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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Thank you all for continuing to take the health and safety of our community seriously, by limiting trips outside our homes, and wearing masks when we have to be around others. Wearing masks limits the spread of COVID-19, by making it more difficult for a-symptomatic carriers to pass along the disease. You can look at the graphic below to see how wearing a mask protects others. We all need to behave as if we are asymptomatic carriers, and wear masks to protect our community!
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Children and COVID-19: Children had seemed relatively unscathed by COVID-19, with low numbers of cases, severe cases and deaths. Unfortunately, it now seems they are at risk for a very serious COVID-19 related illness. Children are now being diagnosed with "multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children," or MIS-C, this disease is thought to be connected to COVID-19, and the CDC has issued guidance to doctors and medical providers across the country. You can read more or watch a news report on this from NBC News here. If your child runs a fever, or has difficulty breathing, please call your healthcare provider immediately.
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Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness for businesses and nonprofits: The Small Business Administration has released an application and guidance for PPP Loan Forgiveness. Click here to view the application and instructions. The form and instructions inform borrowers how to apply for forgiveness of their PPP loans, consistent with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). SBA will also soon issue regulations and guidance to further assist borrowers as they complete their applications, and to provide lenders with guidance on their responsibilities. The form and instructions include several measures to reduce compliance burdens and simplify the process for borrowers, including:
- Options for borrowers to calculate payroll costs using an “alternative payroll covered period” that aligns with borrowers’ regular payroll cycles
- Flexibility to include eligible payroll and non-payroll expenses paid or incurred during the eight-week period after receiving their PPP loan
- Step-by-step instructions on how to perform the calculations required by the CARES Act to confirm eligibility for loan forgiveness
- Borrower-friendly implementation of statutory exemptions from loan forgiveness reduction based on rehiring by June 30
- Addition of a new exemption from the loan forgiveness reduction for borrowers who have made a good-faith, written offer to rehire workers that was declined
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6800, the “Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act,” the HEROES Act on Friday, May 15. You can read a one page summary, here, and section-by-section summary here.
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Stay Home, Save Lives: You may have read or seen that a Baker County court has ruled on the Governor’s Stay Home Save Lives Order, you can read more about that case here. The Legislative Council, which advises the legislature on legal matters, has given us the advice that the Governor’s Executive Order is fully within her power to declare a statewide emergency under ORS 401.165. The Oregon Supreme Court will likely weigh in soon. Whatever the outcome of this case, it remains vitally important that we follow the science and continue to maintain physical distance from others, and wear masks when we need to be in public spaces.
- On Friday, I outlined some guidance from the Governor that took effect on May 15th. Below you can see a graphic on what should remain open and closed in Washington, Clackamas, Multnomah, Marion and Polk Counties, based on that guidance. Click on the image to view more details on the phased reopening plan.
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National Numbers:
- Confirmed Cases: 1,480,349 (up 13,284 from yesterday)
- Deaths: 89,407 (up 698 from yesterday)
- These national numbers come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can view their national and state by state data here.
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Oregon Status Report: Oregon now has 3,687 total confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19. Today we have 62 new confirmed cases and 2 new presumptive cases. Tragically we have had a total of 138 Oregonians die from COVID-19. Washington County still has one of the highest case counts at 638 confirmed cases. You can read more details about today's numbers here (note this directs you to a PDF of Oregon’s case counts and other data as of 5/18/2020). You can review on-going updates from OHA by clicking on the table below.
Table showing Oregon case, testing and demographic data, link to more information
The Oregon Nurses Association, recently shared some best practices for self care and community care during this pandemic. Whether you are a nurse, an essential worker, or anyone struggling with our new normal, I hope you will take a moment to read this, and find the information and resources helpful. Now more than ever, it is important that we all check in with ourselves and our loved ones, assess our well being and make sure we give ourselves and our loved ones the attention we need. View the full ONA self care guide here.
The Graphic below includes a list (in English and Spanish) of all of the food distribution sites in Western Washington County. Please share this with friends and neighbors, and learn about more resources from the Gaston and Forest Grove Fire District Here.
Employers and Employees
- Unemployment options http://www.oregon.gov/employ, including the Work Share program at oregonworkshare.com
- See FAQs, and subscribe to updates at https://govstatus.egov.com/ORUnemployment_COVID19
- File a Claim online at https://secure.emp.state.or.us/ocs4/index.cfm?u=F20200324A152211B60880938.0174&lang=E
- Independent Contractor, Gig Worker, & Self Employed Workers can use the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Application at https://govstatus.egov.com/ui-benefits/CARES
- Email the department with questions: OED_COVID19_Info@oregon.gov, you should hear back within about a week, please do not email multiple times with the same question, and please include as much information as possible in your first email. Sending multiple emails asking about the status of your claim will only cause further backlog, and make it harder for OED staff to respond to you and others.
- If you have received a claim denial, or need to appeal an Employment Department decision, use this email: OED_UI_HEARINGSREQ@oregon.gov
- With the extreme increase in people seeking unemployment, the phone lines are busy and it has been difficult to get through. Please preserve phone line capacity by using the email and online tools whenever possible, many of our neighbors do not have internet access but have not been able to get through on the phone due to bottlenecks. You will not lose your place in line by filing online or using email instead of the phone.
- The Oregon Labor and Industries Technical Assistance for Employers page at https://www.oregon.gov/BOLI/TA/pages/index.aspx has information about employer obligations and responsibilities.
- Business Oregon has a robust list of financial resources including non-bank lenders at https://www.oregon4biz.com/Coronavirus-Information/
- The US Small Business Administration offers disaster assistance in the form of SBA loans to designated states. Information about these loans is available at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Information/Index
- The latest COVID-19/Coronavirus information on resources for workers and business owners is available at https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/coronavirus2020.aspx
- Oregon Secretary of State’s business resources can be found at www.oregon.gov/smallbusiness or you can email questions to business.sos@oregon.gov.
Education Links
Local Government
Utilities Assistance
Food and Housing Assistance
View Past Updates, Share and Subscribe:
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 (http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/mclain), click on “News and Information,” and you’ll find them all there. You can also share this site with your friends and loved ones, so they can view past newsletters, and subscribe to future updates.
Here is a photo of a field of Crimson Clover in Forest Grove to remind us all to stay close to home, and take walks in our own community and to visit local sights. Stay healthy and connected in these strange pandemic times!
Yours truly,
 Representative Susan McLain
House District 29
email: Rep.SusanMcLain@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1429
address: 900 Court St NE, H-376, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/mclain
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