|
December 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.
Today’s COVID update remains roughly the same as those of the last week or so, with case counts and deaths somewhat higher than those reported yesterday and the day before. According to OHA, hospitalizations are a little lower today, but they don’t provide a complete hospitalization report during the weekend.
In today’s newsletter you’ll find more information about plans for the upcoming legislative special session that begins first thing Monday morning. I watched today’s second day of public testimony on the bills that will be before us on Monday, and I was again profoundly moved by the testimony of those who are facing loss of housing, as well as those passionate advocates who are working so hard on their behalf.
I must say that I’m proud to be part of a legislature that is stepping up to extend the moratorium on evictions in order to provide them some stability during this pandemic, and also allocating $200 million to help support tenants and landlords through this crisis. I can tell you that this is something that most other states are not doing, which is tragic. Hopefully, Congress will find a way to get beyond its latest political impasse and will be able to provide some assistance before the clock runs out.
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 1,542 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 101,814.
-
Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,466 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 141,621.
-
Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 21,708 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,437,512.
-
Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 6.8%. The national ratio today is 12.3%.
-
Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 36 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 1,340.
-
Hospitalized: OHA does not report on hospitalizations over the weekend. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID thus remains at 5,837.
-
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): 602 (15 more than yesterday). Of those, 539 (12 fewer than yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 146 (4 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 596 (11 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 116 (4 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 66 (4 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 726 (3 fewer than yesterday).
-
Dashboards:
-
Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 230,325,922 (up 1,725,036 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 17,452,905 (up 212,262 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 307,831 (up 2,819 from yesterday).
- These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
-
Additional Brief Updates:
Final Public Hearing Paves the Way for Monday Morning’s Hearing
The Special Session Committee took public testimony for an additional 2½ hours this morning in preparation for Monday’s special session. Most of the time was spent hearing the remaining testimony on LC 18, the legislation extending the moratorium on residential evictions and providing $200 million in support for renters and landlords. The testimony was overwhelmingly in support of that proposal. Testimony was overall supportive for all the measures.
You can see watch the recording of the hearing via this webpage. If you’d like to check out the written testimony that has been submitted (actually, you can continue to submit up to 10 a.m. on Sunday morning), you can do so here. Hundreds of Oregonians have provided written and/or testimony on these legislative concepts.
The Special Session will begin on Monday morning at 8 a.m. on the Senate and House floors. The first order of business will be to establish a quorum for the session (which is unfortunately no longer something we can take for granted), then approve the rules and procedures for the session, and then accept the first formal introductions of the legislative concepts. Don’t be surprised if the concepts have different LC numbers than the current ones. The concepts being considered will have some changes made to them in response to the feedback that came in via oral and written testimony (that’s the purpose of public hearings). Those changes will be incorporated into the LCs that are introduced on Monday morning. They will then be assigned bill numbers, either as an HB (House Bill) or an SB (Senate Bill).
The Joint Special Session Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to hold work sessions to discuss/debate the measures and ultimately to vote on them. (Passage requires support from a majority of committee members from each chamber.) Public testimony will no longer be taken, but experts may be called in to answer technical questions if need be.
Floor sessions will then occur in the afternoon in order for all members to vote on the bills that come out of the Joint Special Session Committee. Senate bills will begin in the Senate, and then go to the House. House bills will start in the House. Bills that have passed both chambers go to the Governor for her signature. My understanding is that she supports all the concepts at this point.
So, if all goes well, it should be a one-day session. That will require members of both parties to agree on suspending the normal rules to expedite the process.
Of course, the additional challenge that we face is the need to hold this session in the midst of the pandemic that frankly is hitting most of the state--and particularly the Salem area--hard right now. The Capitol building will be closed to the public, and only a skeleton crew of staff will be allowed in the building.
We will be following strict protocols regarding face coverings, social distancing, and other necessary measures to prevent the kind of outbreaks that we’ve seen in other legislatures as a result of their convening during the pandemic. Legislators will be spending most of their time working remotely in their individual offices—that goes for the members of the Special Session Committee as well; they’ll be deliberating on the bills remotely. However, as our state constitution requires, members will have to cast their final votes on the bills and the rules on the floor of the House and Senate chambers or from the adjacent aisles or galleries.
If you’re interested, here’s a copy of the safety guidelines and procedures that senators will be following. It also includes the rules for the public hearings that have already occurred.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
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 1,542. Again, nearly 2/3 of today’s cases are outside the Portland Tri-County area. Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:
Baker (9)
Benton (23)
Clackamas (109)
Clatsop (5)
Columbia (12)
Coos (16)
Crook (10)
Curry (7)
Deschutes (63)
Douglas (24)
Gilliam (2)
Harney (1)
Hood River (24)
Jackson (75)
Jefferson (26)
Josephine (19)
Klamath (52)
Lake (1)
Lane (172)
Lincoln (2)
Linn (35)
Malheur (48)
Marion (161)
Morrow (7)
Multnomah (326)
Polk (34)
Tillamook (14)
Umatilla (48)
Union (8)
Wasco (18)
Washington (148)
Yamhill (43)
And the Deaths
Oregon’s 1,305th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Dec. 6 and died on Dec. 17 at Bay Area Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,306th COVID-19 death is a 42-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 8 and died on Dec. 16 at Tuality Community Hospital-Hillsboro.
Oregon’s 1,307th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Nov. 30 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,308th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Columbia County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died on Dec. 15 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,309th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 15 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center—Riverbend..
Oregon’s 1,310th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 20 and died on Nov. 27 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,311th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died on Nov. 25 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,312th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Dec. 16 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,313th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman in Jefferson County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Dec. 18 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend.
Oregon’s 1,314th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Dec. 13 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend.
Oregon’s 1,315th COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 17 at Three Rivers Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,316th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 12 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,317th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 13 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,318th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Nov. 25 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,319th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Marion County who died on Dec. 8 at Salem Hospital. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death.
Oregon’s 1,320th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 5 and died on Dec. 18 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,321st COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Multnomah County who became symptomatic on Nov. 22 after contact with a confirmed case and died on Dec. 12 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,322nd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Multnomah County who became symptomatic on Nov. 22 after contact with a confirmed case and died on Dec. 14 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,323rd COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 14 and died on Nov. 20 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,324th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Dec. 10 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,325th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 6 and died on Nov. 28 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,326th COVID-19 death is a 101-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 4 and died on Nov. 13 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,327th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Dec. 11 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,328th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 6 and died on Nov. 28 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 1,329th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Dec. 18 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,330th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 7 and died on Dec. 9 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,331st COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Dec. 10 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,332nd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 29 and died on Dec. 11 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,333rd COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 14 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,334th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Dec. 13 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,335th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 18 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,336th COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 6 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,337th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 18 and died on Dec. 11 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,338th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 15 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,339th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec.11 at Tuality Community Hospital-Hillsboro.
Oregon’s 1,340th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Union County who tested positive on Nov. 17 and died on Dec. 18 at her residence.
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
| 
