June 3rd COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

June 3, 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.

In today’s newsletter you’ll find details around Phase Two, which a number of counties will likely be entering this weekend, along with the OHA Weekly Report, giving us the latest information about how COVID is hitting our state and how we’re doing in this reopening phase of the process.

I do also want to let you know that OHA and DHS have been looking into the report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that 8 nursing home workers had died from COVID. It now appears that those numbers are incorrect.  The reports of worker deaths were apparently sent directly from the facilities to CMS, and incorrect coding may have been the culprit. As you know, I’m been pressing the agencies to have the case, hospitalization, and death counts more accurately reflect the reality of what’s happening in our congregate-care facilities.  We should expect to see more accurate and timely numbers soon.  We shouldn’t have to rely on federal numbers that may or may not be correct.

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 60 additional Oregonians tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 4,280.
  • Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 136,549. That’s an increase of 2,455 tests.
  • Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 2.4%. Today’s national percentage is 4.6%.  See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days. 
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus.  The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 159.  
  • 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 800.
  • 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 5, and the total of presumptive cases is now at 119.
  • Other Hospital Information:
    • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 112 (10 more than yesterday). Of those, 52 have already received a positive test back.
    • Available ICU Beds: 206 (3 more than yesterday).
    • Other Available Beds: 1,022 (40 fewer than yesterday).
    • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 27 (2 fewer than yesterday).
    • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 10 (5 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 779 (9 fewer than yesterday).
  • Dashboards:
  • Today’s National Numbers:
  • PPE:
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Legislature’s Emergency Board will be meeting Friday morning to allocate additional money from the federal Coronavirus Response Fund.
    • OHA has established a website about contact tracing. It explains what to expect if you get a call from a contact tracer, either because you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been near someone with it. The website also describes what you will be asked during a contact tracing call – plus what you will not be asked – and how to isolate or quarantine yourself if necessary. Part of the goal is to encourage people to answer calls from contact tracers, while also protecting against fraudulent calls that might try to scam people. The contact tracing website is:
    • Yesterday I included a press release from the Legislature’s People of Color Caucus with several priority pieces of legislation identified. Today AG Ellen Rosenblum issued a statement supporting their proposals and pledging to work with them to refine the proposals and get them passed.
    • You may have seen that the new interim head of the Employment Department is looking at bringing in the National Guard to help with the backlog in unemployment benefits claims by staffing the phones and providing information. I can tell you that a number of us legislators are also offering up some of our legislative staff’s time to help with this effort.  Logan Gilles from my office, who has been struggling to help constituents get answers to their unemployment problems, is among those who have volunteered to be conscripted for this assignment.  He and his counterparts won’t be able to process claims themselves, but they should be able to help speed the process along. Many thanks to Logan and the other staffers and Guardspeople.

Governor Announces More Information About Phase Two

Governor Brown held a press conference today to provide more information on Phase Two of the state’s reopening process.  Like Phase One, it will be implemented on a county-by-county basis.  At this point, 31 counties are eligible to apply for Phase Two.  After she receives recommendations from OHA, the Governor will announce those that are approved to begin Phase Two as early as this Friday.

Meanwhile, Multnomah County is expected to apply for Phase One this Friday with the hopes of beginning Phase One on June 12.

OHA Director Pat Allen reported that prior to the initial Phase One reopenings Oregon had the fifth lowest per-capita infection rate in the country.  We are presently the fourth lowest.  OHA has concluded that so far at least, Oregon’s reopening process seems to be working.

We learned more about what expansions will be included for counties in Phase Two.  Here are some highlights:

  • Restaurants and bars will be able to stay open until midnight.
  • The requirement that workers who can work remotely should do so is relaxed to become a recommendation rather than a requirement.
  • Bowling alleys, arcades, and some recreational sports will be able to reopen/resume.
  • Swimming pools will be able to reopen.
  • Movie theaters will be able to reopen.
  • The number of people attending civic, cultural, and religious will be expanded to 50 for indoor gatherings and 100 for outdoor. Religious services can accommodate as many as 250 congregants if the facility is large enough. But stay tuned for more details on that.

In addition, she announced that they are still working on some changes that will apply to the entire state.  Once the guidelines have been finalized, zoos, museums, and outdoor gardens will be able to reopen.  Also, collegiate athletes should be able to resume non-contact training in June.

The new guidelines do not require customers to wear face coverings when they shop or are in indoor venues, but they are strongly recommended.  She added that she would fully support cities and counties if they choose to pass ordinances requiring face coverings within their jurisdictions.

State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidlinger did indicate that we will living under Phase Two for some time, likely through the summer.  But individual guidances may change as we come to learn more about the virus and the way in which it is spread.

Guidance regarding the reopening of schools in the fall should be finished sometime next week.

All of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 guidances can be found on OHA's COVID-19 website.  Scroll down to “OHA Guidance and Signage.”  You can also find them on the Governor's COVID website.

Here are direct links to the current Phase Two guidances:

More guidance is forthcoming on Gatherings in general, along with guidance for Venues and Event Operators

You can follow the counties that are applying for Phase Two reopening and see their applications here.

This Week’s OHA Weekly Report Just Released

OHA today released its COVID-19 Weekly Report, which includes data about the pandemic in Oregon. This week’s report shows increased testing and a continued low percentage positive rate (1.9 percent).  After declining for two weeks in a row, newly reported COVID-19 cases did increase by 18% from the previous week, but it’s not yet clear that this should be a cause of concern.

In nearly every weekly update we’ve seen an expansion of the information that is provided, which is great.  Along with the testing data and the racial/ethnic/age/gender demographics, we’ve recently seen information about recovery, hospital rates, and the breakdown of cases by zip code.

This week’s addition is information about COVID-19 outbreaks in workplaces of more than 30 employees with five or more reported cases. This is being done to keep the public fully informed about COVID-19 in the community.

The number of cases cited in a workplace outbreak will include cases among employees as well as cases among close contacts of employee cases, such as family members, customers and visitors. An active outbreak means that fewer than 28 days have passed since the onset of the most recent case.

When an outbreak is reported or discovered, public health officials investigate to determine who has been exposed and notify those persons directly. Such persons are generally quarantined for 14 days following exposure. The general public is likely not at risk from these outbreaks.

In the June 10 Weekly Report, past COVID-19 outbreaks – those considered closed – will be published. OHA is in the process of compiling those data.

Five rural zip codes in Marion County continue to stand out as hot spots, as does one in southeast Multnomah County and one in Forest Grove in Washington County.  Here is a zip code locator for you to use.

Where Are the New Cases?

If we put together the positive test results and new “presumptive” cases reported today, the overall number of new cases is 65.  Here are the counties in which they appear: 

Benton (1)

Clackamas (7)

Deschutes (1)

Douglas (1)

Hood River (6)

Jackson (1)

Jefferson (1)

Lincoln (1)

Linn (1)

Marion (18)

Multnomah (13)

Polk (1)

Umatilla (2)

Wasco (2)

Washington (5)

Yamhill (4)

And the Deaths

Here is OHA’s description of those we’ve lost most recently:

Oregon’s 158th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old male in Clackamas County, who tested positive on May 21 and died on June 2 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 159th COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old male in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 17 and died on May 30 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Again, both men were reported to have had underlying medical conditions that put them at risk.

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 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:

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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,

dembrow signature

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