Peter Graven, Ph.D., says while omicron infections tend to be less severe and hospital stays tend to be shorter, the variant's sheer transmissibility means a steep increase in hospitalization over the next few weeks.

Oregon Health & Science University's COVID-19 testing site at the Portland Expo Center has been open since March 2020. OHSU started testing at the beginning of the pandemic, and they haven't stop since day one. "We thought we would do the spring, maybe into summer do a few months and we’d be done," said Debbie Lamberger, who runs the drive-thru clinic which is now six lanes wide. "Right now, the demand is as high as we've ever seen it. Much like we saw at the peak of Delta.

In an interview with KPTV regarding increased demand for testing, Debbie Lamberger says: "We thought we would do the spring, maybe into summer do a few months and we’d be done. Right now, the demand is as high as we've ever seen it. Much like we saw at the peak of delta."

A pediatrician at the Oregon Health & Science University says research shows the Omicron-variant is more transmissible than other variants, specifically through airborne spread.

With Oregon Health & Science University’s statewide forecast predicting that the total number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients could soon exceed the delta wave peak, hospitals are yet again revisiting their surge capacity plans and OHA is preparing to roll out new crisis standards of care.

University of Portland announces it will require booster shots spring term; Peter Graven, Ph.D., says: "We’re all predicting, and I was in a meeting this morning with all the health care systems in the region, that within these next 7 to 14 days we should see things take off in a near-linear straight line up.”

Eliza Hayes Bakken, M.D., tells KPTV the omicron-variant is more transmissible than other variants, specifically through airborne spread, and an extra layer of filtration from the K-N95 masks may improve statewide efforts in reducing its spread: “So, the surgical masks, the K-N95 or the K-F-94s coming from other countries and meant to be medical masks – they are built to have more filtration in them. The cloth, a weave of fabric, is going to be looser than the weave of a filter of a surgical grade mask. Those little particles that are airborne can still get through the cloth mask and be spread.”

OHSU's Maria Fleseriu, M.D., speaks with Medpage Today about the FDA approval of Levoketoconazole (Recorlev) to treat Cushing's syndrome. Fleseriu says: "In prospective clinical studies, treatment with levoketoconazole was shown to be effective for reducing and normalizing cortisol."

To help educate students about sun safety and skin cancer detection and prevention, OHSU has developed a free 50-minute lesson plan for high schools.

The current retrospective double-cohort study was conducted at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).