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June 30, 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.
In today's newsletter, I have updated numbers to share, the latest information about the employment department's progress (and challenges) on approving and paying UI/PUA claims, and another profile of one of the bills we passed during last week's special session.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports today that 144 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total for those testing positive is now 8,265.
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Total Tests: The cumulative total number of positive cases and negative tests in Oregon is now 237,243, an increase of 2,474.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive results for the four days since Thursday is 5.8%. The national percentage is 6.8%. 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 3 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. The total number of deaths in Oregon is now 207.
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Hospitalized: OHA reported that 13 more Oregonians have been hospitalized for COVID-19. The cumulative total is now 1,038.
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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 391, an additional 27.
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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): 149 (2 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 105 have already received a positive test back, 10 more than on yesterday.
- Available ICU Beds: 152 (55 fewer than yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 833 (227 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 42 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 25 (same as yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 793 (1 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:
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The OHA has released guidances for the new statewide requirement on face coverings and an FAQ on face coverings.
- OSU has just received the latest results of its TRACE study, this one focused on Newport (where OSU has the Hatfield Ocean Studies Center). The TRACE project has been conducting random testing in Corvallis, Bend, and now Newport. In a press release issued today, the TRACE scientists estimate that 3.4% of Newport residents are currently carrying the COVID-19 virus. This is a much higher rate than was the case for either Corvallis or Bend, and shows that the workplace outbreak at Pacific Seafood has led to a more general community spread and includes a number of people who were asymptomatic and had not otherwise been known to be infected. The press release also includes a link to various resources available to residents of Newport and Lincoln County in order to help prevent further spread.
- Oregon Housing and Community Services has distributed $55 million in rent relief and $15 million in energy assistance to community action agencies around the state to help low-income Oregonians hurt by the effects of the pandemic. You can see the distribution here. The money is part of a $90 million allocation from the Legislature’s Emergency Fund earlier in the month. The money is reserved for Oregonians with household incomes at or below 80% of Area Median Income for their county. Those who want to apply to the fund can call 211 or go to 211info.org.
- For those of you who’d like to read an overview of last week’s special session, here’s a nice (and I will say quite accurate!) one from Gary Warner for the Blue Mountain Eagle.
Governor Extends COVID Emergency Period
The Governor issued a press release this afternoon extending the COVID State of Emergency—which was set to expire--for another 60 days. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given the new cases and hospitalizations that we’ve been seeing following the recent reopenings. It’s clear that the COVID emergency is not yet over.
The Governor will be holding a press conference tomorrow morning at 11 to go over the new statewide face-covering requirements, as well as medical advice for staying safe during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.
Unemployment Insurance: Why Have Some PUA Payments Stopped?
Although it may not feel that way for many of those in the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (largely for the self-employed, independent contractors, “Gig” workers) who are still waiting, many people are actually receiving their weekly benefits now. But some of those have suddenly seen their benefits stop, and they’re unable to learn what’s wrong.
Legislators learned today that the problem is that the new automated PUA claims system that’s being set up with Google, is not yet fully up and running. Workers are still required to process weekly claims by hand, and a backlog is occurring there as well. There’s not a problem with the claim, just a lag due to the backlog. Payments will automatically resume as soon as they catch up. Claimants should continue to file each week.
Although approximately 20,000 PUA claimants are now receiving benefits, 70,000 are still waiting. We legislators are hearing from many desperate individuals every day and are helping make sure that the right information is getting to the Department. I want to commend my own staffer, Logan Gilles, and many other legislative staffers who are working hard to help people. Most of them are waiting on PUA claims. It’s become clear to me that using the unemployment system to provide needed support for people who have traditionally been excluded from the system—while well-meaning—feels like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, compounding all the other problems with the system.
Nearly all regular unemployment cases (except for those who’ve become unemployed very recently) have now been processed. However, not all of those whose claims have been processed are receiving benefits yet. That’s because there’s some kind of problem with their claim that needs adjudicating. The wait time for those hearings remains long. The Department has hired a number of new adjudicators, but many of them are still being trained. (Adjudicators require more training than ordinary claims processors.)
For more information about the number of claimants that are now receiving benefits and those that are still waiting, see the OED COVID website.
Special Session Review #3: HB 4204A, Temporary Moratorium on Foreclosures
Like the moratorium on evictions (HB 4213), HB 4204A extends and expands an earlier executive order scheduled to expire today. This one prevents lenders from foreclosing on mortgage holders prior to September 30 (and potentially later if the emergency period is extended) emergency for inability to pay. The lender is prohibited from assigning added fees or interest payments as a result of the moratorium. This applies both to residential and to commercial property.
Again, this is not a mortgage forgiveness program, but it does recognize the difficulty that many mortgage holders will have in making back-payments after the moratorium ends. Mortgage holders will have until the end of the mortgage period to pay back what they owe, either through a “balloon payment” at the end or through payments made ahead of that.
This bill was one of the most controversial of those passed last week. It was opposed by the Oregon Bankers Association, though not by the Northwest Credit Union Association. In the end, nearly all Republican legislators opposed it, as did one Democratic senator.
Those of us who supported it felt strongly that passing this bill was an important step if we are to avoid the catastrophe of the last recession, where many homeowners wound up losing their homes to foreclosure and became at least temporarily homeless as a result.
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 181. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Clackamas (1)
Coos (1)
Deschutes (10)
Jackson (5)
Jefferson (12)
Josephine (2)
Klamath (3)
Lake (2)
Lane (7)
Lincoln (3)
Linn (4)
Malheur (7)
Marion (25)
Multnomah (38)
Polk (2)
Tillamook (2)
Umatilla (9)
Union (10)
Wasco (1)
Washington (18)
Yamhill (3)
And the Deaths:
The OHA had this to say about those we most recently lost to COVID-19:
Oregon’s 205th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on June 18 and died on June 29, in his residence. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 206th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on June 19 and died on June 29, at Salem Hospital. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 207th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 12 and died on June 27, at Salem Hospital. She 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,
 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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