Oregon on Thursday, Jan. 13 had the unhappy distinction of having the fastest rising rate of new COVID-19 infections of all 50 states, new dat…

The highly contagious COVID-19 delta variant has caused a steep increase in the number of infections in Oregon — but with different impacts across the state.

Oregon is once against scrambling its priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations, with some seniors’ priority pushed from this weekend to March.

Oregon faces an “exponential growth” in COVID-19 cases if current trends continue, with ever rising numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

“We have troubling news,” said Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen in presenting the state’s updated forecast on the pandemic Friday.

The state issued three forecast scenarios.

The number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Oregon increased to 19 after the Oregon Health Authority on Wednesday announced four new cases in various parts of the state.