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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
This has been an exhausting year, when even the most optimistic of people have become worn down by all that’s happened. Elected leaders and public health officials have asked us to make sacrifice after sacrifice in order to save lives.
But this is the moment when we need to put aside any pandemic fatigue and dig deep in order to fight the virus.
Let’s go back to the early days of the pandemic – back in March, when this virus was new to us and we feared what the next day might bring. This graphic was among the first I used in this newsletter to explain the need to flatten the curve.
The work that we all did to follow Stay Home, Save Lives made this happen.
Yet, now, this is the most critical point to date in our fight against the pandemic. Over the weekend, Oregon exceeded 50,000 cases in the state. Here are the latest numbers since my last newsletter:
- Saturday, November 7: 988 cases, 13 deaths
- Sunday, November 8: 874 cases, 1 death
- Monday, November 9: 723 cases, 4 deaths
- Tuesday, November 10: 771 cases, 3 deaths
These numbers are staggering. It’s also very troubling that our test positivity rates are continuing to rise rapidly. We crossed over the 10% threshold for weekly test positivity for the first time according to initial data, a terrible continuation of a dangerous trend. (Remember the goal was to get below 5% so schools could reopen?)
- Week of October 11: 5.6%
- Week of October 18: 6.6%
- Week of October 25: 8.5%
- Week of November 1: 11.2%
While we’re better prepared to handle high case counts than we were in February, our hospitals are flashing warning signs about their current bed capacity. If cases continue to rise, hospitals will again be looking at reducing elective surgeries or even shutting down elective surgeries altogether if the rise is especially dramatic.
Public health officials have been advising Oregonians that they shouldn’t delay needed care. Hospitals have worked hard to make sure their facilities are safe. But hospitals only have a finite amount of resources, and there are now a record 318 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reports here.
The ripple effects may not stop there. Governor Brown has made it clear that all counties are at risk of additional restrictions and further closures if conditions don’t improve. We have to work hard to avoid that.
The good news is that it’s not too late to change course. We’ve done it before and need to do it again.
Please take a break on social activities and let’s get this under control. The Oregonian reported here about how community spread is causing the rise in cases due to ongoing social gatherings.
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see numbers go down right away. Remember there is a lag time from when people contract the virus and when they may start to show symptoms.
Lastly on this topic, I want to recommend these tips on ways to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 caution fatigue.
Governor Brown has added Baker, Clackamas, Union, and Washington counties to the list of locations beginning a two-week reduction in social activities starting tomorrow, joining Jackson, Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, and Umatilla counties. You can read the Governor’s release on her decision here.
As a reminder, here is what the temporary restrictions mean for these counties:
- All businesses to require work from home to the greatest extent possible.
- A pause on long-term care facility visits that take place indoors.
- Reducing the maximum restaurant capacity to 50 people (including customers and staff) for indoor dining, with a maximum party size of six. Continuing to encourage outdoor dining and take out.
- Reducing the maximum capacity of other indoor activities to 50 people (includes gyms, fitness organizations/studios, bowling alleys, ice rinks, indoor sports, pools, and museums).
- Limiting social gatherings to your household, or no more than six people if the gathering includes those from outside your household, reducing the frequency of those social gatherings (significantly in a two-week period), and keeping the same six people in your social gathering circle.
Yesterday, the legislative Emergency Board approved requests for more than $128 million to help Oregonians impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This includes help for Oregonians in need of shelter, childcare providers, small businesses, long-term care providers, and victims of domestic and sexual violence.
The first item approved was $35 million in state funds to support the Project Turnkey Statewide Pandemic and Homelessness Response. The Oregon Community Foundation will use the funding to support the acquisition, retrofitting and potential operation of hotel and motel properties to be used as emergency shelter. This funding is in addition to $30 million the Emergency Board approved on October 23 to begin Project Turnkey in wildfire-affected areas.
I’d like to thank Representatives Pam Marsh and Alissa Keny-Guyer, as well as numerous advocates, who pushed for this funding. This action comes at a critical time as COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Oregon. As winter approaches, it’s particularly important we help people without permanent housing. We’ve been facing a statewide shelter emergency for some time and the pandemic has made the situation even more dire. We have a lot of work ahead of us to solve this emergency but it's an important step.
The Emergency Board also approved the following allocations from the state’s share of federal funds available through the Coronavirus Relief Fund:
Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day, a day of recognition for our military veterans, past and present. I always think about my dad and the experience he had as an Army corporal serving in the Korean War.
The Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs (ODVA) has a comprehensive online resource guide available to assist veterans in finding the benefits that are most useful to their unique circumstances at this time.
Here’s a list of other resources available to veterans and military service members:
Insurance is complicated to understand even under the best of circumstances. So, it’s great that Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi and his staff are hosting a virtual “Wildfire Insurance Town Hall” this Thursday, November 12 at 11 a.m. They will share insurance information and answer questions. A FEMA representative will also be available to answer questions about the National Flood Insurance Program.
You can tune in to the Zoom live stream: http://dcbspage.org/NOV.TOWNHALL
You can also listen to the live town hall by calling (253) 215-8782 or (669) 900-6833. Use Meeting ID: 992 4748 7370 and Passcode: 867128.
They are gathering questions in advance. You can submit questions online by going to http://dcbspage.org/NOV.INSURANCE.TOWNHALL. They will answer as many as they can during the town hall meeting.
The insurance division’s wildfire page has resources and contact information to help answer many of your wildfire insurance questions: dfr.oregon.gov/insure/home/storm/Pages/wildfires.aspx
- My office continues to track the performance of the Oregon Employment Department on getting unemployment benefits to people who need them. The Oregonian reports here that the department is on track to pay federal “waiting week” relief money to unemployed Oregonians by the end of the month.
- The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has adopted a temporary rule that combats the spread of coronavirus in all workplaces by requiring employers to carry out a comprehensive set of risk-reducing measures, as the Coos Bay World reports here.
- The Oregon Health Authority reported 771 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 51,909. The OHA also reported three more deaths, meaning 737 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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