More people in Oregon died this past month than typically expected in mid-March and early April, and experts say fewer than half were linked to the coronavirus.
Data released by state health officials show that 245 more Oregonians died during the five weeks between March 16 and April 19 than in previous years. Of that, 78 people died due to the coronavirus, but it is “unclear if other fallout from the pandemic, including a fear of seeking health care, played a [role] in the other 167 deaths,” according to the Oregonian.
“Nearly all the above-average deaths occurred at home, among Oregonians both receiving and not receiving hospice care,” the report noted.
The first week of April saw 47% of Oregon’s deaths occur at home, which amounts to 7 percentage points more than the three-year average. As deaths at home increased, the share of residents dying in hospitals declined, the report stated.
“The percentages of deaths that are occurring at home are higher,” section manager of the Center for Health Statistics within the state health authority, Jennifer Woodward, said.
It is not expected that the majority of people dying at home were infected with the coronavirus.
“Hospitals know to test someone who arrives and dies either without a clear diagnosis or with reason to believe they had a viral illness that preceded their death,” a Portland doctor, Jennifer Vines, said. “The same advice goes for our county medical examiners who have test kits to use under the same circumstances for the deaths they investigate.”
