August 18th COVID-19 Update

August 18, 2020

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

I apologize again for the lack of the usual graphs and charts in yesterday’s newsletter, but today you’ll again find them in abundance, along with the usual updates on COVID, the most recent testing information, and most recent information about Oregon’s employment and economic health.

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

• Positive Cases: OHA reports that 218 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total for those testing positive is 22,452.
• Total Tests: The number of tests has increased by 18,065 since Friday, an average of 5,114 per day. The cumulative number of tests since the pandemic began is now 49,5114.
• Ratio: The percentage of positive tests today is an average of 4.3% of total results for the last three days. The national percentage today is 6.3%. 
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 9 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. You can read about those we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 397.
• Hospitalized: OHA reports that an additional 16 Oregonians have been hospitalized with COVID-19. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID since the beginning of the pandemic is 1,929.
• 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 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 19 additional presumed positives today.  The total number of presumed positive cases is currently 1,224.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently w COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 214 (8 more than yesterday). Of those, 150 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 158 (same as yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 721 (34 more than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 54 (7 more than yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 20 (1 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 770 (4 fewer than yesterday).
• Dashboards
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 68,263,933 (up 642,814 from yesterday).
  • Positive Tests: 5,457,824 (up 40,458 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 163,595 (up 1,195 from yesterday).
  • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can follow their updated numbers for each, state and the nation as a whole here.
• PPE: In the last 24 hours the Emergency Coordination Center has not received any additional Personal Protective Equipment. You can track the history of incoming and outgoing PPE shipments here.
• Additional Brief Updates:
  • The latest employment numbers are in and they show that around 40% of the jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic have returned. These returns can be seen most dramatically in leisure and hospitality and in healthcare.  Manufacturing and construction remain down. The state’s overall unemployment rate in July came in at 10.4%.
  • For a more nuanced analysis of the latest employment data, the most recent blog from Oregon’s Office of Economic Analysis looks at the impacts on different wage levels. Most of the jobs coming back are in lower-wage occupations (which were the heaviest to begin with).  Middle- and high-wage jobs were not hit as hard, but they appear to be slower coming back.
  • The most recent county data for the metrics needed to reopen schools are in.  You can find them here.
  • A number of questions have come up regarding the regulations for pools and sports courts for counties that are in Phase Two. OHA has therefore just released a set of FAQs for those seeking a better understanding.

 Update on Testing in Oregon

The OHA Weekly Testing Report was released yesterday, and it shows the ongoing problem that we’re having with testing in Oregon.  If you look at this week’s summary chart, you’ll see that our positivity rate has stabilized, but the decline in overall tests continues, with the decline at this point being by nearly 10,000 tests.

However, the report does note that this number may end up rising once OHA receives the results of tests that were done last week, as happened the previous week.  In a meeting with legislators this afternoon, State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger told us that he believes that when all the results come in, we’ll see that testing numbers have essentially stabilized. 

Nevertheless, OHA is clearly concerned about the impact of the national surge in COVID cases on Oregon’s current testing capacity:  “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.”

As we know, when specimens are sent out of state for testing, it can take them weeks to return with results.  The more we need to go this route, the less useful testing becomes.

New Grant Program Begins Application Process   

Legislators have just received word from OHA about a new grant program intended to address the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had on Oregon’s tribal communities and communities of color. It will provide grants to non-profits and tribes to help address health and economic disruptions; food insecurity and housing; and safety and violence prevention.  It will use $45 million from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund to address social determinants of health, systemic racism, and other inequities that are exacerbated by COVID-19.

In the linked document you’ll find information about the application process and info sessions for those who’d like to find out more.

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 237.  Nearly three-fourths of the new cases are outside the Portland Tri-County area today.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Baker (1)

Benton (3)

Clackamas (11)

Columbia (2)

Deschutes (5)

Douglas (3)

Hood River (2)

Jackson (20)

Jefferson (4)

Josephine (8)

Klamath (6)

Lane (2)

Lincoln (1)

Linn (4)

Malheur (32)

Marion (48)

Morrow (3)

Multnomah (29)

Polk (3)

Umatilla (12)

Union (2)

Wasco (1)

Washington (25)

Yamhill (10)

And The Deaths

Oregon’s 389th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on July 20 and died on August 15 at Tuality Healthcare.

Oregon’s 390th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on August 6 and died on August 16 in her residence.

Oregon’s 391st COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on August 4 and died on August 11. More information about location of death is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 392nd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on July 28 and died on August 16 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 393rd COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on July 28 and died on August 15 at St. Charles Medical Center.

Oregon’s 394th COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old woman in Lincoln County who tested positive on August 2 and died on August 15 in her residence.

Oregon’s 395th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old man in Lincoln County who tested positive on August 2 and died on August 14 in his residence.

Oregon’s 396th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on August 11 and died on August 12 in his residence.

Oregon’s 397th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Washington County who became symptomatic on August 5, after close contact with a confirmed case, and died on August 17 in her 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 (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:

• Multnomah County has a status report on reopening.
• You can view the reopening status of all 36 counties here.
• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 
• Oregon's Office of Emergency Management now has a website for information about COVID-19.
• You can sign up here for regular coronavirus updates from OHA.
• Multnomah County has an excellent website with lots of really important advice and guidance.
• Here’s one from the Governor’s Office.
• The Employment Department has put together a webpage with Q&A’s on a number of employment issues related to COVID-19 (e.g., eligibility for Unemployment Insurance benefits).
• The Oregon Education Department has a new site for COVID-19 updates.
• The Department of Corrections has a COVID tracking website.

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