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July 12, 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.
As you’ll see from today’s metrics, the COVID resurgence continues. As a result, and in order to fend off the really frightening scenarios that could occur if these trends continue, the Governor’s Office has been in conversations with County Chairs about new restrictions.
These would focus on those indoor social events that have been proving dangerous. They would likely involve further face-covering requirements and limits on the size of indoor social gatherings. Stay tuned for details and an announcement in the next couple of days.
The goal here is to get back to flattening the curve without having to shut down businesses and venues.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports that 332 additional Oregonians have either tested positive for COVID or are presumed positive due to symptoms while awaiting test results. The cumulative total for those testing positive and presumed positive is now 12,170. On Monday I’ll be able give the exact number of positive test results alone.
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Total Tests: The number of positive tests plus presumed positives plus negative tests increased by 3,989. The cumulative total is now 296,172. On Monday I’ll be able give the exact number of positive and negative test results alone.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive tests results and presumed positives is 8.3% of total tests reported today. The national percentage today is 8.4%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon remains at 234.
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Hospitalized: OHA is not reporting new hospitalization numbers over the weekend, so for now the cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID remains at 1,180. I’ll have updated numbers on Monday.
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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.
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Other Hospital Information: The numbers from yesterday will remain unchanged until Monday.
- Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 208 (16 more than yesterday). Of those, 139 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 117 (8 fewer than yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 680 (18 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 56 (3 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 30 (5 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 776 (11 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 Items:
- I know that many of you have been wondering about the relationship between the increase of COVID and the protest demonstrations that have been occurring. An article from the McClatchy News Service reports on the most recent thinking, which is that there doesn’t appear to be a relationship. We’re seeing declines in COVID in some of the areas where the biggest and most congested marches have been held. Masking has helped, along with the fact that these protests are happening outdoors. Epidemiologists are seeing increasing evidence that the real problem areas are indoor large gatherings.
- The Joint Legislative Task Force on Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform will be holding its second week of hearings this week, Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10 and Friday afternoon at 1. You can follow their work here. The task force is hoping to have further proposals ready for passage, some as soon as the next special session of the Legislature (likely at the end of this month or early August) and others during the next full legislative session. I applaud and support their efforts. The confrontations occurring each night in downtown Portland and other cities are making this work ever more urgent.
More Details On E-Board Proposals
The Legislative Emergency Board web page now includes details on the latest round of COVID-Response allocations. If you’d like to take a look at them in advance of the meeting Tuesday morning at 10, here are links to the detailed proposals:
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COVID-19 Emergency Business Assistance: $25,600,000 to support small businesses, including $2,500,000 in additional dollars to support the fishing industry.
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Statewide Business and Cultural Support: $50 million for arts and cultural businesses and activities.
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Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief and Resiliency: $62 million to the Black United Fund and The Contingent for grants to Black-owned businesses, non-profits, and individuals in need of emergency support.
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COVID-19 Leave Fund for Quarantined Workers: $30 million to replace lost wages of individuals who need to quarantine because of contact with COVID.
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Emergency Relief Checks: (This is the $500 that will be sent to those still waiting for their Unemployment and Pandemic Unemployment benefits.)
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Election Security: $2,500,000 to install and operate election intrusion detection technology in each of the 36 counties.
We can expect that one of the more controversial subjects for the E-Board to address is the extent to which any of these dollars should be available for people and businesses in Portland, Multnomah County, or Washington County since those jurisdictions received separate funding from the CARES Act. Needless to say, opinions are mixed.
Looking at Age Metrics
Each Sunday I’ve been providing you with this week’s statewide case, hospitalization, and death metrics by age. Here is updated information as of July 2. You’ll see again that younger people have come to dominate the category of new cases. The largest single group of new cases are to be found in people in their twenties. 80% of new cases are now in people under the age of 50.
Hospitalizations continue to be dominated by those above the age of 60. Deaths are dominated by those above the age of 70.
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 332. Sixty percent are from outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Baker (1)
Benton (2)
Clackamas (33)
Deschutes (16)
Douglas (4)
Hood River (1)
Jackson (2)
Jefferson (5)
Klamath (2)
Lane (10)
Linn (8)
Malheur (71)
Marion (28)
Morrow (7)
Multnomah (70)
Polk (4)
Sherman (1)
Umatilla (27)
Wasco (1)
Washington (35)
Yamhill (4)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 233rd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Malheur County who tested positive on June 29. The date and location of death are still being confirmed.
Oregon’s 234th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Washington County who died on July 7 and tested positive post-mortem on July 11. Additional details are still being confirmed.
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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