August 12th COVID-19 Update

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin at 08/12/2020 09:45 PM PDT
Michael Dembrow

August 12, 2020

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

Today’s COVID case numbers and positivity rate continue to be lower.  That’s good news, and it’s part of what appears to be a trend.  OHA released its weekly report today, and we can see that increases in new cases, positivity rate, hospitalizations, and deaths are all stabilizing or moving downwards.  As you’ll see, unlike what we’re seeing in Oregon, the national numbers are not good.

Unfortunately, here in Oregon we continue to see big disparities among racial/ethnic groups and we continue to see large outbreaks in our correctional institutions. 

You can read more about it below.

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • Positive Cases: OHA reports that 232 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total for those testing positive is 20,643. 20,875.
  • Total Tests: The number of tests has increased by 5,438. The cumulative number of tests since the pandemic began is now 461,395.
  • Ratio: The percentage of positive tests today is 4.3%. The national percentage today is 12.0%. 
  • Deaths: I’m very sorry to report 7 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. You can read more about those we lost further down in the newsletter.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 375.
  • Hospitalized: OHA reports that an additional 32 Oregonians have been hospitalized with COVID. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID since the beginning of the pandemic is 1,845.
  • 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.  OHA reports 26 new presumptive cases today and a cumulative total of 1,147 Oregonians presumed positive.
  • Other Hospital Information:
    • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 213 (21 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 162 have already received a positive test back.
    • Available ICU Beds: 159 (17 more than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 689 (12 fewer than yesterday).
    • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 50 (9 fewer than yesterday).
    • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 17 (2 more than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 763 (14 fewer than yesterday).
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  • Today’s National Numbers:
  • PPE:
  • Other Brief Updates:
    • Legislators learned today from the Employment Department that a change in federal Pandemic Unemployment guidance sets a new definition of “gross earnings.” As a result of this change, some PUA claimants will be eligible for additional benefits.  Here's the letter from the department.  If you’re a PUA claimant, you should check it out.
    • Many of us are looking forward anxiously for the availability of a vaccine to combat COVID and get us to a point where we have what’s known as “herd immunity,” which will effectively cause transmission to plummet. However, we just received a report from the Gallup polling firm suggesting that currently a third of Americans would be unwilling to be inoculated with a COVID vaccine. (Interestingly, a similar percentage was opposed to the polio vaccine when it was first introduced.) You’ll see that Democrats tend to be much more open to the vaccine than Republicans, urban and suburban residents more than rural residents. Those in their late teens and 20s, as well as those over 70, are more likely than other age groups to want to be innoculated.
    • The Legislature’s Emergency Board recently allocated $50 million to the new Cultural Relief Fund, designed to provide some relief to Oregon arts and cultural organizations facing losses due to the COVID-19 health crisis. We just learned that the first $25.9 million in funding is now ready to be released through the Oregon Cultural Trust.  You can learn more about the process and get to the application here.

Latest OHA Weekly COVID Report Released

OHA released its weekly COVID report today.  It is again a very comprehensive snapshot of different aspects of transmission of the disease in Oregon.  It confirms what we’ve been seeing in our daily reports:  increasing cases, rising positivity, and declining testing.  It also shows ongoing disproportionality among racial and ethnic groups.

Here are some of OHA’s broad observations of where we are now, based on data from August 3 to August 9:

  • We are beginning to see a slight decline in the number of new cases: 2,122 vs. 2,278 the previous week.
  • The statewide infection rate is now 510 cases per 100,000 Oregonians. (The OHA is now calculating infection rates on a per-100K basis.)
  • The percentage of positive test results is lower this week, 5.4% (as opposed to 6.4% last week, but still up slightly from the 5.1% recorded the week before that).
  • 29 Oregonians were reported to have died last week, down from 39 the previous week. The cumulative death rate since the beginning of the pandemic is 80 deaths per 100,000 Oregonians, with a cumulative total of 357 on August 9.
  • As I’ve reported before, our number of reported tests is unfortunately steadily declining. This week saw 25,744 tests reported, down from 33,918 the week before, and 42,452 the previous week.  We are testing well below our purported capacity.
  • New hospitalizations have stabilized:. 143 last week as opposed to 141 the previous week.
  • We continue to see an increase in what OHA calls “sporadic cases,” which suggests that the disease is spreading more broadly into the community. The majority of new cases are now “sporadic,” rather than traced to outbreaks.
  • The age group with the highest incidence of reported infection continues to be 20-29-year-olds.

