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June 1, 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.
As if we don’t have enough on our plates, I received a very disturbing piece of information today. It now appears that among the 148 Oregonians who had died of COVID-19 by May 24, eight of them were workers at nursing homes in the state. This data was reported on the CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) website. It appears as part of an ongoing story by Oregonian reporter Fedor Zarkhin.
Having loved ones now and having had them previously in skilled nursing and long-term care, I cannot adequately express just how much I respect and am obliged to them for the work that they do every day. They are frequently from other countries, from communities of color, ill-paid, working under very difficult conditions and with poor staffing ratios. It is a very difficult occupation. And now we know that it is also a very dangerous occupation.
It’s crucial that we understand what is causing the deaths of these workers. Obviously, reporting needs to be done in a way that protects the identity of those affected. But we need to know what it is about these workers and their working conditions that is causing them to become sick and die. On May 24 only 6 Oregonians under the age of 60 had died of the disease (that number is now 9). How many of those six were nursing home workers? Are workers in at-risk categories being expected to do work that brings them into close contact with potentially infected individuals? How many of them were working in multiple facilities? What kind of personal protective equipment did they have? How long were they likely working while contagious? This is information that those of us who are helping craft the policy responses to this problem need to know. It needs to be reported consistently and transparently.
I’ll let you know what I hear back from the agencies about this problem.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 57 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 4,192.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 131,508. That’s an increase of 2,415 tests.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 2.4%. Today’s national percentage is 5.4%. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days. NOTE: It’s just been brought to my attention that on some email platforms the decimal point is dropping off of these ratio numbers. We’re looking into this problem. In the meantime, know that the percentages for the state and the nation are now both in single digits and there should be a decimal point in each.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional death due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 154.
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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 4, and is now at 790.
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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 2, and the total of presumptive cases is now at 110.
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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): 108 (9 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 50 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 268 (30 more than yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 1,199 (13 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 32 (1 less than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 17 (the same as yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 792 (1 fewer than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
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PPE:
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Additional Brief Updates
- Last week I shared information from DMV about their long-awaited in-person reopening, with people able to call in today to make an appointment. Well, in an echo of what we’ve been seeing with UI, they had 18,000 callers in the queue by 9 am, and the system was completely overwhelmed. It wound up affecting other government phone lines as well. Legislators just received this communication explaining the problem and the online solution that they are constructing. As you’ll see, the process should be up and running by Wednesday. Obviously, they deeply regret that this has happened.
- Federal judge Stacie Beckerman has ruled that the Oregon Corrections department is not treating adults in custody with “deliberate indifference” and does not agree that she should order a release of AICs in order to protect vulnerable individuals and release congestion in the facilities. This is in response to a suit brought by several AICs and prisoner advocates. She does agree that providing early release for AICs close to the ends of their sentences would be an effective strategy for greater protection but ruled that this is a decision for the Governor, not the courts, to make. You can read Judge Beckerman's opinion here. As of today, 157 AICs and 43 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, and one AIC has died of the disease.
- OHA Director Pat Allen expressed concern to legislators today about the possible spread of COVID-19 at some of the recent protests, which have involved very large gatherings of individuals, obviously in violation of the emergency executive orders. If that close proximity produces a spread of the virus, it obviously becomes impossible to do contact tracing to find and control the spread. He pointed to a recent mass pool party in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, where an individual later tested positive for COVID, and there is no way for them to find everyone that he may have contacted.
- In case you missed it, here is a link to the Governor's press conference today, where she explained her decision to deploy state police and some National Guard to Portland to provide support in preventing further violence by individuals seeking to take advantage of peaceful protests. She made it clear that the National Guard members would not be armed, would be kept in the background, and would be there to give some police officers some much-needed rest. She made a point of distancing herself from the call for greater force made by the President in a phone call with governors this morning. The Governor was joined at the press conference by Commissioner Joann Hardesty, Senator Lew Frederick, and State Police Superintendent Travis Hampton, three individuals whom I respect greatly. Hardesty and Frederick were especially articulate in deploring the violence while deploring the police misconduct and underlying institutional racism that have provoked these protests.
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 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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