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November 4, 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.
I know that many of you are feeling anxiety and uncertainty as we are still awaiting the final results of yesterday’s election and what it means for Oregon (I’ll be writing more about that in the future). Those feelings, I’m afraid, are exacerbated by news about the spread of COVID in this state and in the nation as a whole.
On the national level, we’re seeing extremely high levels of new cases each day (more than 100,000 just today), along with increasingly high numbers of reported COVID deaths (more than 1500 today). Hospitalization rates are becoming a problem all across the country. We’re seeing similar effects of the fall surge elsewhere in the world, provoking returns to the kinds of serious restrictions on travel and business in those countries that we saw last spring.
As you’ll see in tonight’s newsletter, Oregon’s case numbers today are the second highest since the beginning of the pandemic, and we’re also seeing a return to higher COVID hospitalization numbers. Today’s COVID positivity rate has reached the 10% level, I believe for the first time. This is a product both of increased transmission and inadequate testing.
I heard Governor Mike Dewine (R-Ohio) on the radio this evening talking about the similar return to record case numbers in his state. In words reminiscent of what we’ve been hearing from our Governor and the OHA, he said that the culprit is increasingly the small, unexceptional get-togethers of family and friends. People let their guard down and unwittingly spread the virus to others before they even know that they are carrying the disease. With more of these get-togethers now happening indoors, the risk increases.
Again, it’s clear that this disease is not going away soon. Everyone who is put into a position of leadership by this election needs to be prepared to take action to get these numbers down.
Please let me know if you have any questions about anything you read here.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports today that 549 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19. The cumulative total for those testing positive since the beginning of the pandemic is 44,626.
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Total Tests: The number of reported COVID test results has increased by 5,510. The cumulative total of tests since the beginning of the pandemic is now 880,531.
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Ratio: The percentage of total tests that have been positive since Friday is 10.0%. The national ratio today is 8.5%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 4 additional COVID deaths today. You can read about the Oregonians we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 705.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports 34 new COVID hospitalizations. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 3,312.
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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 48 new presumed positive cases today. The total number of those counted as presumed positives is 2,423.
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Other Hospital Information:
- Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 322 (85 more than yesterday). Of those, 191 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 170 (6 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 695 (same as yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 62 (4 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 27 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 733 (1 fewer than yesterday).
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Dashboard:
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Today’s National Numbers:
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Additional Brief Updates:
- On Monday I presented you with new graphs showing the availability of hospital beds (both ICU and Non-ICU) over time. (You’ll find them at the bottom of the newsletter.) Those are showing us statewide availability, which is important. However, it’s equally important to see availability by region, and OHA provides us with that information in real time.
- OHA has updated its school reopening metrics by county. Here are the updated numbers.
- OHA released the latest COVID Weekly Update late this afternoon. It reflects the much higher infection rates we’ve been seeing in these daily reports. I’ll provide a detailed summary in tomorrow’s newsletter.
- Journalists have been giving us a variety of interesting perspectives on the wildfire recovery efforts down in Jackson County. OPB has a particularly quirky one today, as Jes Burns takes us with survivors on a search through the rubble for the cremated remains of their loved ones.
- As I’ve mentioned, as troubling as the recent spike in COVID cases are for us in Oregon, we do need to put it in a national perspective and see that Oregon is still among the states with the lowest number of new COVID cases. I’ve heard appreciation from a number of you for the animations that Dan Goodspeed has been providing us, so I’m going to include this link on a regular basis. You’ll see that we’re currently 8th from the bottom for new COVID cases and 6th from the bottom for COVID deaths. Here’s the link.
Wednesday Wildfire Recovery/Response Update
ODF has not reported any changes in wildfire containment levels today.You can find maps and up-to-the-minute details on the individual fires at OEM’s State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard.
STILL WAITING FOR LATEST UPDATE FROM OEM: Here again are the most recent statistics regarding Human Impacts:
- The number of fatalities (9) and missing persons (1) remains the same.
- The number of residences reported destroyed remains at 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 continued to go down over the last few days. 1,011 Oregonians now remain in emergency housing. Of those, 20 are living in RVs and tents, and 991 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 24,143. FEMA has already approved for $23 million in assistance grants.
- Still, if you know of anyone who has NOT yet registered, please direct them the following:
- 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 597. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Baker (7)
Benton (2).
Clackamas (54)
Clatsop (4)
Columbia (5)
Coos (2)
Crook (9)
Deschutes (17)
Douglas (12)
Grant (2)
Harney (1)
Hood River (2)
Jackson (52)
Jefferson (5)
Josephine (1)
Klamath (3)
Lake (1)
Lane (24)
Linn (11)
Malheur (11)
Marion (84)
Morrow (2
Multnomah (172)
Polk (13)
Tillamook (2)
Umatilla (23)
Union (3)
Wallowa (3)
Wasco (1)
Washington (57)
Yamhill (13)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 702nd COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Oct.13 and died on Nov. 2, at OHSU.
Oregon’s 703rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Oct. 28 and died on Nov. 2, at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 704th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Oct. 6 and died on Nov. 2, in his residence.
Oregon’s 705th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Oct. 27 and died on Nov. 2, at Providence Medford 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:
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
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