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December 31, 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’re seeing an increase in new COVID cases reported today, which may be the result of some of the counties catching up on reporting. We’ll see. Fortunately, new hospitalizations are down, as is the number of reported COVID deaths.
In this last newsletter of 2020, you’ll find news about vaccinations in Oregon and around the country, including the makeup of the new Vaccinations Advisory Committee. There’s information (mainly positive) from the most recent OHA Outbreaks Report. And for those of you who like to follow the work of the Oregon Legislature, House committee assignments have just been announced, and you can find them here as well.
Let me wish a very Happy New Year to all of us as we put 2020 to rest at last and look forward to a happier, healthier 2021!
Hope you find fun ways to celebrate. As I finish this up, I’m hearing the first sounds of fireworks in our neighborhood. Since this is our first New Year’s Eve without a dog (yes, that’s something else that was taken from us in 2020), I can’t say that I mind!
Please stay safe, and let me know if you have any questions about information in today’s newsletter.
TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
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New COVID Cases: OHA reports 1,682 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 113,909.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,789 positive test results today. (Individuals may have had multiple tests come back positive, and each is now counted separately.) The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is 156,276.
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Total Tests: An additional 20,195 test results were reported today. Our cumulative total of tests is 2,652,670.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity rate for Oregon today is 8.9%. The national ratio today is 12.9%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 9 additional COVID deaths today. You can read about the Oregonians that we’ve lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 1,477.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports 43 new COVID hospitalizations today. The cumulative number of reported hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic is 6,498.
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Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, a total of 38,696 Oregonians have received the COVID vaccine. To date, 187,575 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. For more details, including the demographics of those receiving the vaccine, go to the OHA Vaccinations Dashboard. And here is a link to more information about the vaccine and vaccination protocols.
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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): 524 (44 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 488 (33 fewer than yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 143 (13 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 568 (17 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 119 (2 more than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 60 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 751 (4 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 250,485,430 (up 1,719,181 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 19,715,030 (up 221,444 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 336,779 (up 3,255 from yesterday).
- These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
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Additional Brief Updates:
- At the very last minute (well, almost) of 2020, the Speaker of the House has released the 2021 session committee assignments for House members. Here they are. And here again are the Senate assignments released last week.
- Sorry, I forgot to include the link to the most recent County Metrics chart. You’ll see that the per-100K infection rate and positivity rate for the state as a whole is declining, and the same is true for most counties. Some of the reductions are quite dramatic.
- I’ve been hearing from a number of you with concerns around how slowly the COVID vaccines are making their way into the arms of Oregonians. I share your concern. This slow rollout is a national problem. As this chart from Bloomberg shows, Oregon is actually right in the middle of the pack (#29) for number of vaccinations as of yesterday.
- Here are a couple of stories analyzing the causes of the slower-than-expected rollout of the vaccines. Here’s one from yesterday’s New York Times and one from today’s. They talk about lags in reporting, vacation disruptions, and a slow rollout in nursing homes.
- And here’s a more critical one from the NY Intelligencer, which calls the rollout so far “a disaster.”
- Finally, though 2020 has been a horrible year in many ways, it has also shown us people stepping up and shining in support of their neighbors. Here’s a fine story by the Register-Guard’s Matt Denis about an unlikely band of volunteers who help save the small town of Otis, one of the Oregon communities ravaged by wildfire in September.
Employment Department Receives First Guidance About New Programs
The Employment Department received its first guidance today from the U.S. Department of Labor on the contents of the newly passed federal relief legislation, specifically on how it will affect those receiving unemployment benefits. Here’s a summary that legislators received late this afternoon. It contains some good initial information. Check it out, and let me know if you have any questions that we can help answer.
New Vaccine Advisory Committee Named
OHA announced today that they have completed the process of naming members to the new Vaccine Advisory Committee. The job of this committee will be to help OHA design its vaccination rollout process and prioritize different groups once the current wave of vaccinations (frontline medical workers and staff and residents of skilled nursing homes) is completed. The OHA will be looking to them in particular for advice on how to make to prioritize populations most at risk of negative consequences from COVID because of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and geographic location.
To advance health equity, and counter unjust COVID-19 inequities, the COVID-19 VAC will:
- Advise OHA on the ethical principles that should guide decisions on sequencing of COVID-19 vaccines.
- Review data on COVID-19 and immunization inequities.
- Advise OHA on which workers, high-risk groups or critical populations should be sequenced at what time, taking into consideration where they are located across the state.
Here is more information on who has been appointed to the committee, how you can follow its work, and how you can provide input.
WEEKLY OUTBREAK REPORT
OHA’s weekly COVID report no longer includes information on outbreaks. That information is now included in a separate Outbreak Report. The latest report came out yesterday.
The Outbreak Report reports on outbreaks at long-term care facilities, workplaces, childcare centers, and schools.
Outbreaks at Long-Term Care Facilities
The report lists outbreaks at long-term care facilities with more than five residents that have three or more confirmed cases or at least one COVID death.
We are continuing to see increased numbers of infections in our facilities, but as is the case in the general population, we are fortunately not seeing an increase in the rate of new cases. In fact, the rate of increase is going down.
OHA reports that since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a total of 9,848 cases and 810 deaths associated with congregate care settings. (Deaths among this population constitute 57%--up from 55%--of all deaths due to COVID.)
This is an increase of 599 new cases and 65 new deaths from the previous week. The rate of increase in the prior report had been 973 new cases and 89 new deaths.
So this is progress, but obviously still much higher than we want it to be. We’re only now starting to see COVID vaccinations beginning in our skilled nursing facilities—we should see these declines in new cases continue as a result.
To date, there has still been only one death of a staff member reported.
