted in canceled flights across the country in October and the start of November. The anticipated increase in demand for flights will undoubtedly add pressure to the already struggling travel industry.
In addition, numerous countries where travel is now allowed to and from are still experiencing high infection rates, causing concern that the newly opened travel routes could bring more of the virus to the U.S. Anyone planning to travel to the U.S. will be required to show proof of full vaccination or a negative test, which is a policy enacted to protect travelers and the country from additional waves of COVID-19 while still allowing the economy to improve and families to reunite in time for the holidays.
This is a weekly column updating the residents of Benton County on local, national, and international news on the pandemic. If you would like to make suggestions of topics to cover related to the virus, please email any resources or thoughts to covidupdate@corvallisadvocate.com.
By: Lauren Zatkos
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