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July 15, 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
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Positive Cases: OHA reports that 255 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total for those testing positive is 12,406.
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Total Tests: The number of tests increased by 6,309. The cumulative total is now 311,111,
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Ratio: The percentage of positive tests for today is 4.0% of total tests. The national percentage today is 8.6%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 4 additional deaths due to the coronavirus. The total number of deaths in Oregon in now 247. (OHA discovered that it had double-counted a death in Multnomah County, so the total is one fewer than would otherwise have been the case.)
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Hospitalized: OHA is reporting 36 new COVID hospitalizations. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 1,290.
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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 presumed positives is 675.
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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): 207 (28 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 146 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 141 (18 fewer than yesterday).
- Other Available Beds: 691 (8 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 53 (11 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 30 (5 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 772 (7 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:
- The Joint Task Force on Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform will have its second of this week’s meetings tomorrow at 10. You can watch it or access the written materials here. Topics tomorrow will be a continuation of the discussion from July 9 on the public release of data related to office performance, along with a more detailed discussion of use of tear gas. This will include some invited testimony from community members giving their experience. Though no public testimony will be taken orally, you can submit written testimony to the committee by emailing jtpufr.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov.
COVID Weekly Report Released
OHA released its Weekly Report today, revealing data trends for the week from July 6 through July 12. The report noted that the recent COVID-19 resurgence accelerated over the reporting week. OHA recorded 2,043 new cases of COVID-19 infection, a 7 percent increase from the previous week. In addition, 22 Oregonians were reported to have died, twice the number that died the preceding week. The percentage of tests positive increased to 6.2 percent from 5.0 percent though the daily number of newly reported infections appears to have plateaued for the first time since late May.
Hospitalizations also plateaued after increasing for the five consecutive weeks and remain below earlier peaks in March and April despite reported daily case counts approximately three times as high. These circumstances are probably due principally to 1) detection and reporting of a higher proportion of all infections that occur (more widespread testing; testing of asymptomatic contacts of known cases); and 2) actual increases in underlying rates of infection among younger people who are at lower risk of hospitalization than are those in older age groups. ICU bed usage remains well under capacity statewide.
Here are some of OHA’s broad observations of where we are now, based on data from July 6-12:
- We are seeing a continued resurgence in COVID-19 transmission.
- The percentage of positive test results increased from 5.0% to 6.2%. That’s still relatively low compared to other parts of the nation, but it’s triple the rate of a month ago.
- The statewide infection rate is now 4 cases per 10,000 Oregonians.
- 22 Oregonians were reported to have died, twice the number as last week.
- A record weekly number of 32,355 COVID tests was reported. This was a 14% increase over the previous week.
- Hospitalizations appear to have plateaued at a high level, but they remain below earlier peaks in March and April despite a bit increase in infections overall.
- OHA continues to believe that this is because younger people, who have lower risk of hospitalization and death, predominate among recent cases.
- We’re still seeing large outbreaks at workplaces and long-term care facilities but also seeing more of what OHA calls “sporadic cases,” which suggests that the disease is spreading more broadly into the community.
- Again this week fewer than 95% of cases identified on most recent days re able to be contacted by local public health staff within 24 hours, suggesting that more investigatory resources are needed.
Racial/Ethnic
The report again demonstrates significant disparities among racial groups. You can see this in the charts below, with data that I’ve taken from the July 1 report, the July 8 report, and from this report. It allows you to see at a glance the proportion of case counts within different racial groups and ethnic groups (technically, “Hispanic” is not a race and is counted as an ethnic group, with numbers from a separate chart).
You’ll see again how much higher the rates per 10,000 are for most racial/ethnic groups compared to White Oregonians. The differences have actually narrowed very slightly, but even so, Black Oregonians are 3.8 times more likely to contract the disease than are White Oregonians, while Latinx Oregonians remain nearly 6 times more likely, and Pacific Islanders an incredible 14 times more likely. You’ll also again see that the percentages of those hospitalized or dying from the disease are significantly lower for non-Whites than for the population of White Oregonians. Interestingly and fortunately, the percentage of infections that lead to hospitalizations and to death continues to go down.
The OHA has confirmed that this may be a function of age: many of those contracting the virus via workplace outbreaks are from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) populations. These frontline workers tend to be younger and thus somewhat less likely to experience severe consequences from the disease.
