ENTERPRISE The Oregon Health Authority has reported a new COVID-19-related death in Wallowa County, the first the agency has listed that occurred in 2022.

The death, originally reported March 11, was of a 98-year-old woman who died Jan 23, just 11 days after contracting the illness. She had underlying conditions, according to the OHA.

It’s the 15th death of a Wallowa County resident that is attributed or linked to COVID-19, though one of those has been disputed by the family.

COVID-19 cases have taken a sharp drop since the January omicron spike.

As of March 28, there have been 1,251 cases in two years of the pandemic in Wallowa County. After more than 330 cases in January, the numbers have drastically decreased. There were 99 cases in February, and through the first 27 days of March, there have been just 19 cases.

The OHA on March 23 also reported one COVID-19 hospitalization in Region 9, the lowest number seen in the combined region of Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker and Malheur counties since July 9, 2021. The number of cases was at two on March 28. The last time there was nobody in a Region 9 hospital with COVID-19 was July 8 of last year.

Overall, the number of patients in Oregon hospitals with COVID is down to 118, and 15 in intensive care, according to an update released March 28. Overall, the pandemic has seen 703,132 cases of COVID-19 reported by the OHA, and 7,074 deaths.

While COVID cases have decreased, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered since the start of the year has taken a drastic drop, as well.

On Dec. 31, there were 4,112 first doses administered to adults in the county, a rate of 72.2%. There had also been 3,849 adults to get a completed series, and 2,030 booster doses administered to adults

Since the calendar turned to 2022, there have been just 50 additional first doses given to adults, 41 doses administered to complete a series, and 294 booster doses, as of March 25.

In the overall population, there have been 4,485 first doses administered, a clip of 62.6%, as of March 25. There are also 4,168 who have had a completed series, and 2,368 boosted.