Coronavirus Update: Young People Getting COVID, More Answers on Unemployment

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: Young People Getting COVID, Q&A on Unemployment

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

My team says “thank you” for all the great feedback and kind notes we get about this newsletter. We appreciate your readership!

With the longer days and nicer weather, my team and I have decided to go to three days a week for this newsletter for the summer – Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. If something particularly urgent comes up on other days, we will certainly let you know.

Now, on to today’s news.


Infections among Younger Adults on the Rise

As coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Oregon and around the nation, there has been an alarming increase in younger adults contracting the virus. The Oregonian has more details on this statewide trend here, and USA Today has more information here on the nationwide wave of new cases in younger Americans. The cause? Most likely increased socializing and complacency.

Here is a look at some updated age demographic data in Oregon. As you can see, Oregonians between 20-29 years old have the highest percentage of cases by age group.


OHA Demographics 7-7-2020

Even though older populations are generally at higher risk for bad health outcomes or death, this does not mean people outside those populations are not at risk. This virus is a serious threat to everyone. Ease of transmission does not discriminate in any way, and the spread among younger people also puts more vulnerable populations at risk. While a 20-something might not get very sick, they can give the virus to someone much older than them while out in public.

No one is invincible here. And even though we are no longer under Stay Home, Save Lives, small gatherings of friends are what is driving a lot of community spread throughout the state. While we all desperately want to see our family and friends, we must do so responsibly with proper hygiene, face coverings, and distancing. Also, please remember that being outside in small groups is far better than being indoors.

Lastly, tracking community spread is incredibly important as we all figure out how to live with coronavirus over the months ahead. Please respond to these calls when you get them, and if you know family or friends who may have been exposed, please encourage them to do the same.


Contact Tracing 7-7-2020

More Answers to Unemployment Questions

My office continues to receive pleas from Oregonians who are experiencing delays in receiving the unemployment benefits they are owed and need. My team has passed along information on nearly 800 claims to the Oregon Employment Department (OED).

We hear from people who are increasingly desperate due to the backlog of claims, and I’m continuing to personally push the agency for more answers on when people will receive their checks. We hear you, we’re doing everything we can to move this process forward, and we won’t be satisfied until every Oregonian gets the benefits they are owed.

My office has also been tracking the different kinds of unemployment questions people have. Like with claim information, we pass along these questions to the agency. OED has provided some more answers to some frequently asked questions:

How do I file a weekly PUA claim? I heard I have to do it online and over the phone - is that true?

That is not correct - you do not have to file your weekly claim over the phone. You only have to file your weekly claim one time each week. You should file your weekly claim online through the Online Claim System. Unless you need language or other help, you do not need to call the agency to file a weekly claim.

How long will PUA last? And how far back can I get PUA benefits?

PUA benefits may last for up to 39 weeks if you are eligible and out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program started the week of February 2, 2020, and goes through the week ending December 26, 2020. This does not mean you will automatically get PUA for every week from February through December. You still need to apply and file weekly claims, and be eligible.

You can get retroactive PUA benefits. This means that you can get benefits all the way back to the week you first lost work (but not farther back than February 2, 2020), even if you didn’t apply for PUA until later. To get benefits for past weeks, just list on your initial claim all the weeks you have been affected, and how much (if anything) you earned for each of those weeks. When we process your PUA claim, you will get benefits for all eligible weeks. You will also get the extra $600 per week in FPUC benefits for each week you were eligible for PUA (this only applies from March 29 through July 25).

For school employees - what does “reasonable assurance” mean?

This means a school employee has been given written, verbal, or implied assurance that they will be performing services for a school after the break period. This is a legally required, technical analysis the Employment Department must do to determine if someone is able to receive unemployment benefits during school recess periods.

Can school employees who are not eligible to get regular UI access PUA this summer even though they have “reasonable assurance”?

No. If a school employee is found to have reasonable assurance, they would not be eligible for PUA. Current federal guidance requires us to review for reasonable assurance on PUA claims just as we would on a regular claim.

Could we bypass or waive doing a reasonable assurance assessment due to COVID-19?

No. These are guidelines set forth by the federal government. At this time, there is no change to the process of determining eligibility during the break periods for a school employee. This process could change if new guidance is provided by the federal government that relates to school employees.


I hope these are helpful. Please continue to reach out to my office if you are not getting your questions answered. We will post more answers later this week.


Who Got Paycheck Protection Program Loans?

The federal Small Business Administration and the U.S. Treasury Department released data on which businesses across the country received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed by Congress to help small to midsize businesses keep their workers employed after the pandemic started.

The Oregonian has information here on which Oregon businesses received loans. You also might want to check out this blog post here from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, which analyzed the loan data by county and industry.

State economist Josh Lehner writes: ”No real surprises here that leisure and hospitality and other services are receiving the most PPP loans, given these sectors were the tip of the spear of the recession and those most impacted by shelter in place style policies. They needed the most assistance, and got it. Whether it will be enough to truly weather the storm, only time will tell.”


The Latest News

  • Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is already investigating thousands of complaints at Oregon workplaces, is enforcing our statewide face covering requirements. The Statesman Journal has more information here. Workers can make a complaint by going here.
  • Governor Brown’s Healthy Schools Reopening Council convened today for its first remote meeting. The council is advising school districts as they develop their plans for a safe return to school. More information is available here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority reported 218 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 10,605. Sadly, five more people have died, meaning there have been 220 Oregonians to die of the coronavirus. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus in Oregon.

OHA Epi Curve 7-7-2020

OHA COVID-19 Update 7-7-2020

To read past newsletters, you can go to this link. For up to date information, please check this link to the Oregon Health Authority where regular updates are posted: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ERD/Pages/News-Releases.aspx

Please email me at Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov if you have specific concerns that have not been addressed by the OHA. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.

Thank you for reading! We will get through this together.

Best,

Tina

Tina Kotek

State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House

email: Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek