Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

April 6, 2020

Staying socially connected while keeping our physical distance

We are going to move away from using “social distancing” to describe the ways we work together to slow the spread of COVID-19. Following the World Health Organization, we will shift to the term “physical distancing” to acknowledge that while it’s important to stay physically separated from each other, supporting each other socially is important to our health and well-being. Thanks for checking in on your friends and loved ones to help keep them socially connected during this time.

OHA posts interactive case and testing data on COVID-19 website

OHA today posted a new data dashboard to visualize the epidemic curve, which displays the number of cases by date of symptom onset, and a graph with the number of Oregonians tested per day. When people say we need to flatten the curve, the epidemic curve is what they’re talking about.

Governor Kate Brown’s Stay Home, Save Lives orders ask us to make sacrifices to slow the spread of COVID-19. We need to slow the spread because too many cases too soon could overwhelm our health system, leaving some patients unable to receive needed care. By spreading the cases over a longer period of time, or flattening the curve, our health system can better absorb them.

Watch the video below to learn more about how to understand this data.

Protecting yourself from COVID-19 if you have asthma

While we’re still learning about COVID-19, the CDC believes people with asthma may be at higher risk of serious illness related to COVID-19.  COVID-19 can affect your respiratory tract (nose, throat, lungs), cause an asthma attack, and possibly lead to pneumonia and acute respiratory disease. If you have asthma, here are steps you can take to protect your health:

Understanding coverage if you have Medicare

For those who have Medicare coverage, you should know that Medicare covers COVID-19 related needs.

• Medicare covers lab tests for COVID-19. You pay no out-of-pocket costs.
• It also covers all medically necessary hospitalizations. This includes if you're diagnosed with COVID-19 and might otherwise have been discharged from the hospital after an inpatient stay, but instead you need to stay in the hospital under quarantine.
• At this time, there's no vaccine for COVID-19. However, if one becomes available, it will be covered by all Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D).

If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, you have access to these same benefits. Medicare allows these plans to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 lab tests. Many plans offer additional telehealth benefits. Check with your plan about your coverage and costs.

We also want to remind you that scammers may use the coronavirus pandemic to take advantage of people. As always, guard your Medicare card like a credit card. Check Medicare claims summary forms for errors. And if someone calls asking for your Medicare number, hang up!

COVID-19 claims two more lives; Oregon reports 64 new cases

COVID-19 has claimed two more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 29, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 8 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority also reported 64 new cases of COVID-19 as of 8 a.m. today. The new COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (2), Clackamas (6), Columbia (2), Curry (2), Deschutes (1), Douglas (1), Jackson (6), Josephine (3), Klamath (3), Lane (2), Linn (1), Marion (11), Multnomah (10), Polk (2), Umatilla (1), Washington (12). Oregon Health Authority reports new cases once a day on its website: www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.

Oregon’s 28th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old male in Washington County, who tested positive on March 30 and died April 4, at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.

Oregon’s 29th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old female in Marion County, who died April 1 at her residence and tested positive on April 2. She had underlying medical conditions.

Update: The COVID-19 case data OHA publishes once a day on its website and shares once a day with the media are provisional and subject to change. A case reported yesterday as a Yamhill County case was later determined to be a Washington County case. The total number of new cases in Washington County is 12 to reflect this change. However, the case that moved from Yamhill County to Washington County is not reflected in the total of new cases statewide for today.