December 12th COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

December 12, 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.

Although it’s the weekend, OHA has begun providing us with positive test results and total test results, so I can give you a more complete picture of today’s COVID impacts than I would have been able to in the past.  You’ll see that our case counts and number of COVID deaths has gone down a bit.  Good news there, at least for today.

As I do on Saturdays, I’m reporting on the current situation in the individual counties, in terms of per-100K infection rates, positivity rates, and death rates.  You’ll also find more information about the vaccines that are coming our way, as well as the schedule for next week’s legislative hearings.

Please stay safe, and let me know if you have any questions about today’s newsletter. 

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA reports 1,440 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 92,839.
  • Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,951 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 130,821.
  • Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 25,393 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,268,164.
  • Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 7.7%.  The national ratio today is 11.7%.
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 13 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 1,150.
  • Hospitalized: OHA does not report on hospitalizations over the weekend. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID thus remains at 5,395.
  • 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.   
  • Other Hospital Information: OHA DOES NOT REPORT hospitalization information over the weekend, so the numbers below are the same as Friday’s.
    • 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).
  • Dashboards:
  • Today’s National Numbers:
    • Total Tests: 217,157,496 (up 1,906,655 from yesterday).
    • Total Cases: 15,956,435 (up 223,365 from yesterday.)
    • Deaths: 289,535 (up 2,477 from yesterday).
    • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Washington Post has created a searchable database that allows readers to look at the projected vaccine deliveries and priorities for each state. You can do your own search here.
    • That same database shows that over the last week Oregon’s number of confirmed COVID cases puts us at #48 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. It appears that despite relatively high case loads, our “Thanksgiving Surge” has been much lower than that in other states.  Of course, we have no way of knowing for sure, but this appears to be related to the “Freeze” that the Governor imposed prior to the holiday and Oregonians’ relative willingness to wear face coverings and avoid large indoor social gatherings.

OHA Issues Statement on Approval of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

OHA issued the following statement today:

“Oregon Health Authority is encouraged by news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization Dec. 11 for a vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNTech, was found to be 95% effective in Phase 3 clinical trials that involved more than 40,000 participants and caused only mild, temporary side effects, including pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever. 

“OHA is committed to working with hospitals and other health care providers, as well as pharmacies, long-term care facilities and community-based organizations throughout Oregon to distribute the vaccine quickly, efficiently and in a culturally responsive manner to health care workers, and long-term care facility staff and residents. The agency has embarked on a robust, comprehensive, statewide effort to connect with individuals and organizations representing communities of color, tribal communities and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through a diverse Vaccine Advisory Committee that is co-creating a vaccine distribution plan centering on the experiences of these populations.

“‘This is truly an historic moment that we should celebrate,’ said Patrick Allen, OHA director. ‘But we’re far from being out of the woods in this pandemic. For most of us, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is several months away, and in that time we will see more cases and, tragically, more deaths. Everyone should have the opportunity to get the vaccine when it becomes available, so we need to keep doing our part to protect our families, our neighbors and ourselves by doubling down on the basic actions that keep the virus from spreading.’

“They include wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing, avoiding gatherings and get-togethers, avoiding traveling, washing your hands and staying home if you’re sick.”

House Committee Meetings This Week

Tomorrow marks the final week of “Leg Days,” where legislative committees meet (remotely for now) to hear updates on issues of concern and introduce the first round of bills for the next session.  This week is devoted to House hearings.  Unlike the Senate hearings last week, which lasted 3 hours, most of the House committees will have two meetings each, each one lasting 2 hours.  In addition to the House committees, one Joint Committee and one Task Force will be meeting this week as well.

Here's the calendar for this week, with committees listed in alphabetical order (joint committee and task force at the end).  The links will take you to the agenda, meeting materials, and meeting video for each hearing.

Agriculture and Land Use

Behavioral Health

Business and Labor

Economic Development

Education

Energy and Environment

Health Care

Housing

Human Services

Natural Resources

Revenue

Rules

Veterans and Emergency Preparedness

Joint Committee on the I-5 Bridge

Task Force on Access to Quality Affordable Child Childcare

What’s Going On In the Counties?

