Coronavirus Update: Governor Announces New Guidance for Reopening Oregon

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: Governor Announces New Guidance for Reopening Oregon

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Today is May Day, a day when many cultures celebrate the arrival of spring, and a day when many stand in solidarity with workers all across the world.

Whatever you’re celebrating, this might be the most difficult May Day any of us will ever experience. A day that would normally be reserved for peaceful rallies to support hard-working people around the globe can’t happen as normal. There are too many people who are out of work due to circumstances beyond their control, or frontline workers whose jobs are more stressful and dangerous than ever before.

To all workers, I say thank you for all you’re doing to keep our state running, especially during this difficult time. I especially want to express my gratitude for workers in hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stores, and farm fields. These are scary times, and we all appreciate your simple courage of just showing up.

If your employer is not following state guidance around physical distancing or other safety standards, you can file a complaint with Oregon Occupational Safety and Health here.

The Employment Department is now accepting unemployment claims for self-employed, contract, and gig workers not eligible for regular unemployment benefits. Learn more information and start the application process here.

And last week, the Emergency Board allocated $10 million to establish an Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which will be a community-based wage assistance program for laid off workers who do not qualify for unemployment benefits due to immigration status or other factors. I hope to have more updates soon on how qualifying workers can apply for this help.

And remember, while this is taking longer than anyone wants, the data shows we are winning this fight. We just need to stay the course.

New Guidance on Testing and Contact Tracing

Governor Brown announced new plans for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, two essential aspects of safely reopening Oregon.

The state has been working toward being able to administer 15,000 tests per week and has recently expanded guidance on who can be tested. In an ideal world, every person in the state could be tested. But testing capacity has been limited nationwide, and I credit the Governor, her staff and public health officials for doing all they can to get us to this point.

The plan expands Oregon’s testing criteria so that people who can now be tested includes every Oregonian who is symptomatic (within 48-72 hours) and asymptomatic individuals in group living situations where COVID-19 is suspected. More details on testing, including testing information by region, is available here.

I discussed contact tracing in my Wednesday newsletter, which can be found here. Oregon plans to hire 600 contact tracers to identify who has coronavirus and find out who else may have been exposed by contact with those people.

Additionally, the State of Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Health and Science University, and the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health are coordinating on a plan to better understand where the disease is located, how common it is, and how it might be transmitted across the state. It is called the “Key to Oregon” study. More information can also be found at www.ohsu.edu/keystudy.

The program is seeking 100,000 Oregonians to volunteer for this study, which will provide critical baseline data about the virus in Oregon and how it behaves to help us make informed, data-driven decisions to manage through this pandemic until a vaccine is widely available.

Other key takeaways from the Governor’s press conference today are that May 15 is the first possible date a county with near-zero cases and no hospitalizations might be allowed to reopen certain businesses and places of worship. She also said it is too soon to determine when Portland-area counties might move past Stay Home, Save Lives.

More information on the Governor’s new guidance is available here.


The Latest News

  • The Oregon Health Authority announced 69 new diagnosed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 2,579. Sadly, one more person has passed away, meaning 104 people in Oregon have died from the coronavirus. Nationwide, more than 65,000 people have died and there have been more than 1.13 million diagnosed cases.

OHA COVID-19 Update 050120

OHA Hospital Capacity Update 5-1-2020

Non-Emergency Medical Procedures in Effect Today

Last week, Governor Brown announced the guidelines under which hospitals, surgical centers, medical offices, and dental offices could return to operation. Those guidelines go into effect today.

The original outline from the Governor stated that medical providers will need to demonstrate they have the ability to:

  • Minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission to patients and health care workers;
  • Maintain adequate hospital capacity in the event of a surge in COVID-19 cases; and
  • Support the health care workforce in safely resuming activities.

More specific details are now available at the links below:


What Kind of Oregon Do We Want to Be?

Two recent articles highlight really problematic things happening during this pandemic when it comes to promoting our common humanity. The coronavirus doesn’t discriminate, and everyone is making sacrifices and doing their part. But some new data says we have things to fix.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported yesterday that data from the Oregon Department of Justice indicates there has been a 366% increase in hate and bias incidents reports this year compared to the same time frame in 2019. Data also indicates that Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have been particularly targeted in the wake of this pandemic, and the story includes some appalling details of racial harassment (credit to OPB for the graphic below).


OPB DOJ Hate Crime Data 050120

There is never an excuse for this kind of behavior. I encourage anyone who hears discriminatory language, in reference to coronavirus or otherwise, to call it out in the moment. These times are so difficult for so many. In order to get through this, it’s essential that we come together and don’t let these circumstances divide us further.

As a reminder, If you or someone you know has witnessed this kind of racial bigotry, you can report incidents to the Oregon Department of Justice’s online reporting for a bias or hate crime here, or call 1-844-924-2427.

I’m also unhappy about the state data showing racial disparities among Oregonians who have been diagnosed with coronavirus. Since the OHA has been publishing this data, the Latinx community has gone from 22% of statewide diagnosed coronavirus cases to 27% (even though this community is only about 13% of the state’s population). The Oregonian has more detailed data on the disproportionate impact by county here.

There are a number of reasons for this, such as people of color disproportionally perform at-risk essential functions and they have less access to health care when they need it. Let’s hope this pandemic is an opportunity to protect all workers and make sure every Oregonian has access to the care they need. I was pleased to see OSHA released new temporary rules to protect farmworkers. Lastly, I will continue to push the state to make sure prevention messages are reaching every community regardless of first language.


BottleDrop Saga in North Portland

I’ve been really frustrated by what’s been happening at the Delta Park BottleDrop facility in my district. The landlord has hired armed guards to make it more challenging for people returning bottles and cans for cash deposits. The Willamette Week covered it here.

Access to cash from returns makes a huge difference to a lot of people. Grocery stores don’t have to take returns for another month, and with all they’re handling, it’s not surprising they can’t handle returns at the moment. I’ve been working to figure out how some temporary return options can be set up so returns can be easier in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, now is not the time to make things more difficult for people attempting to recycle. The BottleDrop in North Portland implemented physical distancing measures early in the pandemic, but the lines are bothering people (more on that here). The presence of armed security guards is in itself intimidating, and I’m going to work to ensure that no one is discriminated against while utilizing this service.


To read past newsletters, you can go to this link. For up to date information, please check this link to the Oregon Health Authority where regular updates are posted: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ERD/Pages/News-Releases.aspx

Please email me at Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov if you have specific concerns that have not been addressed by the OHA. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.

Thank you for reading! We will get through this together.

Stay Home, Save Lives Graphic

Best,

Tina

Tina Kotek

State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House

email: Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek