Today OHA announced that Oregon’s vaccine eligibility timeline is being moved up. On April 5, Group 7 will be eligible for vaccination. That includes frontline workers, people ages 16 to 44 with underlying conditions and people living in multigenerational homes. (See the linked infographic for definitions of frontline workers and underlying conditions.)

In more good news, the general population will still become eligible by May 1, but some counties may move that date up to April 26 if they confirm they are ready to move forward.

Here are more highlights from today’s announcement:  

• OHA expects to have enough supplies to meet the new timeline.  
• Approximately eight out of 10 people who are eligible for the vaccine in Oregon have received at least one vaccination and 25% of all people in Oregon have gotten at least one shot. The national average is 26%.  
• Cases and hospitalizations continue to drop. Our rolling seven-day case average of new cases as of yesterday was 315. That’s a decline of 73% since Jan. 1 and 52% since the beginning of February. Among U.S. states, Oregon is fourth lowest in cumulative daily cases per 100,000 people. 
• Oregon’s testing capacity exceeds the demand for testing. Since COVID-19 cases are decreasing, the need for testing has also decreased. And test positivity has decreased to a positivity rate of 2.2% as of March 14.   

To learn more, see the slides and the recording from today’s briefing.