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December 20, 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 we’re seeing a lowering of COVID numbers here in Oregon and nationally—something that’s typical for a Sunday, when reporting is erratic. This includes just one COVID death reported in Oregon today. If only that would continue . . .
Along with a number of links to interesting news articles related to the pandemic, in today’s newsletter you’ll get a preview of the five bills and one resolution that will be the subject of tomorrow’s special session. At this point, I believe that we will see this session contained to one day (I certainly hope so for health safety reasons), with all the proposed measures passing and moving on to the Governor’s desk. Follow-up to come tomorrow evening!
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 1,153 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 102,930.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,174 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 142,795.
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Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 17,426 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,454,938.
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Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 6.7%. The national ratio today is 11.1%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 1 additional COVID death today. You can read about the Oregonian we lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 1,341.
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Hospitalized: OHA does not report on new hospitalizations over the weekend. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID thus remains at 5,837.
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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: OHA DOES NOT REPORT detailed 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).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 232,090,488 (up 1,764,566 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 17,647,893 (up 194,988 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 309,449 (up 1,618 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 great majority of those infected by COVID will never show symptoms, though many of them will be infectious (one of the reasons this disease is so dangerous). Of those who do become symptomatic, some will become severely symptomatic and require hospitalization. A small number will become what are called “long haulers,” those who cannot be rid of those severe symptoms for months after they should have recovered. Today’s Oregonian has a detailed story by Fedor Zarkhin about this problem, with a profile of one of these “long haulers.”
- Today’s USA Today has a story and a video about “herd immunity” and why masks, social distancing, and vaccines are all needed to achieve it.
- The AP’s Andrew Sesky has a story today about how Oregon is finally able to purchase Personal Protective Equipment from companies manufacturing these products here in Oregon. I know that Business Oregon has been trying to nurture this effort for many months, so it’s good to see this happening.
- The Statesman-Journal’s Claire Withycombe has a story today about the havoc wreaked by COVID on a Cottage Grove family. It’s a nice piece of empathetic, human-interest journalism.
- And finally, another story about a very difficult COVID experience from the ongoing statewide journalistic collaborative series, The Human Toll, This one is by the Bend Bulletin’s Suzanne Roig.
Special Session #3 Starts at 8 a.m. Tomorrow
The Special Session will begin on Monday morning at 8 a.m. on the Senate and House floors. You can watch the floor sessions via links at this site.
The first order of business will be to establish a quorum for the session, then approve the rules and procedures for the session, and then accept the first formal introductions of the legislative concepts. The concepts have now been given bill numbers. Here they are:
SB 1801: This is the bill related to restaurants that temporarily allows cocktails to be sold for takeout or delivery and limits the fees that can be required for delivery. You’ll see that the limit has been increased from 10% to 15% and the bill now allows for single servings of wine to be sold for takeout or delivery (currently wine is only available by the full bottle). An additional amendment is being considered that will allow wine cocktails (e.g., mimosas) to be included.
SB 1803: This is the bill that temporarily limits liability for medical providers. It provides limited protection for medical decision-makers when they follow the requirements of the state and federal emergency rules. The bill now is clearer on who is covered by whistle-blower protections and who is considered a medical decision-maker (e.g., Nurse Practitioners now included).
SB 5731: This is the budget bill. It transfers $600 million from our expected ending fund balance to the Emergency Fund for the following purposes:
- $400 million for COVID-response measures
- $100 million for wildfire-response measures
- $100 million for other interim emergency needs
SCR 231: This is the “Sine Die” bill, which allows us to adjourn when our work is through (hopefully tomorrow afternoon!).
HB 4401: This is the extension of the moratorium on residential evictions and allocation of $200 million for landlord/tenant relief. There are no changes from the original LC.
HB 4402: This is the bill that temporarily limits liability for K-12 schools, public charter schools, and community colleges. I believe that House Republicans will be proposing amendments that would add private schools.
The Joint Special Session Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. (remotely) 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.
You can watch their deliberations via this website.
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.
Again, for those interested, here are the safety protocols that we’ll be following during the special session.
At this point, it appears that we should be able to finish up in the afternoon.
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 1,153. Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:
Baker (4)
Benton (7)
Clackamas (77)
Clatsop (3)
Columbia (9)
Coos (5)
Crook (5)
Curry (7)
Deschutes (43)
Douglas (4)
Hood River (17)
Jackson (47)
Jefferson (4)
Josephine (16)
Klamath (50)
Lake (4)
Lane (61)
Lincoln (3)
Linn (27)
Malheur (6)
Marion (203)
Morrow (3)
Multnomah (174)
Polk (19)
Sherman (1)
Tillamook (1)
Umatilla (44)
Union (3)
Wasco (17)
Washington (261)
Yamhill (28)
And the Death
Oregon’s 1,341st COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 5 and died on Dec. 17 at Ashland Community Hospital.
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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