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May 12, 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.
Two pieces of great news today: no deaths to report, and for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic no new hospitalizations. We can’t count on this lasting, but these days every bit of good news is something to savor.
We’re just a couple of days away from hearing which counties will be able to begin their Phase One reopening process this Friday. As you’ll see below, nearly every county outside the Portland Metro area has submitted a proposal for reopening, and the Governor will be announcing her decisions on the first wave of counties on Thursday.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 61 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 3,283.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 79,595. That’s an increase of 2,053 tests.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 3.0%. That’s still lower than today’s 7.4% national percentage. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily ratio changes over the last 14 days.
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Deaths: I’m very happy to report 0 deaths due to the virus today. The total number of deaths in Oregon remains at 130.
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Hospitalized: The number of Oregonians who have been hospitalized with symptoms, and who have also tested positive for the disease, remains at 673. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, we have no new hospital admissions for COVID.
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Presumptive Cases: OHA is now including “presumptive COVID-19 cases” in its daily reports, consistent with recently amended guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A presumptive case is someone who does not yet have a positive PCR test result but is showing symptoms and has had close contact with a confirmed case. If they later test positive by PCR, those will be recategorized as confirmed cases. Today the number of new presumptive cases is 11, with the total at 64.
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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): 165 (an increase of 2 from yesterday). Of those, 57 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 195 (a decrease of 70 from yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 1,725 (a decrease of 2 from yesterday)
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 39 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 25 (2 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 771 (15 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 no additional PPE.
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Other Brief Updates:
- We’ve heard many anecdotal complaints about the way that the federal Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program has been working. Now, the agency’s own Inspector-General has issued a report showing ways in which the program could do better. You can read it here.
- May 14 is the deadline for anyone who has not yet received their stimulus payment and wants to get their bank information to the IRS for a quick direct deposit. You can do that by visiting the Get My Payment tool.
Want to Be a Contact Tracer?
As promised, the OHA has just put a form on its website allowing people to express interest in becoming contact tracing and learning more about it. If you do decide to fill out the form, your interest will be communicated to your local health authority, which will be doing the actual hiring. Thanks for stepping up to do this important work, and good luck!
This Week’s OHA Weekly Report
This week’s weekly report has just been released and posted on the OHA website. It again provides a weekly look at the numbers by county, by zip code, by racial/ethnic group, and by underlying medical condition and symptom. You’ll find information on recovery rates and a full list of those senior residences with three or more cases and/or one death. There’s also an interesting discussion of how to assess the data as we begin to embark on reopening.
If you look at the results by zip code, you’ll see more zip codes with higher (20 or more) positive cases per 10,000 residents than were shown last week. Does this mean that we have more small “hot spots” popping up? I’ll see if I can find the answer to that.
Nearly All Counties Have Applied for Phase One Reopening; Responses Coming Thursday
In yesterday’s newsletter, I listed the 24 counties that had applied for Phase One reopening and were listed as being under consideration on the Governor's COVID website as of 6pm. Within minutes after finishing the newsletter, an additional 8 counties were posted.
All but four counties are now under consideration, i.e., all but the three large Portland-area counties (Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas) and Lincoln County on the coast. They are being processed in order of receipt. The OHA is hoping to have recommendations to the Governor and her medical advisors by the end of today for those that came in first. In some cases, we may see the approval conditioned upon specified changes and/or additions.
The Governor is planning to announce the first county reopenings during a press conference on Thursday. (Counties will be notified of her decision in advance.)
The lawyers are still working on the final language of the Reopening Executive Order.
The new counties are in boldface:
- Baker County
- Benton County
- Clatsop County
- Columbia County
- Coos County
- Crook County
- Curry County
- Deschutes County
- Douglas County
- Gilliam County
- Grant County
- Harney County
- Hood River County
- Jackson County
- Jefferson County
- Josephine County
- Klamath County
- Lake County
- Lane County
- Linn County
- Malheur County
- Marion County
- Morrow County
- Polk County
- Sherman County
- Tillamook County
- Umatilla County
- Union County
- Wallowa County
- Wasco County
- Wheeler County
- Yamhill County
Here’s a link to Saturday's newsletter, where I included the current metrics on each of the counties.
