August 2nd COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

August 2, 2020

I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and looking out for your neighbors and friends.  

On the coronavirus front, today is a relatively quiet day.  Only one death was recorded today. The case count is relatively low (we’ll get the exact number of positive test results tomorrow, but it’s likely somewhere around 250 for the day), but then so is the number of tests that were conducted.  So the ratio of positive results to tests is actually higher than yesterday’s.

As I do on Sundays, I’m including an analysis of the cumulative COVID case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths broken down by age.  As you’ll see, nearly 75% of all cases are now among those younger than 60, and 45% percent of those younger than 60 have severe enough illness to be hospitalized.  Those above 70 constitute nearly three-fourths of all COVID deaths. 

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • Positive Cases: OHA reports that 285 additional Oregonians have tested positive or are presumed positive (see below for definition) for COVID. (OHA groups together positive test results and presumed positives in its weekend reporting. I’ll readjust the numbers on Monday.) The cumulative total for those testing positive and presumed positive is 19,097.
  • Total Tests: The number of tests has increased by 4,031. (OHA groups together positive test results and presumed positives in its weekend reporting. Today’s increase in total results therefore includes presumed positives in the total results.  I’ll readjust the numbers on Monday.) The cumulative total is now 413,657.
  • Ratio: The percentage of positive tests is 7.1% of total results today. (Again, that’s based on the limited numbers reported.  I’ll get them correctly readjusted with the three-day average tomorrow.) The national percentage today is 6.7%. 
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional death due to the coronavirus today. You can read more about the person we lost further down in the newsletter.  The total number of deaths in Oregon is now 326.
  • Hospitalized: OHA does not report on hospitalizations over the weekend The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID thus remains at 1,607.
  • Presumptive Cases: OHA is 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.
  • Other Hospital Information: OHA DOES NOT REPORT hospitalization information over the weekend, so the numbers below are the same as Friday’s.
    • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 208 (21 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 153 have already received a positive test back.
    • Available ICU Beds: 117 (28 fewer than yesterday).
    • Other Available Beds: 687 (24 more than yesterday).
    • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 65 (1 fewer than yesterday).
    • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 32 (2 more than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 770 (6 more than yesterday).
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  • Today’s National Numbers:
  • PPE:

Coming Up on Thursday: Pre-Session Town Hall

Reps Barbara Smith Warner, Alissa Keny-Guyer, and I will be holding a pre-Special Session Zoom Town Hall this Thursday 5:30- 7:00.  Stay tuned for registration info and how to send in your questions.  Hope you can make it.

EcoNorthwest Examines State of the Oregon Economy

I’ve been meaning to share with you a recent analysis of Oregon’s economy, workforce, and spending patterns during the pandemic.  John Tapogna of the Portland consulting firm, EcoNorthwest presented it at the July 28 Summit Series meeting of The Oregon Business Plan, a periodic business-focused gathering.  For those who like to look at graphs, charts, and trendlines, here are the presentation slides from the meeting.

Here are EcoNorthwest’s five broad takeaways:

  1. The virus is calling the shots. Control the pandemic, and the economy will grow. Lose control of the pandemic, and the economy will contract.
  2. We’re operating in a “90% economy” for the foreseeable future. The leisure and hospitality sector won’t have an opportunity to fully recover until after the virus is eradicated. The challenge during this phase is optimizing economic outcomes under sub-optimal conditions—taking what the virus will give us.
  3. The CARES Act is the largest stimulus package in U.S. history and designed around an expectation of a “V” shaped recovery that is not playing out. Key features of the Act are set to expire this week.
  4. The pandemic has exacerbated labor market inequities. Job losses are disproportionately concentrated among young, low-wage workers.
  5. Consumers and businesses are taking risks with the virus in the background. Better risk quantification and mitigation would aid the reopening.

You can watch the presentation and get further information about other presentations at that meeting and plans for future meetings at the Summit Series website.

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 31.  You’ll see again that younger people have come to dominate the category of new cases: three-fourths of new cases are below the age of 50.

Again, a slight majority of hospitalizations are among those above the age of 60.  Deaths remain dominated by those above the age of 70, but we are increasingly seeing deaths among people in their 60s.

This week we did witness our youngest death yet, a young man aged 28.  Though the one test that he had came back negative, it seems likely that was a “false negative,” which unfortunately is not uncommon.  The symptoms leading up to his death clearly appeared to be those of someone with COVID.

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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 285.  Most of the state’s new cases today again come from outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Benton (1)

Clackamas (26)

Clatsop (2)

Deschutes (8)

Douglas (4)

Hood River (4)

Jackson (15)

Jefferson (7)

Josephine (2)

Lane (7)

Linn (4)

Malheur (10)

Marion (53)

Morrow (8)

Multnomah (48)

Polk (2)

Sherman (1)

Tillamook (4)

Umatilla (20)

Wasco (3)

Washington (47)

Yamhill (9)

And the Death

Oregon’s 326th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on June 29 and died on July 30, at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

Additional Graphs:

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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,

dembrow signature

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