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June 29, 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.
The big news of the day is the Governor’s decision to extend the face-covering requirement for indoor public spaces the state as a whole. This will be controversial. There will be some who will accuse her of over-reaching, of forcing her values onto other parts of the state. Based on what I heard at one of the anti-Governor rallies outside the Capitol last week, it will get ugly and compliance will be uneven. That’s too bad.
We’re seeing evidence that there are more and more people out there who have no symptoms, who feel fine, but who have been exposed to the virus and are now themselves contagious. It’s vital that they take steps to lower the risk of spreading the virus to others. And right now, wearing a face covering when encountering others indoors seems to be the best way to do that. A face covering will restrict the very fine droplets that exit the mouth and nose, particularly when one is speaking, sneezing, or coughing. It’s not a perfect barrier, but it helps.
It’s important for every one of us to remember that we could be that person who is an inadvertent carrier of the disease. We need to act accordingly. It’s not about our level of comfort in taking on risk. It’s about our willingness (or not) to be a risk to others. I do hope that people will do the right thing.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports today that 600 additional Oregonians have tested positive since Friday, an average of 200 per day. The cumulative total for those testing positive and presumed positive is now 8,121.
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Total Tests: The cumulative total number of positive cases and negative tests in Oregon is now 234,769, an increase of 18,425 since Thursday (the last day we were given actual total test counts). That’s an average of 4,606 per day.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for the four days since Thursday is 4.5%. The national percentage is 6.4%. See below for a graph showing Oregon’s daily percentage changes over the last 14 days.
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Deaths: I’m afraid that I have to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now 204.
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Hospitalized: OHA reported that the cumulative total of those who’ve been hospitalized for COVID-19 is now 1,025, just 3 more than Friday (this may be the result of changes in reporting).
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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. The total number of those presumed positive is now 364, an additional 67 since Friday.
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Other Hospital Information:
- Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 151 (2 more than Friday). Of those, 108 have already received a positive test back, 10 more than on Friday.
- Available ICU Beds: 207 (53 more than Friday).
- Other Available Beds: 688 1060 (372 more than Friday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 44 (9 fewer than Friday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 25 (10 fewer than Friday).
- Available Ventilators: 794 (9 more than Friday).
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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:
Governor Extends Face-Covering Requirements to Entire State
The Governor announced her decision to extend the face-covering requirement in a press release this afternoon.
Currently, seven counties are under this requirement, with Clatsop County having already requested to be added on July 1. The Governor’s new order will require all other counties to join them on July 1. It applies to indoor public spaces. Here is the existing guidance for the current counties.
The new order is the result of two factors: the big increase in new cases that we’ve been seeing since reopening and growing evidence that face coverings really can make a difference.
The Governor indicated that she sees this as a way to avoid having to take a step back on reopening, a step no one wants to take but that she might be forced to take if the alternative is a healthcare system that is overwhelmed by the newly-resurgent disease: Modeling from the Oregon Health Authority shows that if we don’t take further action to reduce the spread of the disease, our hospitals could be overwhelmed by new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations within weeks. The choices every single one of us make in the coming days matter.
Special Session Review #2: HB 4213A, Temporary Ban on Evictions
HB 4213A is another coronavirus response bill passed by the Legislature last week. It extends the moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent during the emergency. This was one of the first executive orders passed by the Governor, and it was set to expire at the end of June. This bill extends the moratorium until September 30, 2020.
The bill takes into account the requirements of SB 608 from 2019, the bill that limits rent increases and also prohibits no-cause evictions. Landlords retain the ability to evict a tenant for reasons not related to non-payment—e.g., for acting in ways that are harmful or dangerous for other tenants—by going through a regular eviction proceeding.
Ideally, most currently unemployed tenants will be able to keep up with their rent thanks to their receiving unemployment insurance. But we know that many are falling behind because of delays in processing claims. The moratorium allows them to pay back what they owe in back rent once the UI or PUA payments come through.
This is not a rent forgiveness program. For the most part, landlords will eventually still need to receive the money that is owed them. The state has been able to use some CARES Act money to help out some tenants who do not have access to UI, but there’s definitely not enough to help most people.. Having to come up with back rent in a lump sum in September will clearly be difficult for many, especially if they are still unemployed or marginally employed. As a result, legislators heard from a number of housing advocates and from counties asking us to come up with a way to give tenants more time to pay back what they owed.
Under this bill, therefore, tenants will receive an extra six-month grace period after the end of September to repay what they owe. As long as they notify the landlord that they will need to take advantage of the grace period, they will have until March 31, 2021, to pay off the balance of what they owe. The landlord and tenant can work out a payment plan and/or partial rent forgiveness voluntarily, but neither is required to do so.
You can read the detailed legislative analysis of the bill here.
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)
Douglas (2)
Jackson (3)
Jefferson (3)
Josephine (1)
Klamath (5)
Lake (2)
Lane (6)
Malheur (5)
Marion (14)
Multnomah (29)
Tillamook (2)
Umatilla (15)
Union (5)
Wasco (6)
Washington (27)
Yamhill (1)
And the Deaths:
The OHA had this to say about those we most recently lost to COVID-19:
Oregon’s 203rd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 18 and died on June 27. Her place of death is being confirmed. She had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 204th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on June 17 and died on June 27. His place of death is being confirmed. He had underlying medical conditions.
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,
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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