June 19th COVID-19 Update

June 19, 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’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

• Positive Cases: OHA reports that 204 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19.  The cumulative total is now 6,344.
• Total Tests: The cumulative total number tests in Oregon now stands at 188,910 193,689. That’s an increase of 4,779.
• Ratio: The percentage of positive results for today is 4.3%. Today’s national percentage is 5.5%. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days.
• Deaths: I’m afraid I have to report 1 additional death due to the coronavirus today.  The total number of deaths in Oregon is now at 188.   
• Hospitalized: OHA reported 13 new hospitalizations today. The cumulative total of those who’ve been hospitalized for COVID-19 is now 946.
• 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. The number of new presumed cases has increased by 2, and the total number of those presumed positive is 228.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 154 (13 more than yesterday). Of those, 92 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 159 (25 fewer than yesterday).
  • Other Available Beds: 840 (13 more than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 50 (4 more than yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 29 (1 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 792 (2 fewer than yesterday).
• Dashboards:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 25,982,613 (up 579,115 from yesterday).
  • Positive Tests: 2,209,665 (up 31,777 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 112,822 (up 650 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 received 14,400 face shields. You can track the history of incoming and outgoing PPE shipments here.
• Additional Brief Updates:
  • The DMV has been scheduling appointments for various services now that they are reopening their facilities. As I’ve mentioned in the past, it has been extremely challenging for them to deal with the crush of people wanting to access their services.  Here's an update legislators received today.  DMV is using an outside firm to do the drive testing for license applicants.  Here's some info about that.
  • The OHA released its detailed guidelines on enhanced face covering requirements in seven counties. Those requirements go into effect next Wednesday.

Weekly Testing Report Released

Late this afternoon OHA released its latest weekly testing report.  As you’ll see from the chart that tracks weekly testing, the number of tests performed has gone up significantly, but unfortunately so has the percentage of positive test results recently. (Ideally, we hope to see the percentage go down the more that testing is performed.)  Here is its key finding:

As of June 19, Oregon’s cumulative positive testing rate is 3.3% of tests performed. This is considerably lower than the national average of 10%. Oregon’s number of tests performed has been steadily increasing week after week, but the number of positive cases and the test positivity rate have increased significantly over the past two weeks. This suggests increasing numbers of individuals with COVID-19, which is expected now that all counties are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 of reopening. Recent large outbreaks around the state have also contributed to these increases. We will continue to monitor these trends.

More On Special Session and Potential Bills

As I mentioned yesterday, the Special Session Joint Committee will be meeting on Monday afternoon in order to organize itself and begin taking testimony. Anticipating that there will be extensive testimony, they have also scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, beginning at 9:30.  Here's the agenda. 

I’m pleased to report that it has been decided that the Capitol will indeed be closed to the public during the special session in order to keep us safer.  The only exceptions will be members of the press, who will be there to observe and report on the proceedings. Even our legislative staff should not be in the building during the session.  Of course, all committee meetings and floor sessions will be live-streamed and archived for the public to watch.

In order to make the process as transparent as possible, I want to share with you in advance the Legislative Concepts that we have received so far.  Again, they fall into three categories: Police Accountability, COVID Response, and Urgent Holdovers from the February session. Please remember that these are preliminary drafts and very much in flux.  I’m sure most of them will see changes before the session actually begins.  Let me also say that at this point I’m supportive of most of them (in concept) but not all.

More will be coming out tonight and tomorrow, and I’ll include them in in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Police Accountability

LC 49: Prohibits an arbitrator from reinstating an officer judged to have committed misconduct, where the employer followed the guidelines agreed upon through collective bargaining.

LC 78: Creates a statewide database of police officer disciplinary proceedings, so that problem officers can be identified and prevented from being hired elsewhere in the state.

LC 79: Requires that instances of death or serious injury caused by police officers to be investigated and potentially prosecuted by the state Department of Justice.

LC 80: Creates rules requiring police officers to intervene to stop another officer from engaging in an act that is illegal, unethical, or violates rules or policy.

LC 81: Prohibits law enforcement from using tear gas, long range acoustic devices, or sound cannons

COVID Emergency Issues

LC 33: Prohibits commercial evictions during the pandemic.

LC 37: Temporarily extends timelines for judicial proceedings during the pandemic.

LC 39: Expands access to broadband via a service charge on cell phone plans.

LC 66: Extends for one year small school district grants and school district funding for foreign exchange students.

LC 74: Creates state meat processing inspection program to address disruptions due to outbreaks in very large national meat processing plants.

LC 76: Increases for one year the percentage of district students who can be enrolled in an outside virtual charter school from 3% to 8%.

LC 84: This is an omnibus bill covering multiple elements of coronavirus response.

LC 85: Creates temporary limitations on the ability of lenders to enforce foreclosures during the pandemic.

Holdover Issues

LC 7:  Memorializes an agreement between environmental organizations and timber companies creating restrictions on and notification of pesticide use.

LC 43: Fixes problems with existing allocation system for transit services, including for seniors and people with disabilities.

LC 51: A number of fixes related to foster youth placements, including out-of-state placements.

LC 53: Technical fixes to the Corporate Activities Tax passed last year.

LC 56: Expands dental procedures that a dental hygienist can do.

LC 62: Grant/Loan Program for Eastern Oregon workforce development/economic development.

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 204.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Clackamas (23)

Coos (1)

Deschutes (3)

Douglas (3)

Hood River (2)

Jefferson (4)

Klamath (12)

Lane (3)

Lincoln (31)

Linn (1)

Malheur (1)

Marion (20)

Morrow (5)

Multnomah (49)

Umatilla (24)

Union (6)

Wallowa (1)

Washington (17)

And the Death:

The OHA had this to say about the person we most recently lost to COVID-19:

Oregon’s 188th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 3 and died June 10, in her residence. She had underlying medical conditions.

Additional Graphs:

ZOOM Town Hall June 23

A reminder that Alissa, Barbara, and I will be holding a pre-Special Session Zoom town next Tuesday evening, June 23, 5-6:30 p.m.  Register in advance for the meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoceGrpzkvGtYCFDIlQEJLsdefrn8XUAAo.  After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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