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.

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 29 report, the August 5 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 100,000 are for most racial/ethnic groups compared to White Oregonians. (To be consistent with its school-reopening metrics, OHA is now reporting on a per-100K basis.) Black Oregonians are a little under four times more likely to contract the disease than are White Oregonians, Native Americans 4.4 times more likely, Latinx Oregonians are 6.4 times more likely, and Pacific Islanders 11 times more likely. (Believe it or not, this is an improvement from last week, when it was 13 times more likely.) 

You’ll also again see that the percentages of those hospitalized or dying from the disease are lower for non-Whites than for the population of White Oregonians (the exceptions are the hospitalization rates for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, which are slightly higher).

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Long-Term Care Facilities

This week’s report lists outbreaks in 53 (up from 49) long-term care facilities that are still considered active.  They are responsible for 756 cases (up from 599) and 64 deaths (up from 48).  In addition, there are 59 outbreaks considered resolved (up from 54).  They are responsible for 975 cases (up from 922) and 140 deaths (up from 134). 

The total for active and resolved facilities is thus 1,731 cases (up by 210 from last week) and 204 deaths (up by 22 from last week). Deaths of residents in long-term care constitute a little more than half of all COVID deaths in Oregon.

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.

To date, there has still been only one death of a staff member reported.

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 fortunately unchanged for more than two months.

You’ll find eighty workplaces (up from 70 last week) listed as “Active” this week, totaling 2,090 cases (up from 1,637 last week).  Seventy workplaces (up from 64) are listed as “Resolved,” totaling 912 cases (down from 1,046 last week).   The total number of cases for both is thus 3,002, up by 319 from last week.

Those listed include workplaces with at least 5 cases identified among workers or family members. They are listed in descending order of number of cases.

You’ll notice that 595 of the cases in the Active category (nearly 30% of the total) are in correctional institutions. 

Childcare Outbreaks

The Weekly Report again includes names and case counts for childcare facilities that enroll 30 or more children and have five or more cases.  The same four are listed, in descending order of number of cases: Lake Grove KinderCare in Lake Oswego, Trout Creek Bible Camp in Corbett), Oregon Child Development in Nyssa in Malheur County, and Hall Boulevard KinderCare in Tigard. Their case numbers remain unchanged.

The Weekly Report also includes the total number of facilities statewide—no matter how many children they enroll—that have five or more cases.  An additional facility reached that level last week, bringing the total to four.

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, as they’re the same as last week’s, though in a slightly different order.

  1. 97818 (Boardman in Morrow County)
  2. 97761 (Warm Springs in Jefferson County)
  3. 97838 (Hermiston in Umatilla and Morrow Counties)
  4. 97882 (Umatilla in Umatilla County)
  5. 97875 (Stanfield in Umatilla County)

Four out of the top five zip codes are again in the Morrow/Umatilla area.  Ontario in Malheur County (97914) is now on deck at #6. 

Here is a zip code locator for you to use as you look at the zip code numbers.

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 258.  More than half of today’s cases come from outside the Portland Tri-County region.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Baker (2)

Benton (4)

Clackamas (24)

Columbia (2)

Deschutes (1)

Douglas (3)

Harney (1)

Hood River (4)

Jackson (14)

Jefferson (5)

Josephine (4)

Lane (10)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (7)

Malheur (17)

Marion (29)

Morrow (2)

Multnomah (45)

Polk (4)

Umatilla (30)

Wallowa (1)

Washington (41)

Yamhill (5)

And the Deaths

Oregon’s 369th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on June 17 and died on August 10 at Good Shepherd Health System.

Oregon’s 370th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on August 6 and died on August 8. Location of death is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 371st COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on June 15 and died on August 9 in his residence.

Oregon’s 372nd COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on July 30 and died on August 11 in his residence.

Oregon’s 373rd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on August 6 and died on August 10 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.

Oregon’s 374th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on July 17 and died on August 9 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.

Oregon’s 375th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on June 6 and died on August 2 in his residence.

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