October 20th COVID-19 Update

October 20, 2020

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

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything in this newsletter.

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

• Positive Cases: OHA reports that 337 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total since the beginning of the pandemic is 38,118.
• Total Tests: The number of reported tests has increased by 6,803. The cumulative total is now 793,299.
• Ratio: The percentage of positive test results for the last three days is 5.0%.  The national ratio today is 6.7%.
• Deaths: I regret to have to report 6 additional deaths due to the coronavirus today. You can read more about the Oregonians we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 633.
• Hospitalized: OHA reports an additional 17 COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 2,964.
• 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 9 new presumed positive cases today. The total number of those counted as presumed positives is 2,018.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 183 (15 more than yesterday). Of those, 124 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 155 (22 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 633 (89 fewer than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 57 (7 more than yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 14 (3 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 780 (2 more than yesterday).
• Dashboards
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 126,940,105 (up 906,932 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 8,171,703 (up 60,582 from yesterday.)
  • Deaths: 212,678 (up 832 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.
• Additional Brief Updates:
  • FEMA opened another External Outreach Site today to help evacuees navigate the FEMA process and get their lives back together. This one is in Estacada, designed to help those affected by the Clackamas County fires.  It joins the other sites in Eugene, Lincoln City, Stayton, and Medford. You’ll find details in the FEMA/OEM press release in English and in Spanish.
  • OHA has just released the latest report on where counties are in meeting the in-person school reopening.   Most counties improved their metrics last week, but are still far from being ready to reopen.
  • Speaking of school reopening, The Oregonian has an article about how a large gathering at a student’s home in Albany led to a jump in new COVID cases, putting an end to hopes for in-person instruction there.
  • The Oregonian has a story today about the effort to clean up hazardous materials from destroyed homes in Southern Oregon.

Tuesday Wildfire Recovery/Response Update

ODF reports a small increase in containment of the Slater Fire in Northern California and Southwest Oregon.  It is now 82% contained (up from 80%).  The containment levels of the other five fires remain where they’ve been.

Again, for maps and up-to-the-minute details on the individual fires, I’d direct you to OEM’s State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard.

The Oregon Emergency Management only provide updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so there is no new recovery data for today. Here are the highlights from yesterday:

• The number of fatalities (9) and missing persons (1) remains the same.
• The number of residences reported destroyed is 4,002. More than 1,400 structures other than residences have also been destroyed.
• According to the Red Cross, 1,866 Oregonians remain in emergency housing. Of those, 98 are living in RVs and tents, and 1,768 are in hotels/motels and other short-term settings.  There are no evacuees living in indoor congregate shelters any longer.
• The number of Oregonians who have registered with FEMA for individual assistance has continued to increase and is currently at 20,976. FEMA has already approved for $19.8 million in assistance grants.
• Still, if you know of anyone who has NOT yet registered, please direct them to the following:

• Call 1-800-621-3362
• Online through the FEMA website
• Through the FEMA mobile app
• Step-by-step videos for IA are available in English and Spanish to walk applicants through the application process.

Wildfire Informational Resources

• Again, for one-stop information about fires, firefighting response, smoke levels, relief for evacuees, and much more, you can find a variety of Wildfire-related Resources at the Governor’s Wildfire Website.  It also takes you to the Department of Forestry’s Wildfire site, which gives you the daily updates on each of the fires.  I really encourage you to check this one out first—there’s a wealth of info and links here, including on how to volunteer, donate, or otherwise help. 
• For the daily informational releases on the major fires, go to the ODF Wildfire News Page.
• Here are regular updates on road conditions from ODOT.
• The Office of Emergency Management provides regular updates at the OEM Twitter page and at the OEM Facebook page.

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 for today is 346. Half of all the new cases today come from the Portland Tri-County area.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Benton (3)

Clackamas (28)

Columbia (1)

Coos (3)

Crook (2)

Deschutes (3)

Douglas (9)

Harney (2)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (10)

Jefferson (4)

Klamath (4)

Lane (42)

Linn (13)

Malheur (11)

Marion (38)

Morrow (2)

Multnomah (101)

Polk (6)

Umatilla (10)

Wasco (2)

Washington (44)

Yamhill (7)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 628^th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Oct. 2 and died on Oct. 17 in her residence.

Oregon’s 629^th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Oct. 9 and died on Oct. 15 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.

Oregon’s 630^th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Sept. 3 and died on Oct. 14 in her residence.

Oregon’s 631^st COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 29 and died on Oct. 18 in his residence.

Oregon’s 632^nd COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Oct. 10 and died Oct. 17 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

Oregon’s 633^rd COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Sept. 29 and died on Oct. 17 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

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