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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
We’re all dealing with exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed. “Pandemic fatigue” is real and, frankly, to be expected at this point. I’m sure many of us are getting tired of hearing the same safety messages over and over.
But, as more data show that our recent rise in coronavirus cases is due to social gatherings – when we tend to let our guard down for extended periods of time and are less likely to wear masks – it emphasizes the need to take this coming flu season very seriously.
The CDC asks all people 6-months-old and older to get a flu vaccine every year. The recommendation is to get this done this year by the end of October. As is noted in this story from KATU, getting the flu shot earlier will hopefully decrease the number of flu patients who need to be hospitalized and prevent overwhelming our health care system.
While there have been news reports indicating this could be a mild flu season, this is not something we can rely on. It’s unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will impact flu season.
Getting a flu vaccine is something easy we can do to protect ourselves and loved ones, as well as frontline health care workers. To find a flu vaccine clinic, visit http://www.flu.oregon.gov/ and use the Oregon Health Authority’s flu vaccine locator tool.
And to be clear, the flu vaccine does not make people susceptible to COVID-19. There is no evidence that getting a flu vaccination increases your risk of getting sick from a coronavirus, like the one that causes COVID-19.
More information on the flu vaccine and COVID-19 is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
This is still a precarious time for the pandemic. Our state has now had six consecutive weeks of test positivity rates above 5% and recently surpassed 40,000 detected cases in Oregon since the start of the pandemic. Governor Brown recently added Lane County to the state Watch List, making it clear that social gatherings, like off-campus parties, are helping spread the virus.
Last week’s projections from the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) showed the spread has continued. At the current rate, daily reported cases will increase to 570. A transmission increase of 5 percentage points would take us to 740 daily reported cases.
Here are the latest daily numbers since my last newsletter:
- Saturday, October 17: 388 cases, 3 deaths
- Sunday, October 18: 220 cases, 0 deaths
- Monday, October 19: 266 cases, 8 deaths
- Tuesday, October 20: 346 cases, 6 deaths
- Wednesday, October 21: 331 cases, 2 deaths
While hospitalizations are thankfully not at their peak, other states around the country are preparing for dramatic increases of hospitalizations in the coming weeks due to surges of COVID-19 cases.
Earlier this week, the Oregon Health Authority announced revisions to the statewide guidance on face coverings.
Face coverings are now required in all private and public workplaces including classrooms, offices, meeting rooms and workspaces, unless someone is alone in an office or in a private workspace. Employers must also make face coverings available to all employees, and all who visit businesses, public spaces or private workplaces are required to wear a face covering unless they are under 5 years old (with minor exceptions noted in the link below).
OHA is also recommending masks instead of face shields whenever possible. The exception to the recommendation is that people may use face shields when necessary or appropriate, like communicating with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.
As the Mayo Clinic notes here, “Cloth face coverings are most likely to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus when they are widely used by people in public settings. And countries that required face masks, testing, isolation and social distancing early in the pandemic have successfully slowed the spread of the virus.”
See more details about the new in the graphic below or at healthoregon.org/masks.
The Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (DSNAP) provides one month of temporary food assistance benefits on an Oregon EBT card to eligible disaster survivors and can help with issuing supplemental SNAP benefits for ongoing households. To be eligible for DSNAP, a someone in the household must live or work in the disaster area, have been affected by the disaster, and meet certain eligibility criteria.
Pre-registration for DSNAP runs through tomorrow, October 22. People can apply after this date, but pre-registration is recommended. The application is online at this link. If you need assistance, please call 211 or the Aging and Disability Resource Connection at 1-855-ORE-ADRC.
DSNAP is available for those who lived or worked in Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion counties on September 7, 2020. More information is available on the DSNAP webpage.
- The Artist Relief Program, a project of the Oregon Arts Commission, is awarding small grants to Oregon artists who have experienced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. KTVZ has more details on the program here.
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The Register-Guard reports here that the University of Oregon is among many colleges that are seeing enrollments dip due to the pandemic.
- Oregon has sent an initial COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to the federal government for when a successful vaccine is developed, the Portland Business Journal reports here.
- The Oregon Health Authority reported 331 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 40,443. The OHA also reported two more deaths, meaning 635 Oregonians have died of the coronavirus. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus in Oregon.
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 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
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