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November 19, 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.
Relaying these worsening COVID statistics is becoming more and more painful. Today is another record day for new cases and for number of reported deaths here in Oregon. Meanwhile, our number of available ICU beds is shrinking, as every day brings a new record for COVID hospitalizations. You’ll see the same trends in this week’s COVID Weekly Report, which I’ve summarized in this newsletter.
Today’s depressing news brought the following reaction from OHA Director Pat Allen:
“We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to COVID-19. Sadly, we have also surpassed our 800th COVID-19 death today, less than three weeks after marking the 700th death. These are family, friends, neighbors and we note their deaths with sadness and a renewed determination to suppress the spread of the virus.
“I have heard frequently from those who have refused to believe this pandemic is serious if we aren’t seeing hospitalizations and deaths. Those hospitalizations and deaths are here and are only likely to go up. Please take this seriously, and do what you can to slow the spread: wash your hands, wear a mask, and limit the number of people you come in close contact with.”
You’ll see similar numbers being recorded around the country. Some news sources are reporting that we’ve already crossed the threshold of a quarter-million COVID deaths. I use the somewhat more conservative COVID-Tracking Project, which isn’t quite there yet. But with nearly 2,000 deaths being reported each day, we’ll be there soon enough.
Please stay safe, and let me know if you have any questions about today’s newsletter.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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Positive Cases: OHA reports today that 1,173 additional Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19. The cumulative total for those testing positive since the beginning of the pandemic is 57,915.
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Total Tests: The number of reported COVID test results has increased by 8,410. The cumulative total of tests since the beginning of the pandemic is now 982,334.
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Ratio: The percentage of total tests that have been reported positive is 13.9%. The national ratio today is 10.0%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 20 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 808.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports a new record 47 new COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 3,935.
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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 52 new cases presumed positive today. The cumulative total of those reported as presumed positives is 2,958.
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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): 497 (13 more than yesterday). Of those, 414 have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 104 (23 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 593 (36 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 107 (4 more than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 41 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 733 (6 fewer than yesterday).
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Dashboard:
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Today’s National Numbers:
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Additional Brief Updates:
- An initiative from OHSU and SEI (Self-Enhancement Inc., a community-based organization focused on the Black community) combines wastewater analysis and enhanced testing in outer East Portland zip codes, areas that have been hard hit by the virus. If successful, it will be expanded to other parts of the city. Read about it here.
- I’ve written frequently about the need for dramatically higher COVID testing levels in our state. Earlier this week I joined a number of my legislative colleagues in sending a letter to the Governor calling for immediate action. Here’s an Oregonian article about the letter. Many thanks to my Nurse-Practitioner colleague, Rep Rachel Prusak, for getting this effort going.
- OSU has a new projectin partnership with the OHA, testing a smartphone-based app system that notifies users about possible exposure to COVID-19. Volunteers will be notified if they’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID. The app won’t replace contact tracing, but it could be a useful supplement. Here’s the information release from OSU.
Latest OHA Weekly COVID Report Released
OHA released its WEEKLY COVID REPORT yesterday. It is again a very comprehensive snapshot of different aspects of transmission of the disease in Oregon over the past week or so. It confirms what we’ve been seeing in our daily reports: we are seeing record rates of transmission in Oregon, , accompanied by low testing rates and increases in test positivity, hospitalizations, and deaths. It continues to show ongoing disproportionality among racial and ethnic groups.
Here are some of OHA’s broad observations of where we are now, based on data from November 9-November 15:
- We see once again an increase in the number of new cases. Last week OHA reported a new record 6,491 new cases of COVID-19 infection—up 25.4% from last week’s record tally of 5,177.
- The number of tests reported improved slightly again, up 9.7% to 37,651. This is still far below where it needs to be to capture asymptomatic cases.
- The percentage of positive test results rose again last week, from a record 11.9% to a new record 12.5% for the week.
- In one piece of good news, the number of newly reported deaths went down last week, from 42 to 31. This may be an issue of timing, but if not it’s a welcome statistic.
- The cumulative death rate since the beginning of the pandemic was a cumulative total of 765 on November 15. This constitutes a mortality rate of 1.3% of reported cases, another slight decrease.
- The number of new COVID hospitalizations rose again last week, from 212 to 250. new COVID hospitalizations, an average of 36 new hospitalizations per day (up by 6 per day). Next week’s is on track to be much higher.
- The age group with the highest incidence of reported infection continues to be 20–29-year-olds, with rates decreasing in subsequent decades of life.
The report again provides information about signs, symptoms, and risk factors; racial/ethnic/age/gender demographics; recovery; outbreaks in long-term care; workplace outbreaks; outbreaks in childcare centers and schools; hospital rates; and the breakdown of cases by zip code.
