October 28th COVID-19 Update

October 28, 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.

We see another increase in new COVID cases today, despite a significant reduction in testing.  The result is the highest positivity rate that Oregon has seen since early in August.  Let’s hope that these increases (and inadequate testing) do not continue or lead to increased hospitalizations.  For now, COVID hospitalizations remain relatively stable in Oregon.  An additional seven COVID deaths were reported today. 

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 395 additional Oregonians have tested positive. The cumulative total for those testing positive since the beginning of the pandemic is 41,033.
• Total Tests: The number of reported tests has increased by 4,029. The cumulative total of positive and negative tests since the beginning of the pandemic is now 838,854.
• Ratio: The percentage of total tests that are positive today is 9.8%.  The national ratio today is 7.5%.
• Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 7 additional COVID deaths today. Most are again Oregonians 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 671.
• Hospitalized: OHA reports 23 new COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 33,134.
• 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 29 additional presumed positives today.  The total number of those counted as presumed positives is 2,195.
• Other Hospital Information:
  • Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 206 (9 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 156 have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds: 174 (1 more than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 612 (40 fewer than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 62 (1 more than yesterday).
  • COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 19 (7 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 747 (13 more than yesterday).
• Dashboard:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 139,513,001 (up 1,055,866 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 8,802,099 (up 78,661 from yesterday.)
  • Deaths: 291,374 (up 1,025 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:
  • Late yesterday it was announced that Oregon and its Western States Compact partners (California, Washington, and Nevada, who coordinate on COVID-response matters) will be doing an independent evaluation of the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines that are made available for distribution in their states. This is to address reports that large numbers of Americans are concerned that the vaccine will be pushed out prematurely for political reasons. You can read more about the agreement in this OPB story.
  • FEMA is warning residents of areas devastated by wildfire that the loss of trees and ground vegetation puts them at serious risk of flooding in the future. They are recommending that homeowners in these areas consider purchasing flood insurance. You can read more in this OPB story.
  • OPB’s Cassandra Profita has an interesting story about hazmat workers removing hazardous materials from properties destroyed by wildfire.
  • OHA released the latest COVID Weekly Update this afternoon.  It shows another week of increased case numbers, the highest week so far. On the other hand, the COVID positivity rate remains the same as it was the previous week. I’ll provide a detailed summary of the update findings in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Wednesday 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.

The Oregon Emergency Management has just provided us with the latest update on wildfire response. 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, the number of Oregonians in emergency housing has gone down by 200 over the last few days. 1,428 Oregonians now remain in emergency housing.  Of those, 112 are living in RVs and tents, and 1,316 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 23,547. FEMA has already approved for $21.9 million in assistance grants.
• Still, if you know of anyone who has NOT yet registered, please direct them 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.
• 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 424.  Here is the breakdown by county for today:

Baker (8)

Benton (3)

Clackamas (35)

Clatsop (2)

Columbia (1)

Coos (7)

Crook (2)

Deschutes (26)

Douglas (4)

Hood River (2)

Jackson (35)

Klamath (3)

Lake (3)

Lane (34)

Lincoln (1)

Linn (11)

Malheur (16)

Marion (34)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (110)

Polk (6)

Tillamook (2)

Umatilla (17)

Union (9)

Wasco (1)

Washington (48)

Yamhill (3)

And the Deaths

Oregon’s 665^th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on July 18 and died on Sept. 13 at St. Charles Medical Center Madras.

Oregon’s 666^th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 11 and died on Oct. 24 at Adventist Health Portland.

Oregon’s 667^th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 14 and died on Oct. 24 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.

Oregon’s 668^th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Oct. 15 and died on Oct. 22 in her residence.

Oregon’s 669^th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Oct. 13 and died on Oct. 26 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.

Oregon’s 670^th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Sept. 18 and died on Oct. 24 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.

Oregon’s 671^st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Oct. 16 and died on Oct. 23 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.

NOTE: OHA has provided updated information about Oregon’s 447^th COVID-19 death, a man in Multnomah County. His age was incorrectly reported as 29. He was 34. OHA regrets this error.

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