U.S. House of Representatives Unveils CARES 3.0: The “HEROES” Act
State and local governments are waiting impatiently for the next round of federal funding, hoping that it will include dollars to help us deal with looming budget shortfalls. As I mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, our Governor, Speaker of the House, and President of the Senate joined their counterparts in the Western States Pact (Washington, California, Nevada, and Colorado) in sending a letter to Congressional leadership requesting a $1 trillion investment in state and local governments. Last night, Speaker Pelosi introduced a House proposal that would do just that.
The bill is known as the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, which is, yes, the HEROES Act. It includes the following elements:
- $1 trillion for state and local governments (including school districts and public colleges) to maintain essential services.
- Another round of stimulus payments, increased to $1200 (including for up to 3 dependents) for a potential $6000 per household, and removing some barriers to qualifying.
- Funding to support the U.S. Postal Service and allow states to transition to mail- ballot elections.
- An extra $75 billion for testing and tracing.
- $200 billion in hazard pay payments to essential workers who have been putting their lives at risk during the pandemic.
- Extension of the $600 per week UI supplement.
- Added funding for small businesses.
Here is a one-pager from the House Appropriations Committee that provides more elements.
I’m sure that many of you will have the same reaction that I do: Sounds good to me! Get it done! But unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It will probably pass this week or early next week in the House on a largely party-line vote. Meanwhile, senators are wrestling with their own competing versions of a relief package. It seems likely that the House, Senate, and President won’t be able to settle on a compromise until after Memorial Day. Obviously, the sooner they can get it done and the sooner we know what we’ll be working with, the easier it will be for state legislatures like ours to move forward on important decisions.
State Sends Out Additional Rapid-Testing Machines
The Oregon Health Authority announced that it has distributed 12 additional Abbott ID Now rapid testing machines to various healthcare providers around the state. OHA distributed the first three of a federal shipment of 15 in April but was unable to send the remaining 12 until now because of a lack of test supplies. Now the state has received enough test supplies to distribute all 15 machines and continue to supply them going forward. Having these machines will be particularly important for those rural counties that need to increase their on-site testing capacity in order to reopen.
Here are the 12 additional sites receiving an Abbott ID NOW instrument and test kits:
- Asher Community Health Center (Wheeler County)
- Bay Area Hospital (Coos County)
- Blue Mountain Hospital (Grant County)
- Grande Ronde Hospital (Union County)
- Mercy Medical Center (Douglas County)
- Mirasol Family Health Center (Umatilla County)
- Northwest Human Services (Marion County)
- Salud Medical Center (Marion County)
- Sky Lakes Medical Center (Klamath County)
- Wallowa Memorial Hospital (Wallowa County)
- West Valley Hospital (Polk County)
- Woodburn Ambulance (Marion County)
Here is the OHA news release about the new machines.
WSI Webinars to Help Laid Off Workers
Work Systems, Inc., the Portland Metro-area local workforce development agency, has just announced a series of survival-skill webinars MWF at 2 pm, open to anyone struggling with Unemployment Insurance, Health Care, and other system challenges these days. They do good work, and I recommend it. You can read all about the webinars and sign up here. Here is the list of topics they’ll be covering:
- Unemployment Insurance including updates on expanded eligibility, increased payments for workers laid off due to COVID-19, and expected timelines for receiving benefits. This information will be presented by staff from the Oregon Employment Department.
- Information related to business closures and layoffs.
- Information on the best way to reach the Oregon Employment Departmentto file or check on an Unemployment Insurance claim.
- Health insurance options. This information will be presented by staff from the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace.
- Available options for aid if you have been laid off or furloughed.
- Other resources available to support you through this situation.
Additional Graphs:
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. Also, if someone forwarded you this newsletter and you’d like to get it directly, you can sign up for it 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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