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April 29, 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.
We return to a bit of normalcy today with ballots for the May primary starting to arrive in our mailboxes. Oregon is of course better prepared to handle an election during a pandemic than most states are, thanks to our experience and comfort with vote by mail. We’re actually even better prepared than ever this year because last year the Legislature passed SB 861, which relieves voters of having to purchase and find the stamp needed to mail their ballot back in. Very convenient for these times.
(OK, point of personal privilege and pride: I was the lead chief sponsor of SB 861, as I was for past attempts. It took us several sessions to pass the legislation, working closely with the dogged, inspiring young advocates at NextUp (previously known as The Bus Project) and my curmudgeonly staffer Logan Gilles, who still claims that the idea originated with a conversation he had with his cousin over beers years ago.)
Still, there will be those of you who will wait until the last minute to turn your ballot, till it’s too late to mail it stamp or no stamp. If you’re in Multnomah County, you’ll probably start heading to your local library to put it in the drop box there and then remember that the library is still closed for the pandemic (assuming that libraries haven’t reopened by mid-May). What do you do? Well, if you go to Multnomah County Elections, you’ll find the following advisory: Libraries may be closed due to COVID-19. If the library is closed when you drop your ballot off, please use the 24-hour book drop box at the library to deposit your ballot (no books please). Ballots will be picked up from library and 24-hour drop sites on a regular schedule.
So convenient!
No long reports in this newsletter, just a briefing from DHS and a few scattered updates. Tomorrow’s newsletter will include a lot of information about the May 1 reopening of medical and surgical procedures. Legislators will be getting a detailed briefing on that tomorrow. As you can imagine, I’m getting A LOT of questions about it.
As you’ll see from the numbers and graphs, we remain on the COVID plateau.
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 me to keep all three in a single graph and allows for a more realistic sense of the upward curves of the three data points (positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths).
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 61 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 2,446.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 54,472 That’s an increase of just 2,230 tests, back up to the increases we were seeing.
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Ratio: The percentage to-date of positive results is now at 4.5%. That remains much lower than the national average, which is inching down, but still just over 17% (but looking at yesterday alone, the national % was just under 12%).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report that 2 more Oregonians have died from the disease. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now 101.
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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 569. This is an increase of 4 from yesterday.
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Other Hospital Information:
- Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 227 (a decrease of 16 from yesterday). Of those, 102 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 286 (a decrease of 7 from yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 2,029 (a decrease of 20 from yesterday)
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 56 (9 fewer than yesterday)
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 24 (4 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 780 (4 fewer than yesterday)
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Today’s National Numbers:
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PPE:
- In the last 24 hours the Emergency Coordination Center has received 123,500 surgical masks, 85,150 N95 respirator masks, 97,640 face shields, and 200 pairs of gloves.
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Additional Quick Updates:
- If you want more information about daily cases, including the ages and locations of those who have died, you can check out the OHA’s daily COVID news releases. You can find them here.
- Yesterday I provided the link to the Department of Corrections new tracking page. Today they’ve added some additional features to the tracking report: they’re reporting the number of adults in custody in quarantine or medical isolation, as well as the severity level of each institution on a scale of 1-5. (Most are at 1, two are at 4.)
- The Department of Revenue has just announced that businesses projected to owe less than $10,000 in the new corporate activities tax (CAT), which the Legislature passed in order to fund schools, will not have to make quarterly estimated payments in advance of the April 2021 tax deadline. DOR also has indicated that it will exercise flexibility (i.e., potentially waiving penalties and interest) in dealing with companies that are having difficulty estimating their projected revenues for their quarterly payments this year. Read more about it here.
- I mentioned yesterday that there was a COVID outbreak at a food-processing plant in Linn County (Albany, to be specific). Here is more detail from the local paper, the Albany Herald-Democrat.
- Portland Literary Arts has set up a 100,000 fund to provide support for writers in need of help. 100 writers will receive $1,000 each. For more information, here's an article about it in today’s Oregonian.
Additional Daily Graphs:
A Report from DHS
Legislators had a phone meeting with the DHS Director Fariborz Pakseresht today in which we heard about the latest impacts of the pandemic on seniors, people with disabilities, and groups requiring various aspects of the social safety net.
Most troubling at this point is the effect of the virus on those older, medically vulnerable people living in senior care facilities. Although only 4% of Oregon’s many care facilities have had COVID cases, several of those have been hit hard. And the numbers of cases are growing. Director Pakseresht made a comment related to something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately: while we seem to have flattened the upward curve of infection increases, that is not happening for those living in congregate care. Those numbers are on a steep increase: from 293 to 383 cases in the last week, a 31% increase and rising. More than half of all deaths are among seniors in long-term care. As the state begins to reopen workplaces and allow social gatherings, it’s essential that we protect those living in congregate care and the people who work with them.
The facility that has been hit hardest so far is Healthcare at Foster Creek in southeast Multnomah County. Yesterday’s weekly report reports 101 total cases (residents and staff) and 22 deaths there. The agency has largely cleared out the facility, sending the remaining residents to safer locations, and putting the facility on notice for potential closure. (They must show that it will be safe for them to resume future operations by May 17 or lose their state and federal licenses.) Multnomah County is also very involved in this oversight process. To see the list of all facilities with three or more reported cases or one or more deaths, go to the weekly report.
Among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in group homes, there have been three facilities with three or more infections and five individual homes with one case each. No deaths, fortunately.
On a more optimistic note, there have been no positive COVID test results for any of the children in child welfare. (23 children have been tested so far with no positive results reported.)
On the “self-sufficiency” front, the Director reported that SNAP applications have increased by 400% over a year ago. They’ve had some cases in which individuals have been unsuccessful in using the SNAP mail order feature. The reason for that is that for now at least, the federal program only works with Walmart and Amazon. It also does not cover mail order handling fees—those (unfortunately) remain the responsibility of SNAP users, even if they are housebound.
Finally, the Director reported that for now at least the federal government has determined that the new $600 per week unemployment bonus is part of the income calculation that determines whether or not a household qualifies for SNAP or other benefits.
How Are Gas Stations Doing These Days?
ODOT reported last week that its surveys are revealing a 40% reduction in Vehicle Miles Traveled in Oregon. If you were to guess that this means people are buying less gasoline and diesel, well, you’d be right! We just received information today from the Oregon Fuels Association, which represents Oregon’s locally-owned gas stations. Here are the highlights of what they’re reporting:
- Fuel demand has dropped to levels not seen since 1968, and over half of member retail stations are down at least 50% in volume sold.
- 13% of members have had to completely close gas stations.
- 75% of stations have dramatically cut hours of operation.
- 76% of stations say that they have transitioned to self-service, either the attended or unattended self-service options.
- Nearly 90% of OFA members report that it has been very difficult to find replacement employees for those unable to come to work.
True confessions: I’m enjoying the environmental and qualify-of-life benefits of having fewer vehicles on the road, and I’m sure the same is true for many of you. But it’s clear that many of these businesses are hurting, the cost of their product is on a roller coaster, and the future is very uncertain.
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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