Coronavirus and Wildfire Update: Nation Surpasses 200,000 Deaths

ViewOnline
House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus and Wildfire Update: Nation Surpasses 200,000 Deaths

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

This week, the United States crossed the threshold of 200,000 deaths from COVID-19, more deaths than any other country in the world. Because of all of our efforts and personal sacrifices, Oregon has one of the lowest rates of deaths per 100,000 people of all the states, at 13 deaths per 100,000 people (the lowest is Alaska at 6 and the highest is New Jersey at 181). If you’d like to dig further into the data, The Washington Post has a great page to follow here.

On the wildfire front, things are looking better. None of the megafires across the landscape grew at the start of the week and other fires are having only limited growth, as The Oregonian reports here. Thank you again to the amazing first responders who have been fighting these blazes around the clock. In the Portland area, rainfall and favorable weather conditions have helped return air quality back to good.

It’s clear that our ability to stay on track with COVID-19 testing has been impacted by the fires, with fewer folks getting tested. So, the people who ventured out to get tested probably had more obvious symptoms.

Yesterday, the Oregon Health Authority recorded more coronavirus cases in one day than it had in any individual day in the previous five-and-a-half weeks. This high case count was accompanied by an increase in our test positivity rate to 7.9%. The Oregonian details this new data here, including a spike in cases in Lane County as students have been moving in at the University of Oregon. The Albany Democrat-Herald noted here that cases increased in Benton County after students at Oregon State University started moving in.

Here are the daily numbers since my last newsletter (September 19-22):

  • Saturday: 266 cases, 5 deaths
  • Sunday: 208 cases, 1 death
  • Monday: 201 cases, 3 deaths
  • Tuesday: 328 cases, 3 deaths

So, the fight against COVID-19 goes on. Thank you for keeping up your efforts to contain the virus (wear a mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance). And, think about getting a flu shot!

We’re all depending on each other to get through this.


Wildfire Update

As of Tuesday, Oregon officials had confirmed nine deaths from the fire and five people still missing. Approximately one million acres have burned over the last couple of weeks, destroying more than 2,200 residences and resulting in more than 2,900 people receiving shelter from the Red Cross. The full daily update from the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is available here and all centralized information about the fires can be found here: https://wildfire.oregon.gov/


Wildfire Containment

Last week, I provided this link on how Oregonians impacted by wildfires in the following counties can apply for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion.

If you have been impacted by the wildfires, it’s essential that you register with FEMA. In natural disasters, people often have to exhaust federal help first before they can get other assistance.

Housing is the most immediate need for many evacuees. If you apply to FEMA and then receive a letter saying you are ineligible for housing assistance, it may be that FEMA simply needs more information. Learn about common reasons FEMA determines people to be ineligible here. An applicant who disagrees with FEMA’s decision has the option to submit an appeal letter with additional documentation to have their case reconsidered. The appeal should include a letter explaining what they are appealing, be signed and dated, and include supporting documentation, such as a copy of a verifiable contractor’s estimate. Please note that appeals should be submitted 60 days after the initial rejection decision.

Here is the latest update on where the Red Cross is providing support throughout the state:

  • Deschutes County Fairgrounds: 3800 SW Airport Way, Redmond
  • Oregon State Fairgrounds: 2330 17th St NE, Salem
  • Churchill High School: 1850 Bailey Hill Rd, Eugene
  • Lincoln City Community Center: 2150 NE Oar Pl., Lincoln City
  • Douglas County Fairgrounds: 2110 Frear St, Roseburg
  • Josephine County Fairgrounds: 1451 Fairgrounds Rd, Grants Pass
  • Jackson County Expo: 1 Peninger Rd, Central Point
  • Phoenix Elementary School: 215 N. Rose St., Phoenix
  • Jubilee Park: 307 S. Junction Ave., Cave Junction
  • Lake Selmac Park:500 Reeves Creek Rd, Selma
  • Schroeder Park: 605 Schroeder Ln, Grants Pass

Anyone impacted by the Oregon wildfires and in need of assistance can go directly to one of these locations or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.


New Economic Forecast

The state’s economist reported today before a joint meeting of the House and Senate revenue committees that Oregon’s financial outlook has improved since the last forecast in June. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create unusual circumstances. Instead of an ongoing budget shortfall that is normally part of an economic recession, income tax returns for 2019 have come in strongly and the state is now looking at a stable revenue environment for the remainder of the two-year budget. Here is my statement on the forecast:

“The substantial improvement in today's revenue forecast highlights the uniqueness of a recession brought on by a global pandemic.  While we are in a better financial position than we expected to be, it is still an unpredictable road ahead, particularly without further federal relief assistance.

“Oregon and the country are still facing a deep recession that is disproportionately impacting lower-income communities. Income inequality is glaringly clear in this forecast. I am pleased that the Legislature took a measured approach to rebalancing the budget in August by strategically using one-time dollars to protect critical services that are essential to encouraging an equitable recovery.

“Our decisions in the next few months should be focused on supporting those most impacted by the recession and being wary of the potential volatility in revenue over the next year.”


County Watch List Update

Last Friday, Governor Brown updated the statewide County Watch List, determining that Morrow and Umatilla counties had moved off the list, as the East Oregonian reports here. Morrow County also successfully moved to Phase 2.

The Governor’s full release about this decision can be found here.

Malheur County is now the only remaining county on the watch list. The Idaho Statesman has an article here detailing the challenges the county faces while sharing its eastern border with Idaho, which has taken a less cautious approach in terms of requiring face coverings and other mandates to stop the spread of the virus.

Below is an updated map of where each Oregon county currently stands.


County Phase Status 9-23-2020

New COVID-19 Dashboard

The Oregon Health Authority has a new version of its dashboard determining case demographics and severity, which can be found here. The new dashboard shows case rates per 100,000 people, which more clearly shows disparities in the burden of COVID-19 between demographic groups, and the percent of cases in each age group, sex, race and ethnicity that have ever been hospitalized for their illness or have died with COVID-19. As a reminder, all OHA COVID-19 dashboards can be found here.


The Latest News

  • Oregon Employment Director David Gerstenfeld testified on Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Labor and Business, which The Oregonian covered here, noting that 49,000 claims for jobless benefits are in an adjudication backlog. My office continues to press the department to clear these claims as quickly as possible.
  • This week the Legislature is holding committee hearings as part of September Legislative Days. If you want to catch up on committee meetings, you can find everything here.
  • Yesterday, the Oregon Health Authority reported 328 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 31,323. The OHA also reported three more deaths, meaning 532 Oregonians have died of the coronavirus. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus in Oregon.

OHA COVID-19 Update 9-22-2020

OHA COVID-19 Epi Curve 09220

OHA COVID-19 County Map 092220

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