|
December 21, 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.
We have a lot to feel good about today. Our reported COVID case numbers are back below 1,000 and the number of reported deaths is low. This may be the fruits of successful actions by Oregonians in response to COVID or the result of lower reporting over the weekend. Perhaps it’s a combination of both. We’ll see how the rest of the week plays out.
The Moderna vaccines are now in transit and should soon be ready for deployment in Oregon. Last week 4,475 Oregonians received their initial Pfizer vaccine. The first innoculations in nursing homes began today. You can now follow the vaccinations on a daily basis in the new OHA Vaccinations Dashboard.
This evening Congress passed the COVID-response and economic-stimulus package that we’ve long been waiting for. I believe that legislators will soon be briefed on its contents, and I’ll be sure to share what we learn.
And finally, just a few hours ago the Legislature passed our own round of COVID and wildfire relief measures. You can read all about it farther down in the newsletter.
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 846 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. 103,755.
-
Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,412 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 144,207.
-
Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 17,506 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,472,444.
-
Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 8.1%. The national ratio today is 8.7%.
-
Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 6 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 1,347.
-
Hospitalized: OHA reports 103 new COVID hospitalizations since Friday, an average of 34 new hospitalizations per day. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 5,940.
-
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:
- Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 595 (7 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 528 (11 fewer than Friday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 151 (5 more than Friday)
- Other Available Beds: 696 (100 more than Friday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 131 (15 more than Friday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 59 (7 fewer than Friday).
- Available Ventilators: 717 (9 fewer than Friday).
-
Dashboards:
-
Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 234,199,026 (up 2,076,374 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 17,828,084 (up 180,191 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 310,968 (up 1,519 from yesterday).
- These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
Special Session #3: 4 Out of 5 Bills Pass Amidst Excitement Outdoors
As expected the Special Session began at 8 and finished its work by the end of the day. The Senate adjourned at 5:30 and the House a little after that. In the end, four of the five proposed bills passed, all of them with substantial margins, all of them focused on problems related to COVID response. However, that’s not to say that the day was without the kind of controversy we’ve come to expect in these times.
In the Senate, Republicans objected to the session rules because of the COVID measures that closed the Capitol to all but legislators and essential staff. They argued that we were subverting the democratic process by excluding the public. One senator ripped off his mask, invoked religious reasons for objecting to the COVID restrictions, stormed out, and never returned.
Meanwhile, a crowd that included Patriot Prayer, Trump supporters, armed individuals, and others demanding entry were trying to force their way into the Capitol. Individuals used mace and bear spray against the state police, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, and a door window was broken. None of them did manage to get in, and the legislative work was able to proceed as scheduled, though it did delay the beginning of the committee hearing. (We owe a great deal to the women and men in our State Police security detail. Like most of my colleagues, I remained in my office working during the excitement. (Mine is on the fourth floor, pretty far from the action.)
You can read more about the events and the proceedings in this article from the Statesman-Journal that focuses on the House and one from the Oregonian that focuses more on the Senate.
Here’s what happened with each of the bills:
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. The amendments to raise the limit to 15%, add wine by the glass, and wine cocktails were approved. It passed the committee 5-0 among House members and 4-1 among Senate members. It then went on to pass the Senate 21-3 and the House 50-4.
SB 1803: This bill would have temporarily limited liability for medical providers. However, it never made it to a vote. I mentioned last night that the bill was going to be amended to extend whistle-blower protections for front-line employees of medical facilities. Unfortunately, there were technical problems with the amendments that were drafted that would have been difficult to rectify quickly. Because of the time constraints of keeping the session to one day, the decision was made to move forward with the vote without the amendments, but in that form it was not able to pass. (It passed 5-0 among senators, but went down 3-2 in the House on a party-line vote.) It will likely be taken up again in the session that begins next month. I’ll support it if the amendment problem can be worked out
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
The bill passed 10-0 from the committee. It passed the Senate 24-0 and the House 52-2.
SCR 231: This is the “Sine Die” bill, which allowed us to adjourn when our work is through (hopefully tomorrow afternoon!). Not surprisingly, it passed both chambers unanimously.
HB 4401: This is the extension of the moratorium on residential evictions and allocation of $200 million for landlord/tenant relief. Republican members of the committee did have some amendments drafted, and they were discussed briefly. However, it was clear that they were not going to have enough votes to be adopted, so they were never formally moved. The bill ended up coming out of committee on a party-line vote, 3-2 from each chamber. Most of the objection was concern that the state would only compensate landlords for 80% of what was owed them. It did pass each chamber with some bipartisanship in both chambers, earning 2/3 support in the House and 3/5 support in the Senate. It passed the House 40-14 and the Senate 18-6.
HB 4402: This is the bill that temporarily limits liability for K-12 schools, public charter schools, and community colleges. The committee passed an amendment to add private schools. It passed out of committee with Senators supporting on a 4-1 vote and House members supporting 5-0. It passed the House 46-8 and the Senate 20-4.
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 846. Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:
Baker (1)
Benton (7)
Clackamas (114)
Clatsop (3)
Columbia (11)
Coos (5)
Crook (4)
Curry (3)
Deschutes (39)
Douglas (27)
Harney (3)
Hood River (10)
Jackson (41)
Jefferson (26)
Josephine (32)
Lane (26)
Lincoln (4)
Linn (29)
Malheur (4)
Marion (69)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (212)
Polk (10)
Tillamook (4)
Umatilla (23)
Union (1)
Wasco (11)
Washington (108)
Yamhill (18)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 1,342nd COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Dec. 19 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend.
Oregon’s 1,343rd COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Dec. 18 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,344th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive on Dec. 6 and died on Dec. 20 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,345th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Dec. 18 at Rogue Valley Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,346th COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 27 and died on Dec. 14 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,347th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Dec. 16 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
| 
