Coronavirus Update: Employment Department to Answer Questions Tomorrow

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: Employment Department to Answer Questions Tomorrow

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Yesterday, I spoke with KOIN 6 about the work my office has been doing to get more information to Oregonians who are still waiting to hear about the status of their unemployment claims. You can watch that brief news story here.

So far, we have received 383 emails about challenges with unemployment claims and forwarded many of those to our contacts at the Oregon Employment Department for review. We will have less staff capacity over the weekend, so please don’t worry if you email our office and don’t hear back until Monday.

I was glad to see that the department director spoke with reporters today and apologized for the issues that have faced the system. There are many people at the department working very hard. Nonetheless, too many Oregonians still need their benefits and better communication from the department about the status of their claims.

Tomorrow, the House Business and Labor Committee will meet again to ask questions of department officials. The meeting will start at 9 am and you can livestream the meeting by going here.


Oregon Worker Relief Fund Update

I was pleased to see today’s news that the Oregon Worker Relief Fund has already been able to distribute $750,000 to help workers who are excluded from federal stimulus relief or traditional unemployment benefits due to their immigration status. These individuals contribute to the unemployment insurance system but can’t access those funds.

Last month, the legislative Emergency Board dedicated $10 million to seed this support fund, and there are now 16 community-based organizations throughout the state who have committed to getting this money to those in need. All applications are reviewed centrally, and if approved, funds are disbursed using mobile payments and checks.

Community partners are building this new program with the fiscal sponsorship of the Oregon Community Foundation. The initial disbursements were a pilot to test the infrastructure of the program. More information should be available next week on how more qualifying individuals can navigate this process and funds will be distributed through the summer.

Advocates have done an incredible job putting this essential program together. I will continue to do all I can to support workers that are falling through the cracks and ensure no Oregonian gets left behind in this recovery.

Oregon Public Broadcasting has more coverage of the Worker Relief Fund here.


Testing Summary Update

The Oregon Health Authority released its weekly testing summary today, which included more encouraging news.

Oregon conducted more than 17,000 tests in a week for the first time, and our test positivity rate was below 2% for the second week in a row. The state’s weekly testing capacity remains at 37,702 per week.


OHA Weekly Testing Summary 5-29-2020

Here is how OHA summarizes our state’s overall test positivity rate:

“As of May 29, Oregon’s cumulative positive testing rate is 3.3% of tests performed. This is considerably lower than the national average of 12%. Oregon’s decreasing weekly test positivity rate reflects decreasing numbers of individuals with COVID-19 due to physical distancing and other preventive measures, as well as increasing testing statewide, including the tests run at hospital laboratories and commercial laboratories.”

You can read the full report here.


The Latest News

  • Governor Brown announced a $30 million investment to protect essential agricultural workers from the spread of coronavirus and secure Oregon's food supply chain. These investments will include the distribution of facemasks and hand sanitizer, workforce housing to provide physical distancing, and other mitigation efforts. More details are available in the release from the Governor’s office here.
  • Governor Brown convened her Council of Economic Advisors to discuss the impending state budget shortfall. The Statesman Journal has coverage of that meeting here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority will start disclosing the locations of coronavirus outbreaks of five or more cases going forward. Willamette Week has more details here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority reported 48 more confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 4,029 confirmed cases. There are 4,131 confirmed and presumptive cases combined. There were no recorded deaths today. There have been 151 confirmed deaths in Oregon from coronavirus.

OHA COVID-19 Update 5-29-2020

OHA Hospital Update 5-29-2020

Resources for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

The Oregon Department of Human Services’ Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services has published a page of ASL coronavirus resources.

The page includes:

  • Links to ASL videos about COVID-19
  • Communication resources
  • Emergency resources (e.g., food, housing)
  • Mental health and resources for emotional well-being

More resources for people with disabilities are available at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus under “Community Resources for Specific Groups.” Scroll down the page until you see that title.

Both sites feature communication cards, including a new one designed to help people who are deaf and hard of hearing communicate about COVID-19 symptoms. The card includes graphics about symptoms and is intended for someone who is deaf or hard of hearing to use to communicate when they think it’s most appropriate.


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