May 25th COVID-19 Update

May 25, 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.

And that you had a restful and relatively stress-free Memorial Day Weekend under the current circumstances.

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

• Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 19 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 3,861.
• Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 113,770. That’s an increase of 1,660 tests.
• Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 1.1%. Today’s national percentage is 4.3%.  See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days.
• Deaths: I’m happy to report 0 additional deaths due to the coronavirus.  The total number of deaths in Oregon remains at 148.
• 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 747.
• 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, and the total of presumptive cases is now at 88.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 128 (11 more than yesterday). Of those, 47 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 247 (41 more than yesterday).
  • Other Available Beds: 1,915 (194 more than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 35 (same as yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators:123 (5 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 784 (2 fewer than yesterday).
• Dashboards:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 14,604,942 (up 441,248 from yesterday).
  • Positive Tests: 1,654,829 (up 19,069 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 92,464 (up 523 from yesterday).
  • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can follow their updated numbers for each, state and the nation as a whole here.
• PPE:
  • In the last 24 hours the Emergency Coordination Center has not received any additional PPE. We hear that the state is experiencing particular challenges supplying protective gowns.  You can track the history of incoming and outgoing PPE shipments here.

House Health Care Committee Hears the Latest On COVID Response

House Health Care met Friday morning and heard testimony on the overall COVID response, the challenges of securing Personal Protective Equipment, particular impacts on communities of color and the work that the state and individual counties are doing in response to those disproportionate impacts, advances in telemedicine (which is likely to continue even after the pandemic is over), and the financial impact of the pandemic on hospitals.

It was an opportunity for legislators to hear directly from frontline healthcare workers, particularly regarding what they believe to be an inadequate supply of protective equipment to keep them safe.  In order for facilities to reopen for non-emergency medical procedures, they need to attest to having an adequate supply of PPE.  The question is, what is an adequate supply?  Is it what a best practices model calls for (frequent changing of masks, gowns, and gloves)?  Or is it a continuation of the level allowed during the PPE emergency shortfall (using the same equipment for multiple patients and even multiple days)?  This remains a topic of disagreement and dispute around the country.  Many health professionals are worried that best practices and their own safety are being compromised. 

You can watch the hearing by clicking on the icon next to the May 22 meeting date.

And here are links to the PowerPoints included in the hearing:

• OHA Director Pat Allen’s Overview of Where We Are and Lessons Learned.
• OHA Medical Director Dr. Dana Hargunani on PPE Needs for Medical Workers
• Oregon Nurses Association Executive Director Sarah Haslett on PPE and Other Challenges for Nurses
• Chris Strear, President-Elect, Oregon Chapter, American College of Emergency Physicians on PPE Challenges
• Barry Taylor, President, Oregon Dental Association on Challenges Around PPE, Economic Impacts, and Lack of Clarity Around What Is Required vs. What Is Recommended for Reopening
• State Epidemiologist Dean Sidlinger on Efforts to Better Track Impacts on Different Populations 
• An Infographic from the American Primary Care Association
• Rachael Banks, Public Health Director, Multnomah County on the County’s Efforts to Address the Needs of Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (BIPOC)
• Tricia Mortell, Public Health Division Manager, Washington County on that County’s Efforts to Address the Particular Situation of the Latinx Population 
• Andrew Stolfi, Insurance Commissioner and Acting Director, Dept. of Consumer and Business Services on Access to and Reimbursement for Telehealth Services 
• Becky Hultberg, Chief Executive Officer and President, Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems on the Economic Impacts of the COVID Crisis on Hospitals 
• Melissa Damm, Chief Financial Officer, Providence Health and Services on the Economic Impacts of the COVID Crisis on Hospitals 
• John McConnell, Director, Center for Health Systems Effectiveness On the Special Challenges of Rural Hospitals 

Coming Up:  Legislative Committee Hearings

Here again, a reminder that the remaining House committees will be meeting for the rest of this week.  Then, the Senate committees will convene during the first week of June.

Most of the hearings will be COVID-focused, but most will also include briefings, updates, and reports on a number of other issues, and in many cases will include topics likely to be the subject of legislation next session. 

We now have the Senate agendas posted, along with the House. (My own committees are Senate Environment and Natural Resources, Judiciary, and Rules.) I’m listing them all below in order of appearance.  You can click on them to see their agendas, and you can use the same links if you want to watch the hearings (either live or after the fact) or get to the meeting materials.

May 26

House Rules Committee, 9:00 am  

House Behavioral Health Committee, 11:30 am 

House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, 3:00 pm 

May 27

House Veterans and Emergency Preparedness Committee, 8:00 am 

House Business and Labor Committee, 11:30 am 

House Human Services Committee, 3:00 pm 

May 28

House Natural Resources Committee, 8:00 am 

House Energy and Environment Committee, 11:30 am 

House Judiciary Committee, 3:00 pm  

May 29

House Education Committee, 11:30 am 

House Water Committee, 3:00 pm 

June 1

Senate Labor and Business Committee, 8:00 am 

Senate Health Care Committee, 12:00 pm

June 2

Senate Committee on Mental Health, 8:00 am 

Senate Education Committee, 12:00 pm

June 3

Senate Judiciary Committee, 8:00 am  

Senate Human Services Committee, 12:00 pm 

June 4

Senate General Government and Emergency Preparedness Committee, 8:00 am

Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, 12:00 pm

June 5

Senate Committee on Wildfire and Recovery, 8:00 am 

Senate Housing and Development, 12:00 pm 

June 10

Senate Rules and Executive Appointments, 12:00 pm (No agenda posted yet.  The meeting will be for the purpose of confirming executive appointments.)

Additional Graphs:

***Yesterday I accidentally left off the “Deaths by Age” graph and instead reproduced  the “Hospitalizations” graph twice. Above are all three.

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:

• Multnomah County has a status report on reopening.
• You can view the reopening status of all 36 counties here.
• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 
• Oregon's Office of Emergency Management now has a website for information about COVID-19.
• You can sign up here for regular coronavirus updates from OHA.
• Multnomah County has an excellent website with lots of really important advice and guidance.
• Here’s one from the Governor’s Office.
• The Employment Department has put together a webpage with Q&A’s on a number of employment issues related to COVID-19 (e.g., eligibility for Unemployment Insurance benefits).
• The Oregon Education Department has a new site for COVID-19 updates.
• The Department of Corrections has a COVID tracking website.

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