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July 20, 2020
I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and looking out for your neighbors and friends.
Today was a relatively good day for new COVID infections in Oregon, with “only” 277 new cases. (The average of positive test results for the last 3 days was 333, with a record high on Saturday.) We learn today from the weekly testing summary that our week-over-week percentage of positive results has remained at 5.8% for the last two weeks—high for Oregon, though better than much of the country. We’ll see if this is a plateau or just a resting point.
In tonight’s newsletter you’ll find more information from the weekly testing report, along with a breakdown by age of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, as well as the metrics for the day.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports that 1,000 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID since Friday, an average of 333 per day. The cumulative total for those testing positive is 14,085.
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Total Tests: The number of tests increased by 15,804 since Friday, an average of 5,268 per day. The cumulative total is now 339,282.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive tests for the last three days is 6.3% of total tests. The national percentage today is 7.9%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 2 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. Further down in the newsletter, you’ll find information about those we’ve most recently lost. The total number of deaths in Oregon in now 262.
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Hospitalized: OHA is reporting 60new COVID hospitalizations since Friday, an average of 20 per day. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 1,387.
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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 now 762.
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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): 233 (9 fewer than Friday). Of those, 155 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 143 (19 more than Friday).
- Other Available Beds: 775 (25 more than Friday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 70 (6 more than Friday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 34 (same as Friday).
- Available Ventilators: 779 (2 fewer 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:
- ODE will be releasing the second revision of its reopening guidelines tomorrow. We’re told that it will include some substantial changes, including requirements around face coverings for children and staff.
- Despite growing evidence that face coverings can make a real difference in limiting transmission of COVID, it remains a politicized issue in Oregon. On Saturday there was another rally at the Capitol, where hundreds of people gathered to protest the face-covering requirements, along with other aspects of the executive orders that the Governor has issued in order to curb the spread of the virus. Here's a Statesman Journal article about the rally.
- Kathy Luiten of Wilsonville had an interesting suggestion on how we could each do our parts to help with contact tracing. It was in a letter to the editor in today’s Oregonian: “To assist contact tracers, each one of us should be our own daily tracer. At the end of each day, it is easy to note on a calendar (paper or digital) where you went that day and to whom you spoke face-to-face or even mask-to-mask. If you do become ill, it would be easy to let all of your contacts know. This daily five-minute solution would certainly help curb the virus. It also would help you become aware of how many contacts (necessary or unnecessary) you made each day who add to your viral load. If we share this idea, it can spread faster than the virus and save lives.” OK, I’ve shared it! Now, it’s up to you.
- In order to avoid conflicts with this week’s Ways and Means subcommittee hearings, the Joint Committee on Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform will NOT be meeting this week. Their next hearings are scheduled for July 29-31. Legislative concepts for the next special session are already being drafted. You can follow the work of the task force via its legislative website. If you look at the agendas for the individual meetings, you’ll see reference to the Legislative Concepts (LCs) that are already in the works. (There will likely be more.)
New Testing Update Released
OHA released its Weekly Testing Summary today. It shows that 39,301 tests were performed for the 6 days of July 13-18. (In order to match CDC reporting, they have shifted from Sunday to Saturday, so it includes one day less than usual.) We approached our weekly testing capacity, which is estimated at 41,000 tests.
Of those tests, 2,292 were reported positive, for a positivity rate of 5.8 percent, unchanged from last week.
The report continues to caution that several major manufacturers have informed OHA that testing supply allocation may be reduced over the next six to eight weeks due to the recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases nationally. In fact, we’re already seeing shortages here in Oregon.
Also, OHA is receiving widespread reports of extended turnaround time from commercial laboratories. In some cases, results are being reported two weeks following specimen collection. OHA will continue to monitor this concerning situation.
Looking at Age Metrics
Here again are this week’s statewide case, hospitalization, and death metrics by age. Here is updated information as of July 20. You’ll see again that younger people have come to dominate the category of new cases. 80% of new cases are in people under the age of 50.
Hospitalizations continue to be dominated by those above the age of 60 (though we see that the share of hospitalizations among children younger than 10 has increased by 5% this week, which is concerning). Deaths are dominated by those above the age of 70, with the percentages remaining identical to last week’s.
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 277. The majority of the state’s new cases are again from outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Clackamas (11)
Clatsop (2)
Columbia (1)
Crook (1)
Deschutes (19)
Douglas (2)
Harney (1)
Hood River (2)
Jackson (5)
Jefferson (7)
Josephine (2)
Klamath (5)
Lake (1)
Lane (4)
Lincoln (2)
Malheur (10)
Marion (30)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (85)
Polk (1)
Umatilla (41)
Washington (38)
Yamhill (6)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 261st COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on June 22 and died on July 17, at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Oregon’s 262nd COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on July 8 and died on July 18, in his residence.
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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