June 7, 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.
Today is another day with troubling numbers on the coronavirus front. The OHA reported the largest number of new infections in Oregon to date today: 146. That’s out of a total of 2,241 tests, which is a good number but not enough to explain such a high number of new cases. That makes today’s ratio of new COVID cases to new tests 6.5%, our highest since early April and for the first time ever higher than today’s national rate.
So what is causing this jump in newly identified cases, and will they lead to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths? Only time will tell for the second question. For the first question, there are likely a couple of factors at work. As you’ll see below, more than half of the cases can be attributed to outbreaks at a fish processing operation in Lincoln County and an agricultural operation in Hood River County. These outbreaks are increasingly a real problem. Ironically, improved contact tracing and subsequent testing may be revealing them in greater numbers. Hopefully, they will be contained among these workers and not spread to the general population in these rural counties. We’ll see.
I know that many of us are anxious to put this pandemic behind us and move on to other things, but clearly it’s too soon for that. I look forward to hearing more about this from the OHA tomorrow.
On to today’s newsletter. As I mentioned yesterday, 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 again 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 today’s newsletter you’ll also find a deeper dive into the effects of the virus on different age groups, and you’ll see the way that infection rates have increased among younger Oregonians. I’m also including more information about the way that the Legislature is stepping up to provide rent and mortgage assistance for those hardest hit by the economic effects of the pandemic.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA has reported that 146 additional Oregonians tested or were presumed positive for COVID-19 yesterday, putting the total at 4,808.
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Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 148,400. That’s an increase of 2,241 tests.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today has jumped to 6.5%. (This includes the new presumptive positives.) Today’s national percentage is 4.4%. For the first time ever, for the results reported today, Oregon’s ratio is higher than the national ratio. 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 1 additional death due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 164.
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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:
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Additional Brief Updates:
- As you’ll see in the county numbers below, the positive infections in Lincoln County have gone up dramatically. No, that’s not a result (at least not a direct result) of going to the Coast for Memorial Day weekend. It’s due to another large food-processing workplace outbreak, this one at Pacific Seafood in Newport. In all, 124 of the 376 workers tested were positive for the virus. It’s not clear at this point whether the Pacific Seafood facilities had modified their processes to ensure appropriate physical distancing in the workplace. According to OHA, the risk to the general public as a result of this outbreak is low.
- The pandemic has had a number of effects on food distribution in this state. Outbreaks such as the one at Pacific Seafood and at large slaughterhouses elsewhere in the country have made it difficult to get food onto grocery store shelves. On the other hand, this has been a good time for Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and other smaller local growing/harvesting/processing operations. Check out this recent testimony from Friends of Family Farmers to the House Agriculture Committee. Like everyone, they’re facing many challenges. But you’ll see some silver linings for now and the future.
- To help give you a sense of how quickly COVID-19 has surged to the top of the leading causes of death worldwide, check out this graphic visualization by Mark Perry. (Thanks to Rob Wagner.)
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 146. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Clackamas (18)
Deschutes (2)
Hood River (12)
Lincoln (61)
Linn (1)
Marion (11)
Multnomah (22)
Umatilla (5)
Wasco (2)
Washington (8)
Yamhill (4)
And the Death
The OHA has provided the following details about the Oregonian whom we’ve most recently lost to the virus:
Oregon’s 164th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Malheur County, who tested positive on June 1. Additional information is still pending.
Looking at Age Metrics
Each Sunday I’ve been providing you with this week’s statewide case, hospitalization, and death metrics by age. This week I’m doing it a little differently, focusing on the percentage breakdowns via pie charts. I’ll first give you the current breakdown for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. You’ll see that hospitalizations and deaths not surprisingly skew older.
The Proportions of COVID Cases by Age Are Changing
Now, I’ll show the Case breakdowns by age in early April, early May, and early June. You’ll see that we are seeing that younger people have come to make up an increasing percentage of cases as the pandemic has persisted. Those under the age of 40 now make up 40% of new COVID cases.
Legislature Directs $100 Million for Rent/Mortgage Relief
One of the first actions taken by Governor Brown in response to the economic effects of the pandemic was to order the suspension of evictions and foreclosures by renters and mortgage holders during the emergency. That was an important step to provide people with some security and stability during these difficult times. In many cases—though not all—unemployment benefits and federal assistance will eventually allow them to pay what they owe. In the meantime, though, it has been hard on landlords, especially smaller landlords and those who manage low-income rental housing, to wait for the back-payments to come. And there are a number of renters and mortgage holders who will not be able to repay what they owe.
Legislators all over the state have been receiving numerous requests for help from their constituents, and I’m happy to say that some relief is now on the way. As I mentioned on Friday, earlier that day the Emergency Board did address this need through a combination of CARES Act (Coronavirus Relief Fund) dollars and another existing federal program. Here is the description of the relief programs from the Legislative Fiscal Office. All three will be run through the state’s Housing and Community Services Department. You’ll see that it has three components:
- $55 million to provide rent assistance to landlords of tenants who are unemployed or underemployed due to COVID-19. The landlords must then forgive the rent owed by the tenants. Eligible households must be at or below 80% of area median income for the county in which they reside. The actual implementation will be through local Community Action Agencies.
- $20 million to the owners of affordable rental housing projects. This will come in the form of forgivable loans. If renters are unable to repay their back rent, the upfront loan to the owner will be turned into a grant. This program will be run directly by Housing and Community Services.
- $25 million from remaining dollars in a federal foreclosure prevention fund (the “Hardest Hit” program) established during the last recession will go out as direct support to Oregonians at risk of foreclosure as a result of the economic effects of the pandemic. These dollars will be disbursed directly by Housing and Community Services as well.
I can’t yet tell you exactly how individual renters, landlords, or homeowners will be able to access these relief dollars. Emergency rules will now need to be developed and approved as quickly as possible. I’ll let you know more as that process gets underway.
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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