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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you all have been breathing a little easier this week, and have had a chance to get some much needed fresh air. I am so thankful that our control over these fires is growing, and that smoke is clearing in much of Oregon. It has still been a difficult and heartbreaking few weeks (and few months). I share the mourning and the fatigue that I know many of you are feeling. This year has been an ongoing test, but like the challenges we have faced before, we will get through this together. If you are struggling with the weight of everything right now, you are not alone, and there are resources available to help.
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SAMHSA’s Disaster Distress Helpline provides 24/7, 365-day-a-year crisis counseling and support to people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. Call SAMHSA’s Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to speak to a trained crisis counselor.
- If you are experiencing a crisis, in an emergency, call 911. Help is also available from Lines for Life, a suicide prevention organization with specific resources for youth, military personnel and their families, and those affected by substance abuse problems. Visit linesforlife.org or call one of their helplines:
- Suicide Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish
- Alcohol and Drug Helpline: 1-800-923-4357
- Military Helpline: 1-888-457-4838
- Youthline: 1-877-968-8491 or text teen2teen to 839863
- OHA also has contacts for crisis services by county on its website.
Wildfire Resources
The Governor’s office has put together a Wildfire Resources page that you can access from the Governor’s home page. It has links to many of the most important updates about the status of fires and resources for evacuees. This website will be updated regularly. Governor Brown also held a press conference today to give updates on the state of evacuations and fire suppression. You can watch that here.
The Oregon Office of Emergency Management is pushing out information on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OregonOEM
Red Cross Cascades has updates on how to help: https://twitter.com/RedCrossCasc
Forest Grove Fire and Rescue: https://twitter.com/ForestGroveFire
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue is updating through Twitter: https://twitter.com/TVFR
Clackamas Fire: https://twitter.com/clackamasfire
Emergency alerts for Medford: https://twitter.com/MedfordALERT
And OPB has live updates on fires and evacuation orders running here: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/09/09/live-updates-wildfires-oregon-evacuation-orders/
 Help Protect our Farmers and Farm Workers
If you are looking for ways to help folks most effected by fires and smoke, here is a resource! Support PCUN Emergency Fund and sign up to help make kits with a local community leader coordinating a drive. Read more about the effort here.
Governor Kate Brown announced last week that Oregon has joined with Western States Pact members California, Washington, Colorado and Nevada in a pilot project to test COVID-19 exposure notification technology. The pilot project will test the Exposure Notification Express mobile application developed by Google and Apple. For those who voluntarily choose to use the exposure notification technology, the app confidentially notifies individuals who may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus. Privacy and security are central to the design of the technology, which does not collect location data from any device and never shares user identities. Users must opt in to the technology.
“Knowledge is power when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19, and this pilot project will help people make informed decisions to keep themselves healthy, while still protecting individual privacy,” said Governor Brown. “COVID-19 knows no state borders, and my goal is to make sure, if more widely implemented, this exposure notification technology is made available to those communities that have been disproportionately impacted by this disease — Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander and Tribal communities, as well as those living in the rural parts of our states.”
Case Data
- Confirmed Cases: 6,825,697 (up 39,345 from yesterday)
- Deaths: 199,462 (up 438 from yesterday)
- Cases in the last 7 days: 288,027
- These national numbers come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can view their national and state by state data here.
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Oregon Status Report: Oregon now has 31,313 total cases (confirmed and presumptive) of COVID-19.
- Today we have 328 new confirmed and presumptive cases, and 3 new deaths.
- Monday: 201 cases, 3 deaths
- Sunday: 208 cases, 1 deaths
- Saturday: 266 cases, 5 deaths
- A total of 532 Oregonians have died from COVID-19.
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Washington County still has one of the highest case counts at 4,355 confirmed cases, including 42 new cases today. You can review on-going updates from OHA by clicking on the table below.
- The Oregon Health Authority recently provided a Public Health Indicators Dashboard to enable communities across Oregon to monitor COVID-19 in the state.The dashboard, which will be updated weekly on Thursdays, provides a transparent report that presents complex epidemiological data in an interactive, easy-to-understand way on a state and county level.
- Also, OHA will no longer issue the Weekly Testing Summary because the data is now available on a more timely basis on the OHA website. The location of the information is linked below:
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Testing totals and Test Positivity for prior week(s)
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Test positivity statewide (cumulative)
Table showing Oregon case, testing and demographic data, link to more information
Get Your Flu Shot:
Now more then ever it is vital that we all protect ourselves and our communities by getting our flu shots! Flu shots are especially important this year because the flu season has the potential to compound the issues caused by COVID-19. The flu could complicate our response to COVID-19 in several ways:
- We know that co-infection with the flu and COVID-19 is possible, and could have serious health consequences (having one could make it harder to fight the other)
- Symptoms of the flu and COVID-19 are similar, which could make it hard to get folks the best care possible, and folks could spread COVID-19 if they think they just have the flu
- Hospitals and medical providers need to focus on COVID-19, getting a flu shot could help us maintain our hospital capacity
- Use vaccinefinder.org to find a place near you to get your flu shot
FIND CHILD CARE
Thank you to Multnomah Education Service District for compiling and providing these resources!
