Feb. 17, 2021
Daniel Alrick had some pain in his arm after his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine but, he says, it was “no worse than a flu shot.”
“As a person with a disability, I felt very fortunate,” he says. “Everything was arranged; the only thing we were responsible for was transportation.”
He managed to carpool for the drive from Ashland to Medford, where he and everyone in his apartment was vaccinated.
“In our living situation, we have a lot of shared space. We were very proud that for all of the last year no one got the virus. It was good all getting vaccinated together.”
Daniel was one of several people with developmental disabilities we spoke with about getting vaccinated. As self-advocates, they help themselves and others make informed life choices.
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“There’s so many lies circulating about the vaccine,” says Gabrielle Guedon, “but our self-advocacy groups gave people the facts so they could make the right choice for themselves.”
She needed help navigating the process to get an appointment but says that after receiving the vaccine, “I feel less isolated.”
The fact that adults with developmental disabilities are prioritized in vaccine sequencing, she adds, “made me feel valued.”
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Sherri Osborn went with her provider to the Portland airport for her shot. A wait of more than three hours meant that they had to drive to a store to find a bathroom. “Move your arm around a lot, after,” she advises. “It helps with soreness.”
Eddie Plourdes is chair of the self-advocacy caucus of the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities. He used a wheelchair to travel the short distance from his care home to a clinic to get his first shot.
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He is passionate about getting the word out to people in the disability community that they are eligible for the vaccine but cautions, “We need to wear our masks till everybody is vaccinated.”
He is looking forward to the day when “I can see everybody’s smiles without their masks.”
Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities may be wondering how to get to a vaccine clinic. Here are some options for you:
- If you are enrolled in Oregon Health Plan (OHP), you can use Non-Emergent Medical Transportation (NEMT) to get to a clinic and get back home. Here is a map of NEMT brokerages. Generally, NEMT must be scheduled and authorized ahead of time. You can call the brokerages directly to schedule a ride.
- If you receive Medicaid-funded in-home support through the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services, you can ask your Medicaid-funded in-home provider to take you to a clinic and to wait with you at the clinic.
The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is able to replace food purchased with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits if there was a loss of food due to the recent power outages.
Food may be replaced for SNAP recipients who:
- Lost food due to a power outage, home damage or other misfortune
- Make a request to replace the food loss within 10 days of the date the food is destroyed in a household misfortune.
SNAP households that lost or tossed food that was unsafe to eat can request SNAP replacement benefits – but they need to do so within 10 days of the loss.
More information is available online.
There are five new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,143, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 473 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 151,257.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 15,790 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 10,653 doses were administered on Feb. 16 and 5,137 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Feb. 16.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 707,244 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 922,300 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today.
Severe weather is delaying COVID-19 vaccine shipments across the country. These weather-related issues may cause changes to daily number trends reported by OHA in its updates on the cumulative number of doses administered, the daily number of administered doses and the number of doses delivered to Oregon. OHA remains in regular contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure Oregon doses are safe.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (5), Benton (7), Clackamas (17), Clatsop (2), Columbia (3), Coos (10), Crook (2), Deschutes (50), Douglas (40), Grant (1), Harney (9), Hood River (6), Jackson (52), Jefferson (10), Josephine (13), Klamath (5), Lake (6), Lane (39), Lincoln (2), Linn (10), Malheur (15), Marion (25), Morrow (2), Multnomah (55), Polk (14), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (11), Union (8), Wallowa (2), Wasco (1), Washington (27) and Yamhill (19).
Oregon’s 2,139th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 26 and died on Feb. 14 at Asante Rogue Valley Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,140th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Lincoln County who tested positive on Jan. 28 and died on Feb. 15 at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,141st COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 15 and died on Feb. 12 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,142nd COVID-19 death is a 53-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 20 and died on Feb. 15 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,143rd COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Washington County who became symptomatic on Feb. 3 after contact with a confirmed case and died on Feb. 12 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 190, which is five fewer than yesterday. There are 44 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is seven fewer than yesterday. The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity. More information about hospital capacity can be found here.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.
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