October 27th COVID-19 Update

October 27, 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 today that 358 additional Oregonians have tested positive. The cumulative total for those testing positive since the beginning of the pandemic is638.
• Total Tests: The number of reported tests has increased by 6,697. The cumulative total of positive and negative tests since the beginning of the pandemic is now 834,825.
• Ratio: The percentage of total tests that are positive today is 5.3%.  The national ratio today is 6.9%.
• Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 9 additional COVID deaths today. Seven of the nine were in their 50s and 60s. You can read about the Oregonians we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 664.
• Hospitalized: OHA reports 20 new COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 3,111.
• 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 33 additional presumed positives today.  The total number of those counted as presumed positives is 2,170.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 215 (1 more than yesterday). Of those, 147 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 173 (26 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 652 (18 fewer than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 61 (11 more than yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 26 (4 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 734 (7 fewer than yesterday).
• Dashboard:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 138,457,135 (up 1,052,874 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 8,723,438 (up 73,096 from yesterday.)
  • Deaths: 218,349 (up 931 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:
  • The Governor has renewed for another 60 days the State of Emergency declaration, which is about to expire in the next few days. This should come as no surprise, given where we are in the state and nationally with respect to the progression of the pandemic.  This new order extends the declaration to January 2.  Here’s the press release with a link to the order.
  • The latest school reopening metrics have been released. Most counties are showing improvement over where they were with the big spikes two weeks ago.  More are at or close to the point where they could at least reopen in-person instruction for K-3 children under the current guidelines, which are also explained in the above link.  OHA is currently reviewing those guidelines for potential changes.
  • The Oregonian’s Aimee Green has a long piece about the big impacts of COVID on Oregon’s prisons, where adults in custody are ten times more likely to contract than disease than for people on the outside.
  • Senate Majority Leader McConnell has adjourned the Senate until after the election, meaning that a hoped-for last-minute agreement on a COVID-relief package will not occur.
  • OPB’s Kate Davidson and Jefferson Public Radio’s April Ehrlich have teamed up on a story about the difficulties faced by those whose mobile homes were destroyed in the Almeda Road Fire in the Medford area.

Tuesday Wildfire Recovery/Response Update

There’s again no change in today’s reported fire containment around the state.  You can find maps and up-to-the-minute details on the individual fires at OEM’s State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard.

We don’t get updates from OEM on Tuesdays, so I can’t share updated statistics with you here.  However, OEM is now maintaining a real-time Wildfire and Recovery Tracker that will give you up-to-the-moment statistics on a variety of metrics related to recovery efforts.  Check it out for the latest on the state’s recovery efforts.

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 391.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Baker (5)

Benton (3)

Clackamas (35)

Clatsop (1)

Columbia (3)

Coos (5)

Crook (2)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (5)

Douglas (9)

Harney (11)

Jackson (25)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (2)

Klamath (5)

Lake (1)

Lane (31)

Linn (6)

Malheur (10)

Marion (72)

Multnomah (72)

Polk (3)

Umatilla (22)

Union (1)

Wallowa (2)

Wasco (1)

Washington (50)

Wheeler (1)

Yamhill (6)

And the Deaths

Oregon’s 656^th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on July 8 and died on Oct. 4 in her residence.

Oregon’s 657^th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Wasco County who tested positive on Sept. 18 and died on Oct. 24 in her residence.

Oregon’s 658^th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 14 and died on Oct. 24 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 659^th COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 5 and died on Oct. 23 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 660^th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Oct. 4 and died on Oct. 21 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, Washington.

Oregon’s 661^st COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 8 and died on Oct. 25 at Adventist Health Portland.

Oregon’s 662^nd COVID-19 death is a 52-year-old man in Morrow County who tested positive on Aug. 25 and died on Oct. 24 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

Oregon’s 663^rd COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Sept. 25 and died on Oct. 25 at OHSU.

Oregon’s 664^th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive on Oct. 18 and died on Oct. 24 at Mercy 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