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April 16, 2020
Dear Neighbors and Friends:
I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and looking out for your neighbors and friends.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
***Please notice that I’m now using an exponential scale for the Y axis on this graph. Doing it this way allows for a more realistic sense of the upward curves of these three data points (positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths).
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 73 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 1,736.
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Total Tests: Today’s reported testing numbers reflect an increase of 1,587 test results from yesterday, bringing the total test results so far to 34,938.
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Ratio: Though the overall numbers are increasing, our ratio of positive results still remains right around 5%. That’s much lower than the national average (now over 20%).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report that yesterday’s death total has again hit the high mark of 6, bringing the total number of deaths in Oregon to 64.
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Hospitalized: The number of Oregonians who have been hospitalized with symptoms, and who have also tested positive for the disease, is now at 414. This is an increase of 13 from yesterday.
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Other Hospital Information:
- Available ICU Beds: 287 (a decrease of 20 from yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 2,163 (a decrease of 91 from yesterday)
- Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 307 (a increase of 2 from yesterday). Of those, 132 have already received a positive test back.
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 89 (6 fewer than yesterday)
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 43 (no change from yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 768 (26 fewer than yesterday)
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Today’s National Numbers:
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PPE: Nothing new to report.
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Other State Updates:
- The Governor did issue the executive order that I mentioned yesterday giving local governments the ability to meet remotely while providing for transparency and public participation, particularly with respect to budget hearings. It’s Executive Order 20-16.
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A senior loneliness line is now available statewide: 503-200-1633
- Oregon Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (ORVOAD) has sent a reminder that a great resource is the Disaster Distress Helpline, 1-800-985-5990, a 24/7, 365 day-per-year, national hotline.
Unemployment News: An Update and a Correction
Let me start with the correction. It was just pointed out to me much to my chagrin that the last time I provided the email address for people with questions for the Employment Department, somehow the address suffix was cut off. Here is the correct address--OED_COVID19_Info@oregon.gov--and again, it’s the best way to communicate with them right now. Someone will get back to you within a couple of days and no longer than a week. And that response time will go down. Read more here about contacting the department during this time.
We had a briefing with the department today and learned that they currently have 450 people processing claims (vs. the 100 that they had at the beginning of the emergency), and intend to hire 400 more. The normal 4-6 week training period for new claims workers has been reduced to 2 days. As you can imagine, the new employees are being used to process the simpler cases, but that will change.
According to the department director, they have managed to process half of the new claims they’ve received so far. They’re doing so at record pace, which I know is no consolation for those still waiting. The department director and unemployment manager did state once again that no one needs to worry about missing deadlines because of the slowness of the processing, and all benefits will be paid retroactively.
The computer programming for the $600 federal bonus has been completed, and those checks are going out to those whose claims have been processed. Oregon is actually one of the very first states to be processing those bonuses.
The amount of weekly benefits going out quadrupled last week from $23 million to $97 million.
The next round of programming is to include those who have traditionally not qualified for UI: the self-employed, independent contractors, gig workers. They are working on preparing the application now, based on the guidance that they’ve just received from the U.S. Dept. of Labor. It’s a very different process from the usual employer-based UI, so it’s tricky. They’re ultimately going to need tax info that they don’t usually ask for.
If you’re one of these workers and you’ve already tried to file an application, you’ve almost certainly been rejected or received an error message. That will be rectified when the reprogramming is completed. If you haven’t tried to file yet, please hold off on doing so until the new application form is ready. If you have already filed, they’ve promised to go back and look at all the applications that have been rejected, see if the rejection was due to their being part of this newly-qualifying category, and contact you for additional information. Unfortunately, your having attempted an application already won’t speed things up at all. Again, if you can keep things together financially until the benefits finally flow, they will be retroactive. In some extreme cases of those who were affected by the pandemic early, benefits in some cases could be retroactive to early February.
Once the reprogramming has been completed for these new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claimants, the computer programmers will begin to work on some new extensions of UI that the CARES Act provides, extending the amount of time that people remain eligible for benefits.
And then they’re planning to work on waiving the one-week waiting period requirement. To do so will apparently require some 4000 hours of programming time. Hopefully, it will then be retroactive for all claimants, but that’s not yet clear. I’ll let you know when they get to it and we hear more about it.
As I’ve mentioned before, our computer system is antiquated, in the middle of an overhaul, and very difficult to reprogram. But it is solid. Computer systems in many other states are experiencing multiple daily crashes. So, for what it’s worth, there’s some silver lining.
Finally, I know that there’s concern in the business community about the state of our UI trust fund. You may have seen in the media that some states are already just a few weeks away from insolvency and the prospect of having to borrow money from other state funds and ultimately a large increase in employer rates. Fortunately, our trust fund in Oregon is in good shape and is projected to remain so.
For some additional numbers and details, here is an email that I received today from the department.
Red Cross Looking for “Convalescent Plasma”
You may have heard that some promising therapeutic work is being pursued, using the plasma of those who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat those in the grips of the disease. I just received information from the American Red Cross about this new treatment. You can read about this new treatment here. Thousands of individuals who have recovered from COVID have already expressed interest in helping out in this way. If you or someone you knew might be eligible for the program, the website has a sign-up form for you to use.
Resources Available in American Sign Language
If you or someone you know uses ASL, let me steer you to a set of COVID-19 resources that are now available in American Sign Language via YouTube:
DHS will be hosting an online town hall tomorrow (4/17) at 12:30pm for Deaf and hard of hearing people with a Q & A about COVID-19, rumor control, and helpful resources and information. Presenters will include authorities from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Department of Human Services (DHS).
ASL interpreters and CART will be provided. Get more info and sign up here.
Want to See Past Newsletters?
If there was COVID-related information in a past newsletter that you want to go back to, but find you’ve deleted it, you can always go to my legislative website (www.senatordembrow.com), click on “News and Information,” and you’ll find them all there.
AND FINALLY,
Here again are some resources that you will find useful:
If the above links are not providing you with answers to your questions or directing you to the help that you need, please consider me and my office to be a resource. We’ll do our best to assist you or steer you in the right direction.
Best,
 Senator Michael Dembrow
District 23
email: Sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov
web: www.senatordembrow.com
phone: 503-986-1723
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301
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