Racial/Ethnic
The report again demonstrates significant disparities among racial groups. You can see this in the charts below, with data that I’ve taken from the November 1 report, the November 8 report, and from this report. It allows you to see at a glance the proportion of case counts within different racial groups and ethnic groups (technically, “Hispanic” is not a race and is counted as an ethnic group, with numbers from a separate chart). They remain relatively stable.
To help you understand the racial/ethnic data reported in the weekly report, I’ve also created a new chart that shows the hospitalization and death rates per 100K population, along with the infection rates per-100K population for each racial/ethnic group.
You’ll see again how much higher the case rates per 100,000 are for most racial/ethnic groups compared to White Oregonians. Black Oregonians are 3 times more likely to contract the disease than are White Oregonians, Native Americans 3.6 times more likely, Latinx Oregonians are 5.1 times more likely, and Pacific Islanders are now 6.4 times more likely. The differences, while still large, have continued to go down slightly from week to week.
You’ll also again see that hospitalization rates among those who have contracted the disease are somewhat lower for Blacks and Native Americans, quite a bit lower for Latinx, and somewhat higher for Pacific Islanders than for the population of White Oregonians. Among those who have contracted the disease, the percentage who ultimately die of it is higher for Whites than for people of color.
However, you’ll also see in the final chart that when examined as a proportion of their populations in Oregon, the hospitalization and death rates for Blacks, Native Americans, Latinx, and especially Pacific-Islander Oregonians continue to be disproportionally high. It helps us to see why it’s so important that special outreach needs to be made to members of these racial/ethnic groups.
  The weekly report includes graphs showing how Public Health agencies are doing in contact tracing for different racial and ethnic groups. For the most part, the rate of follow-up interviews with Oregonians of color appears to be comparable to the rate with White Oregonians (actually, higher among Latinx Oregonians). Those attempts are less successful for Black Oregonians.
Outbreaks at Long-Term Care Facilities
The report lists outbreaks at long-term care facilities with more than five residents that have three or more confirmed cases or at least one COVID death.
We are now seeing substantially increased numbers of infections in our facilities, reflecting the increases in the general population. It’s really unfortunate that we haven’t been able to keep the disease out of these facilities. Given the age of most of the residents, we must expect a consequent increase in hospitalizations and deaths from our long-term care population.
This week’s report lists outbreaks in 103 (a big jump from 75) long-term care facilities that are still considered active. They are responsible for 1487 cases (up from 1019) and 66 deaths (up from 58).
Once a facility has gone 28 days without a new case, it is moved to the “Resolved” list.
There are now 169 outbreaks on the Resolved list (up from 159). The facilities are listed in order of first date of outbreak. (I’ve asked that they be ordered alphabetically in the future for ease of access.) This list will obviously grow each week.
Facilities on the Resolved list have been responsible for 2,668 cases (up from 2,564) and 351 deaths (up from 341).
In addition to the listed facilities, there are now 85 (up from 78) congregate settings with five or fewer beds that have also had three or more confirmed cases or one or more deaths. These are not listed by facility name in order to protect patient privacy.
OHA reports that in total to date, there have been 4,989 cases up from 4,374) and 442 deaths (up from 424) associated with congregate care settings. That’s again 58% of the cumulative deaths reported as of last week.
To date, there has still been only one death of a staff member reported.
Workplace Outbreaks
Similarly, there are separate listings for workplace outbreaks that are “active” and “resolved,” but without deaths identified by workplace. Case counts include all persons linked to the outbreak, which may include household members and other close contacts. To protect privacy, OHA is only reporting workplace outbreaks with five or more cases (workers and family members) and only for workplaces with at least 30 workers. They are listed in descending order of number of cases.
You’ll find 96 workplaces (up from 90 last week) listed as “Active” this week, totaling 3,097 cases (up from 2,823).
A facility goes onto the resolved list once it has not had a new case in 28 days.
60 workplaces (up from 54 last week) are now listed as “Resolved,” totaling 958 cases (up from 896 last week).
As opposed to the way that congregate living lists are now being managed, once a workplace outbreak has been in resolved status for 56 days, it is still being dropped from the list.
As is the case with the congregate living lists, OHA is now reporting cumulative cases since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been 53 deaths (up from 45 last week) and 9,973 cases (up from 9,226) associated with all workplace outbreaks that have been reported to date. Cases attributed to workplace outbreaks account for 17.3% (down from 18.7% last week) of all cases in Oregon.
OHA has clarified that there may be cases that are being double-counted as workplace outbreaks, i.e., if a worker or family member is associated with an outbreak at more than one facility: Cases that are associated with more than one workplace outbreak will be reported in the case count for all relevant workplace outbreaks.
Prisons make up 39% of all the active workplace outbreak cases (down from 41% last week).
Childcare Outbreaks
OHA has changed the way that it reports outbreaks in childcare facilities. Previously, the Weekly Report only included names and case counts for childcare facilities that enroll 30 or more children and have five or more cases. They are now reporting all outbreaks that include two or more cases in facilities with more than 16 children.