 
The report again provides information about signs, symptoms, and risk factors; racial/ethnic/age/gender demographics; recovery; outbreaks in long-term care; workplace outbreaks; hospital rates; and the breakdown of cases by zip code.
Long-Term Care Facilities
This week’s report lists outbreaks in 35 (up from 23) long-term care facilities that are still considered active. They are responsible for 528 cases (up from 434) and 44 deaths (up from 34). In addition, there are 39 outbreaks considered resolved (up from 36). They are responsible for 610 cases (up from 580) and 102 deaths (up from 97). The total for active and resolved facilities is thus 1,138 cases (up by 124 from last week) and 146 deaths (up by 15 from last week). The listed facilities include all where there was at least one death and at least three cases, so the above total should include all of the deaths in Oregon, but there may be additional cases out there that are not included.
Workplace Outbreaks
Similarly, there are separate listings for workplace outbreaks that are “active” and “resolved,” but without deaths identified by workplace. So far, eight deaths have been the result of workplace outbreaks, a figure unchanged from last week. You’ll find 60 workplaces listed as “Active” this week, totaling 447 cases. (Of those, nearly 75% are in correctional institutions.) Thirty-seven are listed as “Resolved,” totaling 580 cases. Those listed include workplaces with at least 5 cases identified among workers or family members.
OHA points out that the higher number of COVID cases among people of color can in part be tied to their being overrepresented in agricultural and correctional settings, where it’s difficult to contain the spread of the virus.
I will add that it would be wrong to think that the products produced at these workplaces are tainted in some way. OHA is clear that their products do not pose a risk to the public. The challenge is that workers cannot separate their work and their everyday lives. They are bringing the virus into the facilities and they are taking it back out into the community.
Childcare Outbreaks
The Weekly Report again includes names and case counts for child care facilities that enroll 30 or more children and have five or more cases. KinderCare in Lake Oswego and a facility in Nyssa in Malheur County are again listed, but no new ones have joined them..
The Weekly Report also includes the total number of facilities statewide—no matter how many children they enroll—that have five or more cases. There have been two such facilities.
Infections by Zip Code
You’ll see that the zip code list again reveals the various hot spots around the state, presented in terms of cases per 10K residents. The top five should come as no surprise:
97365 (Newport in Lincoln County), 97838 (Hermiston in Umatilla and Morrow Counties), 97882 (Umatilla in Umatilla County), 97850 (LaGrande in Union County), and 97875 (Stanfield in Umatilla County). Three out of the top five zip codes are where food processing workers in the Morrow/Umatilla area live. Here is a zip code locator for you to use as you look at the zip code numbers.
New Report on School Reopening
I'm sure you know that debates are raging around what K-12 education will look like in the fall. How do we reopen schools in a way that keeps the pandemic contained and that keeps teachers, staff, and students (and their families) safe? What is the proper mix of online and face-to-face? How do we do this in a way that addresses the needs of all students and families. How do we pay for it? As you can imagine, I'm right in the middle of this debate now that I'm chairing the Senate Education Committee.
There's no easy answer to these questions, particularly given the dynamic nature of the disease and uncertainties around what the infection rate will be like in the fall. Whatever we do will need to be informed by the best science available, and it will need to be science that's also grounded in social and political realities. The National Academy of Sciences has just put out a detailed report on school reopening that looks very promising. If this is a subject that interests you, I recommend that you check it out.
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 282. The majority are again from outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Baker (1)
Benton (1)
Clackamas (24)
Columbia (2)
Coos (2)
Crook (1)
Deschutes (12)
Douglas (4)
Jackson (9)
Jefferson (2)
Josephine (1)
Klamath (1)
Lane (9)
Lincoln (2)
Linn (2)
Malheur (15)
Marion (38)
Morrow (3)
Multnomah (59)
Polk (4)
Tillamook (1)
Umatilla (27)
Union (4)
Wasco (2)
Washington (50)
Yamhill (6)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 244th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on June 13 and died on June 14, at St. Charles Medical Center.
Oregon’s 245th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on April 13 and died on May 6, in his residence.
Oregon’s 246th death is an 85-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on April 11 and died on June 20, at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 247th death is a 61-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive on June 28 and died on July 12, at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock, Texas.
NOTE: The death of a 71-year-old woman from Multnomah County who died on May 5 was accidentally reported twice — once in the May 7 press release as Oregon’s 120th death, and again in the May 8 press release as Oregon’s 124th death. OHA regrets the error. The total number of deaths today has been amended to reflect this change.
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,
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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