Each Saturday I’m tracking how individual counties are doing.  The key metrics that OHA is watching are the number of cases per 100K residents and the percentage of positive test results among all tests administered.  (They also are looking at hospital capacity and changes in hospitalization rates, but I don’t have that information by county.)

The first chart below gives us the number of cases per 100K residents, with the counties ranked from most to least infections. It comes from the weekly school metrics report, which is used to determine when it’s safe for schools in that area to reopen. This per-100K view is useful because it allows us to see the case rate within each county, irrespective of their total populations.  If you look at the counties at the top of the chart, you’ll see the impact that even a small outbreak can have on a county with a very small population.

In the past, this chart showed the cumulative infection rates since the beginning of the pandemic, which is less useful if you want to know what’s happening in the county right now.  This chart shows the rate for the two weeks prior to December 5. You’ll also be able to compare each county’s most recent rank with its previous rank. 

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Below is a table I’ve created that shows county rankings by the most recent week’s positivity rate.  It uses OHA’s new test reporting methodology (reporting the total number of tests given, not the individual test-takers).  The new methodology is more in line with the norm around the country.  It increases the number of total tests reported without changing the number of positives reported.  As a result, the positivity rate is much lower this way for most counties.  You can also see the effect of multiple testing of students and student-athletes in Benton and Lane Counties, home to OSU and UO respectively—they are now among the counties with the lowest positivity rates.

If you’d like to see a chart containing the positive test results, total test results, and positivity rates for the counties over the last month, you’ll find it here.

You will see that the positivity rate for the state has come down slightly over the last two weeks.

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And finally, here is a chart showing the number of deaths for each county, as of today.  Sadly, we can see the inevitable result of the surge in cases that began a month ago and the increase in severe hospital cases that we’ve seen over the last few weeks.

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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 1,440.  Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:

Baker (2)

Benton (37)

Clackamas (99)

Clatsop (8)

Columbia (4)

Coos (8)

Crook (9)

Curry (5)

Deschutes (58)

Douglas (11)

Hood River (21)

Jackson (65)

Jefferson (24)

Josephine (43)

Klamath (47)

Lake (4)

Lane (109)

Lincoln (6)

Linn (43)

Malheur (13)

Marion (134)

Morrow (5)

Multnomah (307)

Polk (20)

Tillamook (6)

Umatilla (36)

Union (18)

Wallowa (1)

Wasco (8)

Washington (256)

Wheeler (1)

Yamhill (32)

And the Deaths

NOTE FROM OHA: Oregon’s 858th and 954th COVID-19 deaths, reported on Nov. 25 and Dec. 3, are the same person. The numbers have been adjusted accordingly. OHA regrets this error.

Oregon’s 1,138th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive Dec. 2 and died Dec. 9 at Portland Adventist Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,139th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive Nov. 16 and died Nov. 2 at home.

Oregon’s 1,140th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive Nov. 24 and died Dec. 7 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,141st COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive Dec. 5 and died Dec. 11 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,142nd COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive Dec. 8 and died Dec. 9 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center-RiverBend.

Oregon’s 1,143rd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive Nov. 24 and died Dec. 6 at home.

Oregon’s 1,144th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive Nov. 30 and died Dec. 10 at Legacy Silverton Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,145th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive Nov. 28 and died Dec. 4 at home.

Oregon’s 1,146th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive Nov. 26 and died Dec. 8 at home.

Oregon’s 1,147th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive Nov. 22 and died Dec. 10 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,148th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old woman in Union County who tested positive Nov. 29 and died Dec. 9 at Grande Ronde Hospital.

Oregon’s 1,149th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive Nov. 19 and died Dec. 9 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1,150th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive Dec. 9 and died Dec. 10.

Additional Graphs:

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**You can find a breakdown of regional availability here.

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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.

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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,

dembrow signature

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