Deputy Oregon state epidemiologist Dr. Tom Jeanne said a press conference today that COVID-19 cases are showing a steady rise in large part due to the BA.2 variant and the lifting of mask requirements, but he also said any peak will be substantially lower than seen with Delta or Omicron variants. Jeanne says that’s because the state is in a much different situation than a year ago, with a large part of the state vaccinated. He added Oregon Health Sciences University modeling at this time projects only a slight increase in hospitalizations. Jeanne also said the proportion of cases reported has likely declined in recent weeks with the wide-spread availability of in-home testing.