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Jackson County reports 359 new COVID-19 cases By Vickie Aldous Updated: Jan 28, 2022 05:49 PM A A OHSU lowers peak hospitalization forecast Jackson County reported 359 new COVID-19 cases Friday and two more COVID-19-related deaths. Josephine County reported 128 new cases and no new deaths. The state logged 7,222 new cases Friday and 19 COVID-19-related deaths. The number of people in Oregon hospitals with the virus was 1,125 Friday, slightly down from 1,130 patients Thursday. Oregon Health & Science University issued a new COVID-19 hospitalization forecast Friday, predicting a peak of 1,220 people hospitalized by Feb. 6. That number is slightly higher than the previous pandemic high of 1,178 people hospitalized Sept. 1, 2021, during the summer and fall surge driven by the delta variant. That surge overloaded hospitals, especially in the Rogue Valley. OHSU’s latest hospitalization forecast is good news compared to the previous forecast, which predicted 1,550 hospitalized COVID-19 patients by Feb. 2. However, OHSU said hospitals will remain under severe strain for the next week. “The current number of hospitalized patients in Oregon is at near-record levels,” said Peter Graven, director of the OHSU Office of Advanced Analytics. “Hospitals have very little space right now to handle new cases of COVID-19 on top of what they’re already dealing with. Our hospitals and health care workers remain under severe strain.” Graven said Oregonians have been helping to hold down the hospitalization numbers by maintaining relatively high rates of masking and gathering less often in groups indoors. Compared to other states, Oregonians have been taking more steps to keep hospital beds open for people needing treatment for COVID-19 and other health problems, Graven said. The Portland region may have already hit a plateau. COVID-19 hospitalizations stopped skyrocketing there Jan. 20 and have been bouncing up and down slightly since then, according to state hospitalization data. Rogue Valley hospitalizations started spiking later than than Portland area and took their first notable dip in two weeks Friday, dropping from 145 Thursday to 137 Friday. Salem region COVID-19 hospitalizations were up slightly Friday, while the Eugene and Roseburg region and Central Oregon saw small downturns. Hospitals in the six-county Salem region were 98.9% full Friday, with only seven open beds for the entire area. The Salem region has spent weeks with virtually no open beds. On Friday, hospitals were 92.8% full in the Rogue Valley, 98% full in the Portland region, 86.7% full in the Eugene and Roseburg region, and 84.7% full in the Central Oregon region, according to hospitalization data. Hospitals generally run at 60%-70% capacity in normal times, health experts say. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.