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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The pandemic has led to so much pain and suffering. It’s understandably difficult to comprehend the scale of the tragedy that has been taking place this year, particularly as the situation has dramatically worsened over the last couple of months.
The early days of the pandemic showcased our common humanity. So many Oregonians made sacrifices to stop the spread and flatten the curve. I hope those early days can be a source of strength as we weather the tough weeks ahead.
As we continue to see double-digit death totals on most days, I hope that we continue to show our compassion for the most vulnerable, especially for our elders. This story from The Oregonian highlights that one in every 375 Oregonians over 80 years old has died from the virus. The latest COVID-19 Weekly Report shows that Oregonians over 70 years old make up 75% of COVID-19 deaths despite making up only 8.3% of cases.
Every death from this virus is painful. They are our family members, friends, and neighbors. Please don’t become numb to these numbers or deem some risk acceptable if you’re not in a high-risk category yourself.
Putting your health first shows that you care.
Governor Brown’s new Risk Level health and safety framework, which was covered here on Tuesday, went into effect on Thursday. Below are more details on what that means for the 25 counties currently in the Extreme Risk category.
As a reminder, these counties are currently under the Extreme Risk restrictions: 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.
Rep. Julie Fahey, the chair of the House Committee on Housing, was on OPB’s Think Out Loud on Thursday to talk about the rental housing stabilization proposal the Legislature could take up in a potential December special session. You can listen to the interview here.
The eviction moratorium is currently set to last through December 31, 2020. The Legislature will not be in regular session until late January, so no action before the end of the year would be catastrophic for tenants. People need to stay housed in a global pandemic. The moratorium has been working, and we need to figure out how to extend it.
It’s critical that the Legislature acts this month to keep people housed. The Source Weekly in Bend has a good piece here on why this plan is needed.
The Oregon Department of Human Service (DHS) will issue emergency supplemental allotments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients that will be
available for use on December 12.
SNAP recipients do not have to take any action to receive these additional benefits as they will be placed directly on their Oregon EBT cards. Households receiving SNAP benefits will see the additional supplement to their benefits based on a maximum allotment scale.
For example, if there are four individuals in a household and that household is currently receiving $500 in benefits, the supplement will raise their benefits to the maximum allowed for households of four, which is $680 per month – or an increase of $180. Total benefits will be different based on each household’s regular monthly allotment for the month of December. Households already at the maximum allotment will not receive an additional benefit supplement.
More information from DHS is available here.
The holiday season can be an emotional time, especially for disaster survivors. Feeling sad, stressed, or overwhelmed during times like this is normal.
The Safe+Strong Helpline is available for both children and adults who are struggling with stress, anxiety, or other disaster-related depression-like symptoms. For help, call 800-923-4357 or visit safestrongoregon.org/mental-emotional-health. This is a free service provided by the Oregon Health Authority and Portland-based nonprofit agency Lines for Life.
Adults and children having negative thoughts or feelings, can also contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Distress Helpline at 800-985-5990 (Spanish Press 2), or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 (for Spanish text “Hablanos” to 66746). This national hotline is toll-free, multilingual, and confidential and offers crisis support to all residents in the United States and its territories.
For more information about who is most at risk for emotional distress from disasters and to find related resources, visit https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline.
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Oregon Public Broadcasting reports here that Oregon health officials now anticipate receiving at least three times as many initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as announced just a week ago. Health care workers will be prioritized for the vaccine first. The link to find out if you’re eligible to participate in the Oregon Health & Science University vaccine study can be found here.
- Business Oregon is seeking applications from businesses on the Oregon Coast that are eligible to receive grant funding in order to meet geographic distribution goals, the Cannon Beach Gazette reports here. More information on the grant program can be found here on Business Oregon’s website.
- Providence Health & Services has converted more than 100 beds to COVID care and postponed surgeries at its Portland hospitals, The Oregonian reports here.
- An outbreak at the Oregon Employment Department processing office in Wilsonville will cause some delays in claims work, the Associated Press reports here.
- The Oregon Health Authority reported 1,151 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 79,263. The OHA also reported 21 more deaths, meaning 973 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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