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January 7, 2021
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 are again low, but unfortunately some of this is due to ongoing computer problems. Fortunately, hospitalizations are continuing to decline, and COVID deaths remain relatively low. Again, this is in strong contrast to the nation as a whole, where death rates are at record levels.
In this newsletter you’ll find information about tomorrow’s press conference on vaccinations, today’s meeting of the new Vaccination Advisory Committee, some Unemployment Benefits updates, and tomorrow’s meeting of the Legislature’s Emergency Board.
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 867 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 121,085.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,758 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 now 164,788.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 21,215 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 2,762,331.
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Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 8.3%. The national ratio today is 14.1%.
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 10 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 1,568.
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Hospitalized: OHA reports 52 new COVID hospitalizations. The total number of new hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic is 6,845.
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Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, a total of 65, Oregonians have received the COVID vaccine. Included in that number now are 995 Oregonians who have received both their first dose and their final second dose. Today’s number represents an increase of 5,249 vaccinations. This includes 3,429 doses administered yesterday, along with 1,820 doses that were administered earlier but reported yesterday. To date, 250,100 doses 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): 506 (24 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 462 (18 fewer than yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
- Available ICU Beds: 159 (18 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 560 (59 more than yesterday).
- ICU Patients w COVID-19 Symptoms: 93 (25 fewer than yesterday).
- COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 50 (3 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 772 (7 more than yesterday).
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Dashboards:
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 262,041,062 (up 1,914,839 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 21,340,773 (up 270,637 from yesterday.)
- Deaths: 356,229 (up 4,106 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 will be holding a press conference tomorrow (Friday) at 11 a.m. The focus will be on vaccinations, with representatives from OHA and the Oregon Department of Education on hand. (So, expect some discussion and questions about school reopening and vaccines for teachers.) You can watch it here live or recorded.
- Now that all healthcare providers and other members of Group 1a of the vaccination process have been cleared for vaccination, I’m starting to hear reports of physical therapists, dentists, and other providers with direct patient contact being scheduled for vaccines. That’s great news. However, the notification process is still quite random, and we have not yet received clear direction of how those providers will be instructed on how and where to receive their inoculation. Perhaps we’ll learn more from OHA at the Governor’s press conference.
- The Employment Department held a webinar today on the newly-authorized unemployment benefits programs, the result of the recently-signed federal legislation. You can find today’s and past webinars here: oregon.gov/webinars.
- The Employment Department also reported that nearly all the adjudications that were keeping people in limbo with respect to past benefits have been cleared. In addition, 98% of the past waiting-week payments allowed under the CARES Act have now been paid. About 9,000 claimants, those with complications related to their claims, remain to be paid, and the Department predicts that those payments will be cleared for payment soon.
Vaccination Advisory Committee Meets
The OHA Vaccination Advisory Committee had its first substantive meeting today to begin the process of recommending distribution strategies and priorities beyond the current phase that prioritizes healthcare workers and residents of congregate care. Here is the PowerPoint and other materials for the meeting.
Recommendations for a vaccine sequencing plan are expected to develop over the next several weeks. For a YouTube link of today’s meeting, click here. The next VAC meeting will be streaming live on Thursday, Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. to noon.
For more on the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee, including a list of Advisory Committee Membership, click here.
Legislature’s Emergency Board Meets On Friday
Tomorrow at 1 pm the E-Board will meet for one last time before the regular session begins on January 19. They will be authorizing further disbursements from federal and state funds set aside earlier, primarily for COVID response and wildfire response. They include dollars that the Legislature approved during the Third Special Session on December 21, as well as federal dollars that the state is expected to receive from the recently-signed Congressional package.
Here’s a link to the meeting agenda and video link.
And here’s a link to the meeting materials, where you’ll find detailed information about each of the 21 proposed expenditures.
Here are the 21 items on the agenda:
- Higher Education Coordinating Commission – Emergency Student Financial Assistance
- Oregon Health Authority – COVID-19 Response Activities
- Department of Education – Child Care Assistance
- Department of Education – K-12 Federal Funds for school reopening
- Department of Administrative Services – Grants to Oregon Community Foundation
- Department of Administrative Services – Grants to Oregon Tribes
- Oregon Business Development Department – Commercial Rent Relief
- Oregon Business Development Department – Municipal Wildfire Assistance
- Department of Human Services – COVID-19 Response Activities
- Department of Human Services / Housing and Community Services Department – Wildfire Response and Recovery
- Department of Transportation – Wildfire Debris Removal
- Department of Forestry – 2020 Fire Season
- Department of State Police / Department of Forestry – Wildfire Response
- Higher Education Coordinating Commission – Funding Gap in Federal Revenues
- Department of Administrative Services – Agency FEMA Expenditure Limitation
- Department of Administrative Services – Agency Coronavirus Relief Fund Expenditure Limitation
- Housing and Community Services Department – Consolidated Appropriations Act Rental and Utility Assistance
- Department of Administrative Services – Replace Workforce Housing in Jackson County
- Office of the Governor – Department of Corrections Ombudsman Program
- Department of Administrative Services – Tenant Outreach and Education Services
- Oregon Health Authority – Community Behavioral Health Provider Relief
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 is 867. There appear to be continuing problems with the reporting today. I expect we’ll be getting some corrections in the future. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:
Baker (3)
Benton (30)
Clackamas (44)
Clatsop (1)
Columbia (1)
Coos (7)
Crook (15)
Curry (1)
Deschutes (44)
Douglas (14)
Grant (3)
Harney (3)
Hood River (10)
Jackson (71)
Jefferson (20)
Josephine (5)
Klamath (3)
Lake (10)
Lane (76)
Lincoln (7)
Linn (33)
Malheur (17)
Marion (134)
Morrow (3)
Multnomah (17)
Polk (27)
Sherman (10)
Tillamook (7)
Umatilla (159)
Union (14)
Wallowa (2)
Wasco (9)
Washington (33)
Yamhill (34)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 1,559th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Jan. 3 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,560th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 2 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,561st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Tillamook County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Jan. 5 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,562nd COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 2 at his residence.
Oregon’s 1,563rd COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Dec. 20 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,564th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 1 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,565th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 24 at her residence.
Oregon’s 1,566th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Dec. 31; location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 1,567th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Jan. 5 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.
Oregon’s 1,568th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Dec. 26 at his residence.
Note: Updated information is available for Oregon’s 1,281st death, reported on Dec. 17, 2020. She is a 78-year-old woman in Clackamas County.
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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