August 17, 2022 4:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, staff with the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education provided updates on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to ensure Oregon schools can maintain in-person instruction during the upcoming school year.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA said hospitalizations of COVID-19-positive patients have continued to decline since July. Sidelinger also provided a fall vaccine update. Pending federal and state approvals, he said that Oregon should expect to receive supplies of bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters this fall from both Pfizer and Moderna. Sidelinger said these vaccines have been designed to target BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants and the original strain.
Colt Gill, director of ODE, outlined what families can expect with COVID-19 planning and in-person instruction for the academic year. Gill said “As we head into the coming year, we are holding strong to our North Star goal of providing equitable access to in-person instruction all day, every school day, for every student”.
Talking points and the video presentation are linked at www.541radio.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n9AYcUEjAc