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May 13, 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.
Tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 10 the Governor will be announcing the counties that have been approved to begin their Phase One reopening on Friday and any special conditions and expectations that might need to be placed on them in order for them to reopen at this time. You can watch the press conference here. In tomorrow’s newsletter I’ll provide a detailed report on the recommendations from the Governor’s medical advisors and her specific decisions, along with further details that legislators will receive tomorrow afternoon.
The other day I mentioned that the Governor has directed state agencies to create plans for across-the-board cuts of 17% for the next fiscal year. Some agencies have already begun posting their cuts scenarios on their websites. If you’ve looked at them, you’ll see that they are extremely daunting.
You should take them seriously to the extent that they demonstrate that without help from the federal government or some other added source of revenue, the result will be great pain to many Oregonians, gaps in the social safety net provided by many programs. In addition, we’re in a situation in which many programs, such as the Oregon Health Plan, will need to be expanded to meet new and growing needs.
For the most part, though, it’s unlikely that they will be implemented in their current form. The specific cuts themselves will likely be decided by the Legislature in a special session. Unlike the Legislature, the only thing the Governor can do to balance the budget is order untargeted across-the-board cuts to agencies. The Legislature has many more tools.
At some point after next week’s revenue forecast, the Legislature will therefore need to come into a special session to approve a plan that looks at the revenue that needs to be made up, looks at the federal dollars likely to come our way, looks at our reserves, looks at priority services that absolutely must be preserved or expanded, looks at the effects of cuts in the various areas, a plan that will incorporate many difficult decisions. Getting to an agreement on this plan will take time, and it won’t be easy.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 55 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 3,338.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 83,909. That’s an increase of 4,324 tests. This is by far the biggest jump we’ve seen. It’s not clear if this is a function of more testing capacity or the new testing standards, or just a function of labs catching up on their reporting. We’ll know over the next few days.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 1.3%, a big drop that’s a result of the big increase in tests overall. Today’s national percentage is 6.8%. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily ratio changes over the last 14 days.
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Deaths: I’m afraid I have to report 4 additional deaths due to the virus. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 134.
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Hospitalized: The number of Oregonians who have been hospitalized with symptoms, and who have also tested positive for the disease, increased by 5, and is now at 678.
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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 4, with the total at 78.
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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): 162 (a decrease of 3 from yesterday). Of those, 53 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 209 (an increase of 14 from yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 1,787 (an increase of 2 from yesterday)
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 38 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 17 (8 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 776 (5 more 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 1 million additional surgical masks and 24,000 face masks.
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Other Brief Updates:
- The Legislature’s Emergency Board will be meeting again Friday morning. Its primary purpose will be to take some of the CARES Act money that came to the state for COVID response and send it to counties to help them and their cities pay for actions they are taking to deal with COVID. Because they comprise populations larger than 500,000, the federal government has already sent money to the City of Portland, to Washington County, and a small amount to Multnomah County for the non-Portland parts of the county. Here is the website for the 1:00 pm meeting. You’ll find the agenda, meeting materials, and the live-stream on that page.
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The Governor’s Office released the new guidelines for childcare workplaces. Starting Friday, childcare centers will be able to provide care for the children of all returning workers, not just those previously deemed essential (though essential workers should continue to be prioritized). You’ll see that licensed centers will still need to be approved as emergency centers and be capable of following the rigorous requirements for sanitation and social distancing, but they don’t need to restrict themselves to the children of essential workers. This applies to all parts of the state, not just those counties approved for Phase One reopening.
- This crisis is a stressful time for us all, some more than others. For many of us, coping with stress is always difficult, and now that’s more true than ever. There are actually several ways in which the symptoms of anxiety and the symptoms of COVID-19 overlap. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has put together a collection of line resources to help people better understand these challenges and find a support community to help with them.
- DHS has added 6 additional senior residence facilities to its list of facilities with three or more COVID cases and/or 1 fatality. There are now 31 facilities on that list. They are receiving weekly visits from DHS staff to monitor their practices and make sure that they are following the best disease-containment protocols. They are on the priority list both for PPE and for testing of all residents and staff. You can find the list of those facilities on the OHA weekly COVID report.
- The OHA is reporting the state’s first case of pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, a rare but emerging condition in children that is believed to be associated with COVID-19 infection. The child is being treated at the Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. More details here.
Nearly All Counties Have Now Applied for Phase One Reopening; Responses Coming Thursday
Lincoln County filed its application for Phase One Reopening yesterday (posted, along with all the others, on the Governor's COVID website. It is #33 of Oregon’s 36 counties. That means that all but the three large Portland-area counties (Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas) have now applied. The county applications are being processed in order of receipt. 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. Should be out sometime in the next 24 hours.
Need Food?
DHS has created a new web site for people who are having difficulties affording food or getting food. Called Need Food?, the website includes information and links to a number of resources that are available to Oregonians in need. And here is a one-pager with information who might need these services.
NEW Oregon Health Plan COVID Website
We’ve just learned that DHS has also created a new website focused on those who are on OHP/Medicaid or who need it. The Oregon Health Plan and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) page has updated information for OHP members (or potential OHP members), including multiple fact sheets in several languages:
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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