October 23rd COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

October 23, 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.

Our number of new COVID cases set a new record today, with 550 newly reported and presumed positive cases.  This is at least partly due to a big increase in reported tests—more than 9,000—which has revealed many of these new infections.  The consequent positivity rate of 5.6% is relatively high, but pretty much in line with where it has been over the last month.

The number of deaths (3) reported today has fortunately come down from yesterday’s big number.  New hospitalizations, however, are up.

Increased hospitalizations are an inevitable result of higher case numbers.  The more people are infected and spread the disease, the more severe cases we will see—and we’ll be back to where we were in the spring, facing the potential risk of inadequate hospital resources.  Having said that, it’s important to recognize how much better Oregon is doing than most other states. (We currently rank fourth in fewest number of cumulative cases relative to our population, as you’ll see in the animations that I’ve linked to before.) 

This is no accident.  It’s in part due to the fact that many Oregonians are doing the right thing and wearing face coverings in public in order to protect others.  To get a better sense of how wearing face coverings can make a difference, check out the graphic from the Washington Post at the bottom of the newsletter, which shows a state-by-state comparison of reported mask-wearing and reported COVID cases.

On the firefighting front, a little more progress has been made in containment of the Slater Fire in Northern California and Southwest Oregon.  We also see an ongoing increase in the number of Oregonians taking advantage of FEMA support.

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

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • Positive Cases: OHA reports that 520 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID. The cumulative total since the beginning of the pandemic is 39,261.
  • Total Tests: The number of reported tests has increased by 9,182. The cumulative total is now 813,114.
  • Ratio: The percentage of positive test results today is 5.6%.  The national ratio today is 6.5%.
  • Deaths: I regret to have to report 3 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 649.
  • Hospitalized: OHA reports an additional 29 COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 3,034.
  • 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 38 new presumed positive cases today. The total number of those counted as presumed positives is 2,087.
  • Other Hospital Information:
    • Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 197 (3 more than yesterday). Of those, 148 have already received a positive test back.
    • Available ICU Beds: 161 (same as yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 617 (45 more than yesterday).
    • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 53 (2 fewer than yesterday).
    • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 21 (same as yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 710 (75 fewer than yesterday).
  • Dashboard:
  • Today’s National Numbers:
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Governor has just announced the addition of Multnomah County to the County Watch List as a result of excessive levels of untraced community spread.  This opens the county up to additional state public health support.  At the same time, Benton County and Clackamas County are being removed.  That leaves Lane, Malheur, and Umatilla, along with Multnomah on Watch List status.
    • The Governor has extended COVID protections for agricultural workers living in employer-provided housing during the off-season. The previous order provided these protections during the agricultural season, expiring on October 24. The current order extends these protections through April 30.  You’ll find details in this release from the Governor’s Office.
    • Residents, particularly elderly residents of our long-term care facilities are at the greatest risk of death from COVID-19. The latest COVID weekly report shows that 58% of those we’ve lost to COVID (363 out of 627) have been residents in congregate care settings.  For the latest on the situation in Oregon’s long-term care facilities, here’s a new article by the Oregonian’s Fedor Zarkhin.

Legislature’s Emergency Board Adopts Most Allocation Proposals

The E-Board met for five hours this afternoon to approve a number of allocations, most of them related to wildfire response.  You can watch the hearing by clicking on the “play” button for today’s meeting.

One of the proposals related to Project Turnkey was successful and one was not. It will be brought back for consideration, most likely as early as the next meeting.

Here’s what happened to each of the items on the agenda.  You can click on each of the proposals for more details:

  • Project Turnkey Pandemic Response: $35 million for Project Turnkey, an effort to address the need for more transitional housing in Oregon.  Instead of renting spaces for those needing emergency or short-term housing, it would provide funds to allow social service providers and local governments to purchase hotels and motels to help with COVID-related housing needs and be available for ongoing needs.  Motion Failed.
  • Project Turnkey Wildfire Response:  $30 million for Project Turnkey in areas affected by the recent wildfires. Motion Passed. 
  • Expanded Shelter for Wildfire-Affected Areas: This will allocate an additional $10 million to Housing and Community Services to address immediate needs, with a focus on wildfire-affected areas. Motion Passed.
  • Smoke-Damaged Schools: This will allocate $7,439,727 of the $20 million that the E-Board set aside at its last meeting to help districts get their smoke-affected schools ready for reopening.  This specific allocation is the result of specific requests from individual districts in need. Motion Passed.
  • Statewide Alert System: This will appropriate $1,400,000 to create a statewide emergency alert system.  Experiences during the wildfires made it clear that we need a better, more coordinated system. Motion Passed.
  • Wildfire Debris Removal: This will appropriate $50 million to ODOT for expenses related to removing ash and debris from roadways around the state.  In addition, ODOT will be allowed to spend up to $295.7million of its reserves for hazardous tree removal.  The state should eventually be able to recover at least 75% of these expenditures from FEMA. Motion Passed.
  • Coronavirus Relief Fund and CARES Act Expenditures Report: DAS will be presenting its review of the state’s use of federal CARES Act and CRF funds over the last 6 months.  Report Accepted.

You’ll find additional written testimony in the Meeting Materials section of the meeting website.

Friday Wildfire Recovery/Response Update

ODF reports another small increase in containment of the Slater Fire in Northern California and Southwestern Oregon (now up to 85% contained).  For some reason, the Archie Creek Fire in Douglas County has slipped a bit in its containment, from 95% to 94%.

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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 has just provided us with the latest update on wildfire response. This week’s update provides information about a legal assistance hotline set up by the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. Here are the updated statistics regarding Human Impacts:

  • The number of fatalities (9) and missing persons (1) remains the same.
  • The number of residences reported destroyed is 4,009. More than 1,400 structures other than residences have also been destroyed.
  • According to the Red Cross, 1,841 Oregonians remain in emergency housing. Of those, 103 are living in RVs and tents, and 1,738 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 22,623. FEMA has already approved for $20.8 million in assistance grants.
  • Still, if you know of anyone who has NOT yet registered, please direct them to the following:

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 550.  Nearly half of all new cases are in the Portland Tri-County region, including an eye-popping 135 in Multnomah County.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Baker (1)

Benton (9)

Clackamas (48)

Columbia (3)

Coos (5)

Crook (7)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (11)

Douglas (3)

Harney (1)

Hood River (4)

Jackson (33)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (1)

Klamath (1)

Lane (52)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (19)

Malheur (13)

Marion (57)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (135)

Polk (3)

Umatilla (21)

Union (6)

Wasco (2)

Washington (91)

Yamhill (23)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 647th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Oct.12 and died Oct. 21 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 648th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 21 and died Oct. 11 at Adventist Health Portland.

Oregon’s 649th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 27 and died Oct. 18 at Adventist Health Portland.

Additional Graphs:

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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.

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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,

dembrow signature

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