Coronavirus Update: Stay Safe this Memorial Day Weekend

  ViewOnline
House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: Stay Safe this Memorial Day Weekend

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

As we start a much-needed Memorial Day weekend, I hope we’re all able to find ways to safely relax and decompress. These are stressful times for everyone, so please take care of yourself.

And, let’s keep up the good work of fighting back the spread of the coronavirus. Please limit any travel to your own county. If you’re out and about supporting local businesses, please cover your face. Let’s act responsibly this weekend!


Let's Stay Local 052220

Memorial Day COVID-19 052220

House Health Care Committee

Committees in the Oregon House of Representatives began meeting remotely today, and meetings continue through next week. For more information, you can go here.

The first meeting of the day was the House Health Care Committee. The Oregon Health Authority reported that out of all the states in the nation, Oregon ranks:

  • 6th-lowest in cases per 100,000 people (93)
  • 5th-lowest in deaths per 100,000 people (4)
  • 6th-lowest in test positivity rate (3.7%)

This is a credit to all Oregonians who have taken this pandemic seriously. With that said, it’s so important that we remember we are not out of the woods yet. Deschutes County, which entered Phase 1 Reopening last week, has seen a recent spike in cases. Due to contact tracing, the spike in cases has been linked to social gatherings, as Oregon Public Broadcasting details here.

Additionally, Multnomah County’s public health director presented to the committee on the progress being made toward Phase 1 Reopening. You can view the county’s presentation here. Below is one of their helpful slides.


MultCo Dashboard 052220

All the House committees will be discussing the impacts of the pandemic, from housing to economic development to natural resources. I hope you have some time to watch the recordings of the meetings or stream them live on OLIS.


The Latest News

  • In case you missed yesterday’s newsletter, I had a number of updates around unemployment benefits, which you can read here. My team spent the day responding to individuals who have been sharing their stories in response to the newsletter. We will be sharing those with the Oregon Employment Department.
  • Today, Governor Brown announced that Clackamas County will be able to enter Phase 1 Reopening starting tomorrow. The Oregonian has more information here. All counties except for Multnomah and Washington will be in Phase 1 as of this weekend.
  • Oregon families will start receiving $134 million in additional food benefits on their Oregon Trail Cards. Beginning in June, these additional benefits will be automatically deposited for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households to their existing accounts on their regular issuance date. You can read the full release on this news here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority reported 45 more confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 3,770 confirmed cases. The agency announced three new presumptive cases. There are 3,864 confirmed and presumptive cases combined. Sadly, two more people have died, meaning there have been 147 confirmed deaths in Oregon from coronavirus.

OHA COVID-19 Update 5-22-2020

OHA Hospital Capacity 5-22-2020

Oregon State Parks

State parks are opening up once again. Right now, parks that have reopened are limited to day use. I covered guidelines for outdoor recreation here, but Oregon State Parks has also put together this helpful video about how to take precautions while enjoying our state’s natural beauty.


Oregon State Parks Prepare + Care 5-22-2020

New State Dashboard

The OHA now has an online data dashboard (found here) that shows a variety of public health indicators related to COVID-19, including:

  • Cases
  • Positivity rates
  • Hospitalizations
  • Contact tracing

Of particular note, there’s a “County Indicators” tab that contains a chart showing how every county is meeting (or not meeting) the Phase 1 Reopening public health indicators. It’s helpful for each of us to understand how our home county is doing.


OHA COVID-19 Dashboard 5-22-2020

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.

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