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June 6, 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.
OHA will no longer be issuing full reports on Saturdays and Sundays. I assume it’s to give their people a bit of a breather. But I’m still able to get you a lot of useful info regarding current infection rates.
As a result of the modified reporting, you’ll notice a couple of changes in today’s report. No information regarding hospitalizations and no specific breakout for positive test results (positive tests are combined with “presumptive positive” cases for today’s total positive cases.). Monday’s report will incorporate the additional positive test results and hospitalization information.
In the newsletter you’ll also find the weekly roundup by county, showing how the individual counties have been doing over the last few weeks. I think you’ll find it interesting. I’m also including some optimistic news regarding unemployment benefits.
But first, a correction:
CORRECTION: I made an embarrassing mistake yesterday in my report on the new guidelines for retail stores. One of the bullets had to do with reopening fitting rooms. I said “(Current evidence does suggest that the virus is transmitted via clothing.).” I somehow erased a very key word from my original sentence: the word “not”!!! I meant to say that the evidence does NOT suggest that the virus is transmitted via clothing. Here’s what the actual guidelines have to say about this: There are no scientific data to indicate that clothing items are a major means of spread of the coronavirus. Any risk from this exposure is likely to be very low. My apologies.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 92 additional Oregonians tested or were presumed positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 4,662.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 146,159. That’s an increase of 3,041 tests.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 3.0%. (This includes the new presumptive positives.) Today’s national percentage is 4.3%. 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 have to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 163.
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Hospitalized: No new hospitalization numbers today, so the total remains 819.
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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. I can’t tell the demarcation between those reported to have newly tested positive and those who are presumed to be positive, so for now the total number of those presumed positive remains 128.
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Other Hospital Information: No new hospitalization numbers for today. Below are those reported on Friday.
- Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 121 (3 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 59 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 176 (same as yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 957 (24 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 39 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 16 (3 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 779 (4 fewer 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 either in Phase One or Phase Two and we are seeing a number of relaxations statewide as well. The key metrics that OHA will be watching as counties apply for or are in Phase Two are the number of positive test results (absent large increases in testing in the county, the number should generally not increase by more than 5%), and the percentage of positive test results among all tests administered: that’s going to be the most 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. The exceptions are in a few counties (Hood River, Jefferson, Lincoln), which had identified outbreaks that have been contact traced.
These data don’t include racial/ethnic breakdowns for each county. We likely are experiencing differences within populations within counties. County public health officials are aware of these differences and are expected to pursue strategies to address them.
The tables include cumulative numbers as of Friday.
 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.
Where Are Today’s New Cases?
If we put together the positive test results and new “presumptive” cases reported today, the overall number of new cases is 93. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Clackamas (7)
Deschutes (1)
Hood River (7)
Jackson (2)
Jefferson (2)
Lincoln (6)
Malheur (1)
Marion (11)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (28)
Polk (3)
Umatilla (6)
Wallowa (1)
Wasco (1)
Washington (15)
Yamhill (2)
And the Deaths
The OHA has provided the following details about those that we’ve most recently lost to the virus:
Oregon’s 162nd COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old woman in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 8 and died on May 9 in her residence.
Oregon’s 163rd COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 23 and died on May 29 in his residence.
As is routinely reported, both had underlying medical conditions in addition to COVID.
Some Good News Re: UI/PUA
As you can imagine, I’m still hearing from many constituents whose Regular Unemployment or Pandemic Unemployment claims have been held up for some reason. They’re suffering, and it’s hard. But I appreciate their reaching out, so we can try to get their problems addressed.
As I’ve mentioned, several of us legislators (10 to be exact) have deployed staff to serve as communications intermediaries between constituents and non-constituents and the Employment Department. Next week, I hear, they’ll be joined by members of the National Guard. We’ve already been hearing from a number of claimants grateful for the assistance. Many of you won’t be surprised to hear that Logan is doing a great job doing this important work.
I’m actually starting to hear from more and more that their cases have been resolved and they’re beginning to receive benefits. Someone just wrote the other day that he received 17 weeks of PUA back-benefits in one day (in 17 different envelopes, which seems wasteful but I assume it’s a function of the computer system and in any case good for the USPS).
This morning I received an email that was especially gratifying, and I’m going to reproduce it in its entirety (minus the writer’s name of course). He starts off with his appreciation for Thursday’s PUA webinar from Work Systems, Inc., the local workforce development agency. (Here again is the link to sign up for those webinars). WSI is really stepping up to help guide people through these pandemic challenges. If you’re not familiar with their services and their website, you should check it out: https://www.worksystems.org/home-page.) Here it is:
Senator Dembrow:
I wanted to share some VERY helpful information from this week's PUA webinar, and a positive follow-up with OED the next day. Roland Chapowski from WorkSystems hosted the webinar. An OED representative was supposed to co-host but was unable to attend, so Roland spent 2 hours on Q&A. A lot of helpful information and answers were provided.
One of the MOST helpful was the new hotline number: 503-370-5400 for PUA only
It was announced that they have 50 staff members working phones just for PUA claims. The new hotline number was announced earlier in the week and was quickly overwhelmed. However, other claimants that were on the webinar relayed how helpful the staff is if you can get through. This was my experience when I tried calling the following:
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7:59 am - Started dialing the hotline. (I got 3 'we are closed' messages and 2 busy signals)
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8:01 am - automated message and placed in the queue
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8:07 am - connected with a representative (She confirmed my application was rec'd and she reviewed my case. My weekly hours had not yet been entered in the system. She said she would do that and it should be processed for payment by mid-week.)
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8:18 am - Call ended - Issue resolved!
The representative was very positive, empathetic, and helpful. She answered all my questions and provided insight into the process. I highly recommend anyone claiming PUA that has not heard anything yet to call the hotline (first thing in the morning!)
Thanks for all your support and the helpful information you provide!
Additional Graphs:
 *The June 6 number include both positive test results and presumptive positives.
 *The June 6 number include both positive test results and presumptive positives.
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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