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December 11, 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.
The current plateau of new COVID cases continues. The bad news is that it’s a high plateau. The good news is that we don’t seem to be experiencing the level of Thanksgiving surge that was feared. As you’ll see from the national numbers, which are setting new records each day, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the country as a whole.
State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger commented on this fact during this morning’s news conference with the Governor. He believes that this is a testament to the fact that Oregonians have largely been following the requests from medical experts to limit their family gatherings and other large social interactions during the risky period. That really is great to hear.
Late today we received the welcome news that the FDA has given formal authorization to the Pfizer vaccine. We can expect the first round of vaccines to come next week. We appear to be assured that nearly 200,000 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (assuming that the latter is also approved) will be coming to us by the end of this month. This will provide immunity to 100,000 Oregonians (two doses of the drug are required).
We should be seeing many front-line hospital workers vaccinated soon, as well as nursing home staff and residents. The latter should definitely make a difference in the number of Oregonians losing their lives to the disease over the next few weeks, as elderly residents of nursing homes are disproportionately vulnerable to the severe consequences of COVID. However, I should point out that half of today’s COVID deaths are Oregonians in their 50s and 60s.
The news is positive for this first round of vaccines. However, there is a great deal of uncertainty around access to subsequent rounds. This uncertainty came through loud and clear in today’s news conference. Reporters sought to pin the Governor down on just when we would reach “herd immunity” as a result of widespread vaccination, but it really is too soon to know how quickly subsequent rounds will be delivered to the federal government for distribution to the states.
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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New COVID Cases: OHA reports 1,610 new COVID cases today. This count is a combination of positive test results and those who are presumed positive (see definition below). The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 91,420.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,814 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 128,870.
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Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 26,244 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,242,771.
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Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 6.9%. The national ratio today is 11.1%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 16 additional COVID deaths today. Half of them are in their 50s and 60s. You can read about the Oregonians we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 1,138.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports 94 new COVID hospitalizations. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is 5,395.
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Presumptive Cases: OHA is including “presumptive COVID-19 cases” in its 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.
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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): 621 (3 more than yesterday). Of those, 576 (same as yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 131 (5 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 574 (37 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 136 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 61 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 762 (9 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 215,110,717 (up 2,094,901 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 15,592,946 (up 232,105 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 287,058 (up 3,503 from yesterday).
- These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
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Additional Brief Updates:
- The FDA has just given formal approval to the Pfizer COVID vaccine. We should expect to see the first vaccines arriving in Oregon next week.
- The Oregonian has a good summary of today’s press conference with the Governor. It contains a link to the recording of the news conference, which focused on Oregon’s access to vaccines and on COVID response. It also included moving testimony from an Oregon woman who is still experiencing the long-term, debilitating effects of her COVID illness last spring and the devastating effect it has had on her young family. She’s someone who was in otherwise great health when she came down with the virus.
- Here’s the latest update on COVID response at the U of O.
- And for those of you currently living in Eugene, the UO COVID-19 Monitoring and Assessment Program (MAP) is offering free COVID-19 testing to asymptomatic individuals in Lane County. Here’s a flyer with more information.
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 reported for is 1,610. Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:
Baker (6)
Benton (34)
Clackamas (185)
Clatsop (2)
Columbia (8)
Coos (6)
Crook (19)
Curry (7)
Deschutes (108)
Douglas (18)
Grant (4)
Hood River (21)
Jackson (82)
Jefferson (21)
Josephine (36)
Klamath (40)
Lake (7)
Lane (85)
Lincoln (11)
Linn (63)
Malheur (23)
Marion (175)
Morrow (14)
Multnomah (289)
Polk (25)
Sherman (1)
Tillamook (5)
Umatilla (38)
Union (10)
Wasco (17)
Washington (198)
Yamhill (52)
And the Deaths
NOTE FROM OHA: Oregon’s 1,001st and 1040th COVID-19 deaths, reported on Dec. 4 and Dec. 7, are the same person. The numbers have been adjusted accordingly. OHA regrets this error.
Oregon’s 1,123rd COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Nov. 8 and died on Dec. 9 at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.
Oregon’s 1,124th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Nov. 9 and died on Dec. 9 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,125th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive on Nov. 15 and died on Dec. 9 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,126th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 17 and died on Dec. 3 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,127th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Nov. 29 at Rogue Valley Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,128th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old woman in Jackson County who became symptomatic on Dec. 3, after contact with a confirmed case, and died on Dec. 6 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,129th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Dec. 9 at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.
Oregon’s 1,130th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Nov. 18 and died on Dec. 9 at Asante Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford.
Oregon’s 1,131st COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Nov. 28 and died on Dec. 9 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend..
Oregon’s 1,132nd COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 19 and died on Dec. 2 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,133rd COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Dec. 9 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,134th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 20 and died on Dec. 9 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,135th COVID-19 death is a 52-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 29 and died on Dec. 9 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,136th COVID-19 death is a 53-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Dec. 9 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,137th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 13 and died on Dec. 1 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,138th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 9 at Legacy Mt. Hood 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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