There are now 14 (down from 15) facilities listed as active. They comprise a total of 84 cases (same as last week).
These case counts may include children, staff, and household members.
Sixteen centers are now on the Resolved list (up from 13), comprising 85 (up from 77) cases.
In addition to the listed centers, there are two childcare facilities that serve 16 or fewer children that has had an outbreak of 2 or more cases. (For privacy reasons, the smaller centers are not listed by name.)
Cases in K-12 Schools
OHA is now reporting all COVID-19 cases in schools that offer in-person instruction, distinguishing between students and staff. The report lists schools with at least 30 students that have at least one reported COVID case. The new reporting protocol applies to all public and private schools and programs.
Now that more schools have been reopening, we are starting to see increasing case numbers at more schools.
This week’s report on schools with in-person instruction shows 54 (up from 36 last week) cases of students and 60 (up from 42 last week) cases of staff members at a total of 68 (up from 35) public and private schools (including elementary, middle, and high schools) around the state.
Thirty-one schools have now been moved into the “Resolved” category (up from 26), meaning that it’s been more than 28 days since a new case was reported. They comprise 22 students and 40 staff members.
Infections by Zip Code
You’ll see that the zip code list again reveals the various hot spots around the state, presented in terms of cases per 100K residents since the beginning of the pandemic. Since these are cumulative totals, change in zip code rankings happens slowly over time.
The top five are exactly the same zip codes east of the Cascades (from Umatilla/Morrow, Jefferson, and Malheur Counties) as they’ve been for the last two months:
- 97818 (Boardman in Morrow County)
- 97761 (Warm Springs in Jefferson County)
- 97914 (Ontario in Malheur County)
- 97838 (Hermiston in Umatilla and Morrow Counties)
- 97882 (Umatilla in Umatilla County)
97913 (Nyssa in Malheur County) remains in the on-deck spot at #6.
Here is a zip code locator for you to use as you look at the zip code numbers.
The Oregonian has created an interactive map of cases by zip code. It allows you to see COVID cases both cumulatively and with changes over the last week.
Thursday Wildfire Recovery/Response Update
No change reported by ODF today. They are still just reporting on the Riverside Fire in Clackamas County. Again, you can follow the remaining firefighting effort at the State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard.
The Office of Emergency Management has not released an update on wildfire recovery. However, for the very latest numbers, 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.
Also, EPA has an Oregon Fires Recovery Website with a variety of information about the cleanup effort, including information about how residents can get ash and debris removed from their properties at no cost.
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 1,225. Half of today’s new cases are from the Portland Tri-County area. Here is the breakdown by county for today:
Baker (4)
Benton (16)
Clackamas (121)
Clatsop (2)
Columbia (14)
Coos (8)
Crook (6)
Curry (6)
Deschutes (31)
Douglas (21)
Grant (3)
Harney (5)
Hood River (8)
Jackson (89)
Jefferson (15)
Josephine (13)
Klamath (20)
Lake (5)
Lane (130)
Lincoln (1)
Linn (11)
Malheur (21)
Marion (84)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (376)
Polk (20)
Umatilla (20)
Union (8)
Wasco (8)
Washington (127)
Yamhill (36)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 789th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Wasco County who tested positive on Oct. 25 and died on Nov. 16, in his residence.
Oregon’s 790th COVID-19 death is a 30-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Nov. 8 and died on Nov. 13, in his residence.
Oregon’s 791st COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 3 and died on Nov. 11, at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 792nd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 13 and died on Nov. 17, at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 793rd COVID-19 death is a 40-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on Oct. 29 and died on Nov. 7, at West Valley Medical Center in Idaho.
Oregon’s 794th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Sept. 14 and died on Nov. 10, in her residence.
Oregon’s 795th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 5 and died on Oct. 30, at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Oregon’s 796th COVID-19 death is a 49-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 9 and died on Nov. 15, at Providence Medford Medical Center.
Oregon’s 797th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Nov. 3 and died on Nov. 18, at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg.
Oregon’s 798th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Nov. 18, at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 799th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 3 and died on Nov. 13, in his residence.
Oregon’s 800th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 5 and died on Nov. 11, in his residence.
Oregon’s 801st COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 29 and died on Oct. 29.
Oregon’s 802nd COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 9 and died on Nov. 11, in his residence.
Oregon’s 803rd COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 9 and died on Nov. 16, in her residence.
Oregon’s 804th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Nov. 14, in his residence.
Oregon’s 805th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Nov. 16, in her residence.
Oregon’s 806th COVID019 death is a 77-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 6 and died on Nov. 18, in her residence.
Oregon’s 807th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old woman in Grant County who tested positive on Oct. 30 and died on Nov.15.
Oregon’s 808th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 4 and died on Nov. 17, at Providence Medford Medical Center.
Additional Graphs:
     **You can find a breakdown of regional availability here.
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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