Unfortunately, there was an error in this week’s report, and the charts listing active and resolved outbreaks are the same as last week’s, though the cumulative numbers have changed. I’ve asked OHA to issue corrected charts.
In addition to the listed facilities, there are now 155 (up from 152) congregate settings with five or fewer beds that have also had three or more confirmed cases or one or more deaths. These are not listed by facility name in order to protect patient privacy.
Workplace Outbreaks
OHA has been reporting each week on outbreaks at workplace settings since last spring. Case counts include all persons linked to the outbreak, which may include household members and other close contacts of workers. (As a result, it’s possible for individuals to be counted more than once when family members are working at different workplaces.)
As we saw in congregate care facilities (and in the general population), the increase in the number of new cases and deaths seems to be declining, or at least stabilizing. This week we saw 603 new COVID cases attributed to workplaces (vs. 509 the previous week). We saw 0 new COVID deaths related to a workplace outbreak (vs. 1 the previous week). Let’s hope that this is an ongoing trend.
Cumulatively, since the beginning of the pandemic workplace outbreaks have been responsible for 13,175 cases and 69 deaths. This is 12% of all cases in Oregon.
I regret to say that again the largest single workplace sector for COVID remains our correctional institutions. Prison cases (which includes staff and adults in custody) make up the four largest active workplace outbreaks in Oregon. In all, outbreaks at state, federal, and county corrections facilities are responsible for 1,863 (up from 1,634) of the 4,421 current active outbreaks (42% of the current active workplace outbreaks). By the way, AIC’s are not counted in case counts for the counties in which their institutions are located, but staff are.
The report lists all of those workplaces with more than 30 employees that have five or more cases. They are listed in descending order of number of cases. They are divided into two lists: “Active” and “Resolved” cases.
You’ll find 136 (up from 128) workplaces listed as “Active” this week, totaling 5,885 4,421cases (down from 5,885 last week). Here are the top 10 workplaces by number of cases:
- Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario (564, +7)
- Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton (526)
- Oregon State Correctional Institution, Salem (224, +7)
- Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, Madras (192, +22)
- Amazon Distribution Center, Troutdale (167, +8)
- Salem Hospital, Salem (136, +13)
- Amy’s Kitchen, White City, Jackson County (109, +3)
- Walmart Distribution Center, Hermiston (101)
- Amazon Aumsville, Salem (99, +4)
- Oregon State Hospital, Salem (98, +11)
A facility goes onto the resolved list once it has not had a new case in 28 days. There are now 68 (up from 58) facilities on the Resolved list. As opposed to the way that congregate living lists are now being managed, once a workplace outbreak has been in resolved status for 56 days, it is dropped from the resolved list.
Deaths are not listed by workplace.
Childcare Outbreaks
When public health epidemiologists see a cluster of cases in a childcare center occurring at the same time, they flag the center as having an outbreak. OHA epidemiologists will investigate and will consider cases to be related—i.e., part of a child care outbreak—unless a more likely alternative source for acquisition is identified.
They list all childcare centers that include two or more cases, in facilities with more than 16 children. These case counts may include children, staff, and household members.
There are now 18 facilities listed as Active (up from 15). They comprise a total of 68 cases (up from 52 last week).
After 28 days without an outbreak, centers are moved to the “Resolved” list. They are removed from the Resolved list after 56 days. Eighteen centers are now on the Resolved list (down from 20),
In addition to the listed centers, there are 17 (up from 14) childcare facilities that serve 16 or fewer children that have had an outbreak of 2 or more cases in the last 28 days. For privacy reasons, these smaller centers are not listed by name (the reasoning being that it’s too easy to identify affected individuals in the smaller centers).
Cases in K-12 Schools
OHA is reporting all COVID-19 cases in schools that offer in-person instruction, distinguishing between students and staff. The report lists all schools that have at least thirty students and have at least one reported COVID case. This reporting protocol applies to all public and private schools and programs.
This week’s report shows a decline in active outbreaks and in the number of cases among students and staff, which is not surprising, given that schools are on vacation now.
This week’s report on schools with in-person instruction shows outbreaks at 62 (down from 82) public and private schools (including elementary, middle, and high schools) around the state These outbreaks comprise 44 (down from 62 last week) cases of students and 99 (down from 130 last week) cases of staff members or volunteers.
There are now 132 schools in the “Resolved” category (up from 125), meaning that it’s been more than 28 days since a new case was reported. They comprise 108 students and 154 staff members.
Though increasing, the overall numbers remain relatively low and scattered. However, it’s important to remember that most instruction is still happening remotely in Oregon. Approximately 38% of Oregon’s schools are providing some amount of in-person learning right now, affecting just a little over 6% of Oregon’s students. Those potentially subject to an in-school outbreak are thus a relatively small percentage of all students and teachers.
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 1,682. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:
Baker (12)
Benton (22)
Clackamas (140)
Clatsop (4)
Columbia (9)
Crook (6)
Curry (1)
Deschutes (68)
Douglas (21)
Harney (3)
Hood River (16)
Jackson (103)
Jefferson (32)
Josephine (29)
Klamath (34)
Lake (2)
Lane (120)
Lincoln (11)
Linn (56)
Malheur (33)
Marion (188)
Morrow (10)
Multnomah (336)
Polk (39)
Tillamook (5)
Umatilla (144)
Union (3)
Wasco (11)
Washington (184)
Yamhill (31)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 1,469th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 13 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,470th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 12 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,471st COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Nov. 20 and died on Dec. 29.
Oregon’s 1,472nd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 21 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,473rd COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Dec. 26 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,474th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Dec. 29 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 1,475th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Dec. 30 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,476th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 25 at Good Shepherd Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,477th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died on Dec. 30 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
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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