Coronavirus Update: We Need More Testing Capacity

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: We Need More Testing Capacity

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Today, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported that nine more Oregonians have passed away from COVID-19, a powerful reminder of the serious risk the virus continues to pose to all communities.

Yesterday, no deaths were reported. Today, nine. The ups and downs of this pandemic are very frustrating for everyone.

There’s some good news, though – we've had four consecutive days of daily case counts well below 300.

Here are the latest daily numbers since my last newsletter (August 15-18):

  • Saturday: 412 cases, 1 death
  • Sunday: 252 cases, 2 deaths
  • Monday: 192 cases, 0 death
  • Tuesday: 237 cases, 9 deaths

This leads me to the latest OHA weekly testing summary, which can be read in full here. While we’ve been below our seven-day peak (6.2%) for the last two weeks, Oregon has now had seven consecutive weeks with a test positivity rate over 5%.

As a reminder, across the state, the weekly coronavirus test positivity rate must be at 5% or below for three consecutive weeks in order to safely reopen schools for in-person learning.

I’m also concerned that only 25,678 tests were conducted this past week. This is our lowest overall testing output in 10 weeks.


OHA Weekly Testing Summary 8-18-2020

As has been the case in prior weekly summaries, the OHA raised concerns about the ability to conduct widespread testing long-term, citing “supply chain issues.”

Here is more from the report:

“Testing supply allocations from manufacturers have been stressed nationally due to the increased demand for testing and increased cases of COVID-19. Laboratories are reporting that allocations for most COVID-19 test manufacturers cannot keep up with the demand and are consequently sending specimens to outside labs for testing. Approximately 20% of specimens in Oregon were sent out-of-state for testing last week due to these restraints.”

It’s frustrating to see no clear plan from the federal government to increase the nation’s testing capacity. Oregon will have to figure it out because we can’t wait for Washington, D.C.


New Early Learning Safety Guidelines

The Early Learning Division (ELD) of the Oregon Department of Education has released new “Health and Safety Guidelines for Child Care and Early Education Operating in COVID-19,” which take effect Tuesday, September 1.

The guidelines are broken into 14 sections, with some notable updates in the following areas:

  • Increased use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • Adjusted group size
  • New family engagement and health and safety plan sections
  • Responding to possible and confirmed cases of COVID-19

The new guidelines are posted on ELD’s COVID-19 webpage here in English and Spanish, and they will be posting videos, updated FAQs and information on support to assist providers on that page as well.


Updated Child Care Guidelines

I-5 Interstate Bridge Maintenance – Expect Delays!

For all you North Portlanders, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has the following update on the Interstate Bridge Trunnion Replacement project, which will impact the entire Metro area, particularly those folks who use the bridge regularly. The northbound span of the bridge will close for nine days, from September 12 thru September 20, as crews replace mechanical parts that help lift and lower the bridge.

Here are some highlights from the agency:

  • Traffic impacts began last Friday, August 14.
  • The work being done now is in preparation of the full closure of the northbound bridge, September 12-20.
  • In addition to the September 12-20 closure, there will be a single-lane closure on I-5 southbound September 21-27.
  • With preparation, staging and other project requirements, the full impacts will occur August through October.
  • ODOT is encouraging everyone to use work from home to keep congestion as manageable as possible.

The Latest News

  • Last week, Governor Brown announced new guidance about the use of face coverings in office spaces and child care facilities. The updated guidance can be found here, and The Oregonian covered the changes here.
  • The Oregonian reports here that the state unemployment rate decreased from June to July, but still remains very high at 10.4%.
  • The iconic Powell’s City of Books in downtown Portland will partially reopen this week. Willamette Week has more details here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority reported 237 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 23,676. Sadly, nine more people have died, meaning there have been 397 Oregonians to die of the coronavirus. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus in Oregon.

OHA COVID-19 Update 8-18-2020

OHA Epi Curve 8-18-2020

OHA County Map 8-18-2020

To read past newsletters, you can go to this link. For up to date information, please check this link to the Oregon Health Authority where regular updates are posted: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ERD/Pages/News-Releases.aspx

Please email me at Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov if you have specific concerns that have not been addressed by the OHA. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.

Thank you for reading! We will get through this together.

Best,

Tina

Tina Kotek

State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House

email: Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek