November 5, 2020 4:00 a.m.

Oregon is seeing record numbers of COVID-19 cases.

The COVID-19 Weekly Report released by the Oregon Health Authority on Wednesday showed that during the week of Monday October 26th through Sunday November 1st, OHA recorded 3,542 new cases of COVID-19 infection. That is up 34 percent from the previous week’s tally of 2,642.

OHA said this is the second consecutive week that daily case counts have set a record high for the pandemic.

The number of newly tested Oregonians rose to 34,591 and the percentage of positive tests rose sharply to 8.4 percent.

37 Oregonians were reported to have died in association with COVID-19, compared to 27 the previous week. 160 people were hospitalized.

OHA said people aged 20-49 account for the largest percentage of infection at 56 percent, despite accounting for 39 percent of the total population. Persons under age 30 accounted for 38 percent of the cases.

People over age 80 accounted for 50 percent of the COVID-19 associated deaths while people over age 70 accounted for 74 percent of the deaths associated with the illness.

OHA said schools are not major drivers of COVID-19 spread across Oregon. Cases are appearing at schools because there is more community spread. 13 schools providing in-person instruction had at least one case in a student, staff member or volunteer that attended or worked during their infectious exposure period.

The weekly report is posted in a link with this story at www.541radio.com: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/DISEASESCONDITIONS/DISEASESAZ/Emerging%20Respitory%20Infections/Weekly-COVID-19-Report.pdf