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August 28, 2020
I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and looking out for your neighbors and friends.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports that 294 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID, The cumulative total for those testing positive since the beginning of the pandemic is 24,776.
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Total Tests: The number of tests has increased by 5,152. The cumulative total is now 542,589.
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Ratio: The percentage of positive cases today in Oregon is 5.7% of total results. The national percentage today is 6.0%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 9 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. You can read more about those we’ve just lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now at 447.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports that an additional 15 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 2,108.
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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 7 new presumed positives today. The total number of presumed positives is now 1,278.
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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): 166 (5 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 114 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 139 (13 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 655 (69 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 47 (6 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 22 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 779 (7 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards
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Today’s National Numbers:
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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.
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Additional Brief Updates
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The Governor announced today that Multnomah County and Hood River County are being removed from the County Watch List as a result of declining rates of sporadic cases. Here are the most recent county numbers for sporadic cases. A county becomes eligible for the extra state services triggered by placement on the list when its sporadic case rate (i.e., cases that cannot be traced to a particular outbreak or another known case) exceeds 50 sporadic cases per 100,000 residents. No additional counties have been added to the list, so six now remain: Baker, Jackson, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, and Umatilla.
- Dean Sidelinger, the state epidemiologist, provided journalists with an example of how one large party at the beach has been traced as the source of more than 300 COVID cases. You can read more about it and the lessons to be learned in this article from Courtney Vaughn at Pamplin Media.
- On Monday I reported that the new Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief and Resiliency was off and running and beginning to take applications. The fund will provide grants of $500 to $3,000 for Black individuals and families, and $2,000 to $100,000 for Black-owned businesses and Black-led nonprofits. In the last four days those overseeing the fund have already received nearly 7,000 applications. Applications for support from the $62 million fund are still being taken. You’ll find more details about those applying to the fund here.
Fifteen Counties Identified as Ready for K-3 In-Person Reopening
In yesterday’s news conference with journalists, OHA identified 15 counties as being ready to meet the state’s threshold for resuming in-person instruction for younger kids (i.e., K-3):
o Benton
o Clatsop
o Coos
o Crook
o Curry
o Douglas
o Gilliam
o Harney
o Josephine
o Klamath
o Lake
o Lane
o Tillamook
o Wallowa
o Wheeler
Current understanding of the transmission of the virus is that children under the age of 10 are far less likely to be affected by COVID or to transmit it to others than are those over the age of 10. (Obviously, there will always be exceptions.) Other countries that resumed in-person instruction with younger children first have generally had positive experiences (as long as the infection rates in their regions were relatively low and the proper cleaning/masking/distancing protocols were followed). Similarly, in Oregon we have seen few outbreaks in child care centers that have remained open during the pandemic.
According to the OHA School Reopening Guidelines, the following conditions must be met for schools to reopen for all grades:
- The per-100K infection rate must be at or below 10 per 100K residents.
- The positivity rate for the county must be at or below 5%.
- The positivity rate for the state as a whole must be at or below 5%.
The policy does allow for certain exceptions, including for all students with special needs. It allows students in K-3 to begin or resume in-person instruction if the first criterion (per-100K infection rate) is at or below 30 per 100K. These metrics must be met for three weeks in a row. The above counties currently are at that level.
Here is the most current table showing where counties are in meeting the above metrics.
Legislative Public Hearings Next Week
I mentioned yesterday that all legislative committees will be meeting for informational hearings September 21-25. In addition, two will be meeting next week, and they will include opportunities for public testimony.
The Senate Committee on Labor and Business will be holding a series of hearings on September 1st , 2nd , and 3rd on the problems and challenges around the Oregon Employment Department. Tuesday and Wednesday will be an opportunity for committee members to hear from and question the Director (and perhaps other staff as well). Thursday will be an opportunity for the public to share concerns and suggestions via oral public testimony. The above link will take you to a page that explains how to provide oral testimony as well as written testimony, which will be taken all three days.
The Joint Committee on Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform will continue its work on developing legislation to reform policing practices in our state on Thursday, September 3. Prior to the last special session, they were working on six concepts, two of which were finalized and passed. Many of these were attempts to build on and make necessary improvements to bills that were passed during the first special session. This hearing will also be an opportunity to take public testimony, and the above link will show you how to do that in written form and orally.
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 301. Most cases are again outside the Portland Tri-County area. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Baker (1)
Benton (1)
Clackamas (27)
Coos (4)
Deschutes (7)
Douglas (3)
Jackson (14)
Jefferson (3)
Josephine (1)
Klamath (4)
Lane (10)
Lincoln (4)
Linn (5)
Malheur (37)
Marion (43)
Morrow (9)
Multnomah (72)
Polk (9)
Umatilla (20)
Union (2)
Washington (20)
Yamhill (5)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 439th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 20 and died on Aug. 27, at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 440th COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on June 4 and died on Aug. 23. More information about place of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 441st COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Aug. 9 and died on Aug. 23, at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, Washington.
Oregon’s 442nd COVID-19 death is a 54-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Aug. 23 and died on Aug. 26, at St. Anthony Hospital.
Oregon’s 443rd COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Aug. 11 and died on Aug. 25, in his residence.
Oregon’s 444th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Malheur County who died on Aug. 1.
Oregon’s 445th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on July 26 and died on Aug. 15, in his residence.
Oregon’s 446th COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old woman in Malheur County who tested positive on Aug. 11 and died on Aug. 13, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho.
Oregon’s 447th COVID-19 death is a 29-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 22 and died on Aug. 22, at OHSU Hospital. He did not have underlying conditions.
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:
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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