June 8th COVID-19 Update

June 8, 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.

We are still seeing the effects of the big outbreak in Newport reflected in today’s new case numbers, which are again over 100 (61 of today’s total of 116 new cases are in Lincoln County).  The percentage of tests that have been reported positive for today is at a record high level, the result of relatively modest testing and higher rates of positive results. 

Looked at cumulatively since beginning of the pandemic, our ratio is a relatively modest 3.2%, still among the lowest in the country.  But if we keep experiencing these kinds of outbreaks, that may not continue for long.

Let me take the opportunity in this newsletter to congratulate new Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell.  It would be an understatement to say that he’s taking on a tough job, but people whom I respect feel that he’s up to the task.  I look forward to working with him on the statutory policing reforms that we need and will continue to make in the Legislature.  I also want to give a strong, heartfelt thank you to outgoing Chief Jami Resch, who decided that it was best for our city and its residents if she stepped down to make way for Chief Lovell at this time. I’ve always been impressed by her character and her ability, never more than now.

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

• Positive Cases: We now have the weekend positive test results from OHA. Saturday saw an additional 93, Sunday was 146, and today’s is 113 additional Oregonians who tested positive for COVID-19.  The cumulative total is now 4,775.
• Total Tests: The total number of tests in Oregon now stands at 149,732. That’s an increase of 1,479 tests from yesterday, and an increase of 6,633 from Friday.
• Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 7.6%, another large percentage and again much higher than today’s national percentage of 4.3%.  See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days. 
• Deaths: I’m happy to report 0 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today.  The total number of deaths in Oregon remains at 164.         
• Hospitalized: The combined new hospitalizations for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are 24. The cumulative total of those who’ve been hospitalized for COVID-19 is now 843.
• 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’s number of new presumed cases is  19 (includes Saturday, Sunday, and Monday), and the total number of those presumed positive is now at 147.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 137 (16 more than Friday). Of those, 65 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 197 (21 more than Friday).
  • Other Available Beds: 1,133 (176 more than Friday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 43 (4 more than Friday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 18 (2more than Friday).
  • Available Ventilators: 779 (same as Friday).
• Dashboards:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 20,615,303 (up 379,625 from yesterday).
  • Positive Tests: 1,952,401 (up 16,240 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 105,040 (up 640 from yesterday).
  • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can follow their updated numbers for each, state and the nation as a whole here.
• PPE:
  • In the last 24 hours the Emergency Coordination Center has not received any additional Personal Protective Equipment. You can track the history of incoming and outgoing PPE shipments here.
• Additional Brief Updates:
  • An outbreak of seven cases of COVID-19 has been reported at Chaucer Foods in Washington County. The outbreak investigation started on May 31, but the initial case count was below the threshold for public disclosure. OHA is now publicly reporting COVID-19 outbreaks of more than five cases in workplaces with more than 30 employees in its daily news release Monday through Friday.
  • We’ve been seeing increased numbers from Clackamas County recently. Most are likely due to an outbreak at the Marquis Hope Village Post-Acute Rehab center, reported in today’s Oregonian.  The Oregonian is also reporting on a lawsuit brought by the survivors of residents at Healthcare at Foster Creek in Southeast Multnomah County, where a number of residents were infected and subsequently died from COVID-19 before the facility was shut down.  You can read about it here.
  • The Department of Corrections has reported ongoing increases in the number of adults in custody and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19. All of the increases continue to be at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.  As of June 4, 167 AICs and 47 corrections staff have been infected.  One AIC has died.

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 114.  Here is the breakdown by county for today: 

Clackamas (13)

Hood River (3)

Jefferson (1)

Klamath (1)

Lane (1)

Lincoln (61)

Marion (8)

Multnomah (16)

Umatilla (8)

Washington (2)

REDUX: The Proportions of COVID Cases by Age Are Changing

Here again are the Case breakdowns by age in early April, early May, and early June. In the version that I sent yesterday, the April pie graph was identical to May’s. This error happened for some reason when I copied it from Excel to Word.  Not sure why.

Anyway, now you should more easily see 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 Another $10 million to the Worker Relief Fund

Another allocation that the Legislature’s Emergency Board made on Friday was to send an additional $10 million to the Worker Relief Fund, a fund operated through the Oregon Community Foundation, with support from the MRG Foundation and other foundations.   The fund is for workers who are ineligible for wage replacement payments from traditional unemployment insurance programs.  The Legislature allocated an initial $10 million for this fund on April 23.

Applicants must meet the following specific criteria:

• They must live in Oregon;
• They must have lost their job in Oregon due to the pandemic;
• They are not eligible for federal Unemployment Insurance or other temporary wage-replacement programs.

For the most part, these will be workers who are from other countries, working without legal status here in Oregon.  According to those managing the Fund, there are an estimated 74,000 workers without legal status in Oregon, many of whom have jobs key to the state’s prosperity including farmworkers, food-processing workers, housekeepers, construction workers, landscapers, care-givers, and day laborers. We know that many of these industries have been devastated by the coronavirus crisis. Additionally, one in every 10 children in Oregon live with a family member who is undocumented.

Workers in this category are of course ineligible for the $1200/$500 federal relief payments.  In fact, if a household has even one member who does not have a social security number, the entire household is ineligible for these payments.

It is estimated that the maximum payment under the Worker Relief Fund program will be $1,700.  At that rate, the initial $10 million will soon be gone, thus the need for the additional allocation.

The initial $10 million came from the General Fund.  This additional $10 million will be paid with federal Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars.

Thanks to philanthropic fundraising by the MRG Foundation and others, no state money is being used for administrative overhead.  All of the money allocated by the Legislature is going directly to those in need.  Here's information on that effort and how you can donate, as I did, in support of this important work.

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:

• Multnomah County has a status report on reopening.
• You can view the reopening status of all 36 counties here.
• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 
• Oregon's Office of Emergency Management now has a website for information about COVID-19.
• You can sign up here for regular coronavirus updates from OHA.
• Multnomah County has an excellent website with lots of really important advice and guidance.
• Here’s one from the Governor’s Office.
• The Employment Department has put together a webpage with Q&A’s on a number of employment issues related to COVID-19 (e.g., eligibility for Unemployment Insurance benefits).
• The Oregon Education Department has a new site for COVID-19 updates.
• The Department of Corrections has a COVID tracking website.

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