Sept. 8, 2021
On Oct. 12 last year, Jeff Gilbert, was notified he had five days to come up with a way to provide three meals a day to hundreds of wildfire survivors.
“Five days notification!” Gilbert exclaimed.
Gilbert is a Regional Emergency Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services Emergency Management Unit. He also serves as the Feeding and Shelter Task Force leader and coordinates the food supply and chain of delivery. Gilbert was asked to take over the meals operation from the Red Cross, which comes in at the start of a disaster for a limited time.
Gilbert and his FEMA partner Chris Aronen cold-called almost every restaurant, food truck, wholesale food service – anyone with a commercial kitchen that serves or delivers food – in every Oregon county affected by wildfire. He finally secured five food vendors* that have by now served 1.4 million meals to wildfire survivors, PGE linemen and at vaccination sites.
The Kitchen on Court Street in Salem, is one of the vendors that has stepped up to help with hot meals and food boxes. The Kitchen also provided 1,800 meals for the PGE linemen in Salem during last year’s ice storm.
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Gilbert praises the Kitchen duo, “The Kitchen has really stepped up. I don’t care how urgent or how many meals or food boxes we need and in how short of a time, Bernard and Jim will show up. In the ice storm we received an urgent request – all the 600 PGE linemen needed food. I called Bernard. He only asked what type of meals they wanted, and he was like, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’ This is a mission for them. It’s a calling. You’ll hear them say this is their way to give back. This is how they show their love towards others who have lost so much. In our world that’s rare.”
*The other four vendors are: Rogue Food Unites, which serves Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties; Cravings Fine Foods Catering, which serves Lane County; B’Nai B’irth Camp, which serves Lincoln County; and The Salvation Army, which serves Benton, Linn, Marion and Multnomah counties.
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Did you recently decide to get the COVID-19 vaccine? Were you hesitant about getting the vaccine? We would love to hear your story.
Let us know what your experience has been by filling out the survey at this link. You can also upload a photo that we can include. We’ll share some of the stories in upcoming newsletters.
Wildfire smoke is affecting air quality in parts of Oregon. Here are some tips for cleaner air indoors during wildfires:
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Keep windows and doors closed.
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Run an air conditioner (if you have one) with the intake closed.
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Run a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter or a non-ozone producing electro-static precipitator (ESP).
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Don't use anything that burns, like candles or gas stoves.
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Refrain from vacuuming or doing other activities that stir up dust.
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Find a clean air space in your community.
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Remember that cloth face masks aren’t effective for smoke. N95 or P100 respirators may offer some protection against wildfire smoke if properly tested and worn.
We also want to acknowledge the importance of taking care of your mental health in stressful situations like these. For resources, visit safestrongoregon.org.
Or you can download the free OregonAIR app to your smartphone. You can also sign up for emergency alerts at www.ORAlert.gov.
Since federal benefit programs ended Sept. 4, you may be looking for help. The Oregon Employment Department has put together a resources webpage where you can find out about programs and services available to you, like SNAP, rental and housing help, small business assistance and more.
Tracking the seven-day average number of COVID-19 positive patients at individual hospitals can provide more local information about the burden of COVID-19 on these facilities.
The new dashboard shows all Oregon hospitals that are reporting COVID-19 positive patients in hospital beds, including ICU beds, and it allows for searching by individual counties.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently.
• Samples for 407,454 tests have been reported positive.
• Samples for 6,078,438 tests have been reported negative.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 1,138, which is two fewer than yesterday. There are 297 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is three fewer than yesterday.
There are 43 available adult ICU beds out of 640 total (7% availability) and 343 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,336 (8% availability).
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.
Note: Please do not visit an emergency department for COVID-19 testing, unless you require emergency care for your symptoms.
Emergency departments in Oregon are under significant strain responding to the current surge in COVID-19. You can find a test here.
If you have a medical condition that doesn’t require emergency care, contact your provider. An urgent care center may also help you get the care you need and will save emergency departments from added strain.
Today, OHA reported that 7,437 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry on Sept. 7. Of this total, 4,775 were administered on Sept. 7: 2,201 were initial doses and 1,993 were second doses. The remaining 2,698 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Sept. 7.
The seven-day running average is now 8,641 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered 2,858,274 first and second doses of Pfizer Comirnaty, 1,862,451 first and second doses of Moderna and 203,716 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
As of today, 2,665,184 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,430,793 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series.
These data are preliminary and subject to change.
Updated vaccination data are provided on Oregon’s COVID-19 data dashboards and have been updated today.
Note: Due to the holiday, most reports will come out one day later. Therefore, the COVID-19 weekly cases, hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths rise data captured in the COVID-19 Weekly and the COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Reports will be published tomorrow.
Cases and COVID-19 deaths
Oregon Health Authority reported 2,352 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 291,978. The new cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (13), Benton (40), Clackamas (137), Clatsop (6), Columbia (18), Coos (154), Crook (30), Curry (37), Deschutes (86), Douglas (132), Gilliam (2), Grant (2), Harney (19), Hood River (5), Jackson (201), Jefferson (8), Josephine (86), Klamath (85), Lake (21), Lane (142), Lincoln (12), Linn (118), Malheur (82), Marion (257), Morrow (6), Multnomah (147), Polk (64), Tillamook (15), Umatilla (115), Union (7), Wallowa (2), Wasco (29), Washington (135) and Yamhill (139).
There are 47 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 3,373. More information on today's reported COVID-19 related deaths will be provided in an updated version of today's news release here: oregon.gov/oha/erd/pages/covid-19-news.aspx
For more information, visit healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
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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