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December 22, 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 numbers have returned to the levels we’ve become used to over the last couple of weeks—high, but stable.
In a briefing this morning from OHA and the Governor (more on that below), we learned that the first 12,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine have arrived in Oregon, have been deployed to hospitals, and the first inoculations occurred yesterday. We expect to have 72,100 doses in all this week, with another 25,000 coming next week. We’ll learn next week how many we can count on in the next round. The Moderna vaccines are in addition to the 92,600 Pfizer vaccines we expect to receive by the end of the month. This means that approximately 100,000 Oregonians will be able to inoculated this month (each person needs two doses).
Beyond this month, however, our supplies are uncertain. OHA has been told by our federal suppliers that we should expect our Pfizer order to be reduced by 30% and the Moderna order by around 7,000 doses. But it’s not clear whether or not those reductions will in fact occur. The federal supply chain remains frustratingly uncertain for now.
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 1,282 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 105,073.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,136 positive test results. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 145,343.
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Total Tests: OHA reports an additional 18,993 test results. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,491,437.
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Positivity Rate: The average positivity rate for Oregon today is 6.0%. The national ratio today is 11.2%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to have to report 35 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 1,382.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports 74 new COVID hospitalizations. The cumulative number of those who have been hospitalized with COVID is now 6,014.
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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): 579 (16 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 524 (4 fewer than yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 166 (15 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 638 (58 fewer than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 125 (6 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 67 (8 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 739 (22 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 235,887,811 (up 1,688,785 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 18,016,698 (up 188,614 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 314,099 (up 3,133 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 Governor held a press conference today in which she commented on yesterday’s special session, her desire to see educators vaccinated early so that kids can get back to in-person instruction, and early signs that our recent COVID policies are working. She was joined by OHA leaders. You can find her prepared remarks here. You can watch the entire press conference here.
- The most recent County Metrics Report has been released. You’ll see that it reflects a downward trend in case rates and positivity rates for the state as a whole and for nearly every county over the last few weeks. That’s good news.
- OHA has just released an FAQ that Addresses Vaccine Myths.
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The Oregonian has a story today about a super-spreader event, how one person in Douglas County who went to work with COVID led to an outbreak that eventually killed seven people.
More Info About the Vaccine Rollout
Last week I told you about an OHA Facebook Live event on Thursday with Public Health Director Rachael Banks and Senior Health Advisor Dr. Paul Cieslak to answer questions about the new vaccines. If you missed it, you can Watch the video here.
Here are the time stamps for the questions that were asked during last week’s FB Live.
19:00 – Can vaccinated people transmit COVID to or infect non-vaccinated people? I heard the vaccine stops symptoms but not transmission.
20:40 – Will the various groups be announced so people know when to go to their doctors or pharmacists to receive their shots?
21:22 – How long will the vaccine protect someone from COVID? How often does it need to be re-administered?
22:00 – What happens if we don’t get 70% of people to get the vaccine?
22:54 – Will the side effects from the vaccine be the same in a healthy person as they would in a person with underlying conditions?
23:35 – Is the vaccine live or dead?
24:11 – Should I get vaccinated even if I’ve already had COVID?
25:15 – Is it true the FDA has not approved the vaccine but merely authorized it for emergency use? What’s the difference?
26:35 – Will kids be required to get the vaccine to go back to school when schools open for in-person instruction?
27:09 – How will health care workers who don’t work at hospitals or clinics receive the vaccine?
27:54 – Do you have any estimates for vaccine deliveries for January and February?
28:18 – Will the vaccine be available at no cost?
29:00 – When someone is given the vaccine, do they need to remain isolated from the general public for a certain amount of time?
29:20 – Are both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines effective in the elderly? Is one more effective than the other?
30:03 – Will people have a choice which COVID vaccine they receive?
30:53 – If someone recently got the flu shot and then gets the COVID vaccine, will this cause a strong reaction or complications? Has this been seen in clinical trials?
31:27 – What’s your best guess for when we’ll get to group 1B?
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 1,282. Here is the breakdown of reported cases by county for today:
Baker (9)
Benton (10)
Clackamas (168)
Clatsop (2)
Columbia (11)
Coos (12)
Crook (7)
Curry (4)
Deschutes (52)
Douglas (6)
Grant (1)
Hood River (20)
Jackson (63)
Jefferson (20)
Josephine (4)
Klamath (23)
Lake (2)
Lane (85)
Lincoln (6)
Linn (32)
Malheur (17)
Marion (161)
Morrow (4)
Multnomah (258)
Polk (34)
Tillamook (12)
Umatilla (49)
Union (10)
Wasco (5)
Washington (153)
Wheeler (1)
Yamhill (41)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 1,348th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Dec. 21 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,349th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 20 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,350th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Crook County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Dec. 20. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,351st COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man in Curry County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Dec. 21 at Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center.
Oregon’s 1,352nd COVID-19 death is a 41-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Dec. 21 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,353rd COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 18 at Asante Rogue Valley Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,354th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 12 and died on Dec. 17 at Providence Medford Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,355th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Dec. 19 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,356th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 21 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,357th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 15 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,358th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 28 and died on Dec. 15 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,359th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 5 and died on Dec. 16 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,360th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Dec. 18 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,361st COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Dec. 21 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,362nd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 20 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,363rd COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 12 and died on Dec. 13 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,364th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 19 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,365th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Morrow County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 18 at Trios Health.
Oregon’s 1,366th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 1. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,367th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 8 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,368th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 5. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,369th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 18. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,370th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Columbia County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Dec. 17 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,371st COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 8. Location of death and gender are being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,372nd COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 8. Location of death and gender are being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,373rd COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 25 and died on Dec. 14 at Adventist Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,374th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 22 and died on Dec. 16. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,375th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 10 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,376th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Dec. 21 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,377th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 19 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,378th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 25 and died on Dec. 7 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,379th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 18 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,380th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Washington County who became symptomatic on Dec. 12 after contact with a confirmed case and died on Dec. 7 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,381st COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Dec. 19 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,382nd COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 20 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
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