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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you had a safe and healthy Thanksgiving holiday. This was a different kind of holiday than any of us have ever experienced, and I’m hopeful we’ll be in a much better situation a year from now.
Tomorrow marks the end of the Two-Week Freeze, but the Governor introduced a new Risk Level health and safety framework last week, so please read more on that below.
I’ve been encouraged by recent news stories about the development of multiple vaccines for COVID-19. These vaccines will need to go through the federal authorization process and are probably months away from wider distribution beyond initial targeted populations like frontline health care workers. Nonetheless, this is hopeful news.
Right now, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is looking for volunteers to help research one of the potential vaccines, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reports here. For more information, you can call 888-VAC-STDY or visit www.c19vacstudy.com to see if you qualify for the study.
I’m hopeful good developments will continue. But we can’t let this encouraging long-term news let us get complacent about where this pandemic currently stands in Oregon and the country.
November was the deadliest month of the pandemic in Oregon. Over the holiday weekend, we surpassed 900 deaths and we set another tragic single-day record today with 24 more deaths. We also hit another record-high on Monday with 584 active hospitalizations and our weekly test positivity continues to rise.
Here are the latest totals since last week (please note that some local public health departments were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, which likely led to a brief dip and spike in numbers):
- Wednesday, November 25: 1,189 cases, 20 deaths
- Thursday, November 26: 1,514 cases, 16 deaths
- Friday, November 27: 826 cases, 3 deaths
- Saturday, November 28: 1,669 cases, 11 deaths
- Sunday, November 29: 1,599 cases, 9 deaths
- Monday, November 30: 1,314 cases, 7 deaths
- Tuesday, December 1: 1,233 cases, 24 deaths
In only seven days, that’s 9,344 cases and 90 deaths.
For more perspective on this surge, it took six months for Oregon to record its first 25,000 cases. It took only two months to record another 25,000 cases and then only three weeks to reach our next 25,000 cases.
Some epidemiologists told The New York Times they predict that the COVID-19 death toll could be close to 500,000 by March 2021, which would double the total the United States reached last week.
Our hope has to go hand-in-hand with action. We know the drill: masks, distancing, hand-washing and staying home if you’re sick.
I know that many have chosen to form social bubbles to maintain social connection during the pandemic. While social bubbles can help lessen the risk of spreading the virus, they are not foolproof and can give people a false sense of safety. It's still safest to limit socializing to the people you live with, as this graphic from the Oregon Health Authority shows:
Our knowledge about how best to contain the spread of COVID-19 and explain these protections to the public has evolved since the start of the pandemic. If you recall, early on each county was categorized by their phase of reopening (how much economic activity would be safe to restart).
But given the continued seriousness of this pandemic, Governor Brown last week announced a new health and safety framework with four different risk levels for counties based on their level of COVID-19 spread. It’s a clearer way of explaining how the risk of infection should dictate the level of social interaction and business activity in each community.
Guidance for each activity based on risk level is available here. With the ending of the Two-Week Freeze tomorrow, the new risk levels go into effect this Thursday, December 3.
Here is the latest breakdown of counties by risk level:
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Lower Risk (4): Gilliam, Sherman, Wallowa and Wheeler
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Moderate Risk (2): Harney and Tillamook
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High Risk (5): Benton, Clatsop, Coos, Curry and Lincoln
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Extreme Risk (25): Baker, Clackamas, Columbia, Crook, Deschutes, Douglas, Grant, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Linn, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Umatilla, Union, Wasco, Washington and Yamhill
In counties identified as Extreme Risk, the following activities will be allowed, with health and safety protocols in place:
- Social and at-home gatherings with people from outside your household limited to a maximum of six people, with a recommended limit of two households.
- Restaurants, bars, and other eating and drinking establishments limited to a maximum of 50 people for outdoor dining only, with only six people per table. Take-out is strongly encouraged and no indoor dining is allowed.
- Outdoor recreation, fitness, and entertainment activities, including outdoor gym activities, are allowed, with a maximum limit of 50 people outdoors. Indoor recreation, fitness, and entertainment establishments, including gyms, will remain closed.
- Retail stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, and indoor and outdoor shopping centers and malls limited to a maximum of 50% of capacity, with curbside pick-up encouraged.
- Faith institutions, funeral homes, mortuaries, and cemeteries limited to a maximum of 25% of capacity or 100 people indoors (whichever is smaller), or 150 people outdoors.
- Office workplaces will be required to utilize remote work to the maximum extent possible, with public-facing offices closed to the public.
- Personal services businesses are allowed to continue to operate with health and safety measures in place.
- Long-term care facilities can allow limited outdoor visitation, following established health and safety protocols, but no indoor visitation permitted.
Oregon counties that are successful in reducing their COVID-19 risk levels in the coming weeks and months will be able to move to lower risk levels.
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older and for certain younger people with disabilities. Every fall, Medicare users have a chance to evaluate and potentially change their Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans. Medicare plans and drug formularies change each year, so it’s important for Oregonians who are enrolled in Medicare to evaluate their plan options and make changes during open enrollment, which is from October 15 to December 7.
The Oregon Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program is available to help Medicare members understand the information. To help stop the spread of the virus and to keep counselors and vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries safe, SHIBA is only providing phone, email, or web meeting counseling sessions until further notice. All Medicare open enrollment information sessions will be held virtually through live and recorded webinars available on SHIBA’s website.
SHIBA counselors can help Oregonians navigate the Medicare.gov Plan Finder Tool (Medicare.gov/plan-compare) to enter prescriptions and compare the cost and benefits of individual drug plans, provide enrollment guidance, and answer any other questions related to Medicare benefits. You can find help by calling 800-722-4134 (toll-free) or visiting SHIBA.Oregon.gov.
- The Oregon Health Authority announced 1,233 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 76,654. The OHA also reported 24 more deaths, meaning 936 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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