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May 30, 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.
But as I write this, and ask you again to look out for your neighbors in the midst of the pandemic, I can’t help but think long and hard about the recent murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers and the aftershocks of seeing that video and all that it represents. As I know many of you are, I’m filled with disappointment, frustration, and anger once again, as we collectively again are forced to confront the reality, the legacy, and the ongoing destructive presence of racism in this country.
It’s not just about incidents of police misconduct and brutality. It’s something that we see every day, including in the way that the COVID pandemic is playing out in this country. We see the reality, legacy, and ongoing presence of racism revealed in the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on black, indigenous, and other people of color as a result of long-term poor access to health care, being raised in polluted areas, and having to do work that puts them in danger. We see it in the way that some people dismiss the risk of COVID-19 because it’s damaging “other people.”
When we see that the medical examiner’s report on George Floyd’s death speaks to “underlying medical issues” as potentially contributing to his death, we know that many people will point to that as an excuse for the officer who committed the murder, for those who stood by and were complicit in it, and for anyone who seeks to justify this kind of police action. But this is the very opposite of what we should expect. The very possibility that someone might have underlying health issues is reason enough not to engage in risky neck restraints—assuming that you do value the life of the other. This officer was willing to take that risk to this black man’s life, and his defense will likely be to point to those “underlying health issues” as the cause of death, not his knee on this black man’s neck.
We of course hear a similar excuse being used with respect to people dying of COVID-19. It’s as if it’s their own fault that they’re at risk, their fault that they have breathing problems or circulation problems, their fault that they’re vulnerable to complications from the virus. By extension, their fault that they live the legacy of discriminatory social structures.
We have so much to learn from this pandemic AND from these insults to our ideals as a nation. I hope that I and other lawmakers can turn these lessons into concrete steps towards universal health care AND criminal justice reform, environmental justice AND equitable pathways to opportunity.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 54 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 4,083.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 126.693. That’s a big increase of 4,114 tests.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 1.3%. Today’s national percentage is 5.0%. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 153.
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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 7, and is now at 778.
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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 1, and the total of presumptive cases remains at 102.
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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): 131 (24 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 48 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 190 (10 more than yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 987 (same as yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 32 (4 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 17 (4 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 787 (1 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
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PPE:
What’s Going On In the Counties?
Each Saturday I’m tracking how individual counties are doing now that most are in Phase One and we are seeing a number of relaxations statewide as well. The key metrics that OHA will be watching as counties apply for Phase Two are the number of positive test results (the number should generally not increase by more than 5%), and the percentage of positive test results among all tests administered: that’s an important way for us to see if the infection rate is increasing as a result of reopening and increased testing.
You’ll see some significant increases this week in the numbers in some counties, but remember that the increases seem more striking when the overall numbers in the county are very low to begin with. The percentages of positive test results are going down overall, which is what we want.
 Counties in boldface are those not yet authorized for Phase One.
***Josephine County’s previous numbers were revised downward by 2.
 Counties in boldface are those not yet authorized for Phase One.
 Counties in boldface are those not yet authorized for Phase One.
 Counties in boldface are those not yet authorized for Phase One.
Again: Upcoming Legislative Committee Hearings
This week’s committee hearings are all on the Senate side. 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 once they’re posted.
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.
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:
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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