 Call: 211 or 1-866-698-6155
Text: keyword "children" or "niños" to 898211 (TXT211)
Email: children@211info.org
Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-11pm; Saturday & Sunday 8am-8pm
Search for child care providers: https://tinyurl.com/FindChildCare
FOR HELP AFFORDING CHILD CARE, APPLY FOR ERDC
Employment-Related Day Care is a subsidy to help parents and other caretakers afford child care. ERDC will pay a maximum of $1,415 / month to providers for each eligible child in the family, depending on child age, provider type, and location within the state.
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DHS SELF-SUFFICIENCY OFFICE:
https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/Offices/Pages/Self-Sufficiency.aspx
211 (above) can also help you apply
Apply soon for maximum benefit opportunities! (see reverse for details)
YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR ERDC IF:
- You live in Oregon.
- You have a child under 13 or a child 13-17 who requires care due to special needs / circumstances.
- Your child is a US citizen or qualifying noncitizen; parental citizenship status is not a determining factor.
- All parents / caretakers in your household are employed — including self-employment — unless one parent cannot care for the children due to a medical / mental health condition or if supervised contact is required by Child Welfare.
- As long as caretaker(s) are working, child care may also be covered for some hours spent in post-secondary education.
- Parents / caretakers monthly income must not exceed the following during the COVID-19 state of emergency:
2 in Family / Household — $4,012 Gross Monthly Income
3 in Family / Household — $4,956 Gross Monthly Income
4 in Family / Household — $5,899 Gross Monthly Income
5 in Family / Household — $6,843 Gross Monthly Income
6 in Family / Household — $7,787 Gross Monthly Income
7 in Family / Household — $8,259 Gross Monthly Income
8 or more in Family / Household — $9,192 Gross Monthly Income
YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR PROVIDER:
- ERDC covers licensed child care centers; care centers operated out of the provider’s home; and care provided by an adult with whom you have a relationship (relative or friend), either in your home or theirs.
- There are supports and incentives to use providers deemed “high quality” by the state licensing office.
- You may select a provider already approved, OR you may request to have an individual known to you (e.g., a grandparent, aunt / uncle, or neighbor) approved to receive payment for care.
- Care can only be paid from the date of approval and forward.
CARE CAN BE PROVIDED BY SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY OR SOCIAL CIRCLE:
- If this person does not otherwise provide licensed child care, this is known as a Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) or license-exempt provider.
- Background check and basic safety training is required.
- Non-relatives providing care in their home (instead of the child’s) must have a health and safety review of their home before being approved for payment, and they must test water pipes for lead (this cost is reimbursable).
- New FFN providers will need to submit paperwork to DHS in order to be approved to receive payment through ERDC. For assistance, they should contact their local Child Care Resource & Referral office.
Tips for Remote Learning:
This school year is different from any other, and many folks are apprehensive and uncomfortable with the new systems. This is completely understandable and we area learning our way through together. OHA has put together a helpful tool kit for adults helping kids with distance learning.
- Get familiar with the learning platform your child is using. Many online platforms have reminder and planning tools to help you and your child stay aware and on track.
- Learn your child’s daily school schedule and plan to try to be available for the times they may need support. For example, some children might need help logging in at the start of the day.
- Prepare for interruptions. For example, will your home network handle both you and your children to be working online at the same time?
- Establish a routine. You can write up a schedule that includes wake-up times, meals, breaks, class transitions, times for online versus offline work during your workday so that everyone is on the same page about daily expectations.
To learn more, the American Academy of Pediatrics has more tips about working and learning from home and age-based tips on how to juggle parenting and working at home during COVID-19.
After you have made sure your child’s workspace, schedule and physical fitness are taken care of, you may worry about mental and social/emotional health. How can you help them cope during this time? Check out the graphic below for some tips.
To learn more about coping during COVID-19, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website and howrightnow.org.
Employers and Employees
Education Links
Local Government
Utilities Assistance
Food and Housing Assistance
View Past Updates, Share and Subscribe:
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 (http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/mclain), click on “News and Information,” and you’ll find them all there. You can also share this site with your friends and loved ones, so they can view past newsletters, and subscribe to future updates.
Yours truly,
 Representative Susan McLain
House District 29
email: Rep.SusanMcLain@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1429
address: 900 Court St NE, H-376, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/mclain
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