January 9th COVID-19 Update

Friends and Neighbors,

January 9, 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 high, with new test results being reported following the computer problems earlier in the week.  The COVID deaths reported today are high (28), though again some of this can be attributed to late reporting: most of them occurred more than a week ago.  Hospitalizations are again down today.

I’m happy to let you know that the number of new vaccinations reported as of the end of yesterday is a sizeable 13,448.  This increase is likely due to a combination of improved distribution systems, improvements in reporting, and the expansion in the pool of those Group 1a care workers now eligible. The Governor has set a goal of 12,000 per day by the end of next week. You’ll find more details about our vaccination rates below.

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

• New COVID Cases: OHA reports 1,603 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 124,476.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reports 1,891 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 168,486.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 26,043 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 2,812,667.
• Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 7.3%. The national ratio today is 12.2%.
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 28 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 1,603.
• Hospitalized: OHA does not fully report on new hospitalizations over the weekend. They did report that there are 421 Oregonians hospitalized with confirmed COVID cases today, which is 30 fewer than yesterday.  There are 81 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is seven fewer than yesterday.
• Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported: 13,448
    • 8,768 administered yesterday
    • 4,680 administered previously and report received yesterday
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 88,362
    • This is 34% of the vaccines received as of yesterday.
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 85,081
    • 3,177 now fully vaccinated
  • 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 and vaccination protocols.
• 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: OHA does not provide detailed hospitalization information over the weekend, so the following numbers are the same as Friday’s. I’ll update them on Monday.
  • Patients Currently with COVID-19 Symptoms (who may or may not have received a positive test result yet): 498 (8 fewer than yesterday). Of those, 451 (11 fewer than yesterday) have already received a positive test back.
  • Available ICU Beds:141 (18 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 598 (38 more than yesterday).
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 88 (3 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 54 (4 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 774 (2 more than yesterday).
• Dashboards:
  • Oregon (OHA)
  • Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, & Yamhill Counties
  • Oregon COVID Cases by Zip Code
• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 266,165,031 (up 2,000,196 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 21,899,125 (up 245,017 from yesterday.)
  • Deaths: 363,554 (up 3,500 from yesterday).
  • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site here.
• Additional Brief Updates:
  • Bryce Dole of the East Oregonian has a long article about troubling COVID conditions at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla.
  • Yesterday the Emergency Board allocated $250,000 to create an Ombudsman office for the Department of Corrections in order to provide outside oversight of conditions in state prisons. This came about following efforts by several legislators, including me.  You can see the specific request here.
  • If you’re interested in seeing the COVID-related rules for Monday morning’s swearing-in and organizational meeting, here is the Senate’s version.

Monday Evening: Zoom Town Hall

On Monday Representatives Barbara Smith Warner, Khanh Pham, and I will hold our first town hall of the new session.  We’ll talk about our committee assignments and our priorities for the session, introduce our staff, and share information about this unique upcoming session.  And of course, we’ll answer your questions.

Register for the town hall here.

This will be my first town hall in nearly a decade that won’t include my dear friend and colleague, Alissa Keny-Guyer, with whom I’ve had the honor of working on behalf of the people of SD 23 and partnered on many important priorities.  She has been a remarkable legislator, deeply loved and respected by colleagues and constituents alike.

The one silver lining to her leaving is that she’ll be replaced by Khanh Pham, who I predict will be equally a force in the Legislature.  Barbara and I both look forward to welcoming Khanh as a colleague and partner on her first official day as a legislator!

Info from Last Week’s OHA Weekly COVID Report: A Mixed Bag

OHA released its WEEKLY COVID REPORT on Wednesday. It is again a very comprehensive snapshot of different aspects of transmission of the disease in Oregon over the past week or so. 

This week’s report is a mixed bag:  an increase in COVID cases, positivity rates, and hospitalizations, but a decline in COVID deaths.  It reflects an end to the three weeks of decline in COVID cases.  It’s not yet clear if this is a result of Christmas holiday gatherings.

Here are some of OHA’s broad observations of where we are now, based on data from Monday, December 28 through Sunday, January 3:

• OHA has reported 7,913 new cases of COVID-19 infection, a 17% increase over last week’s total of 6,790. This ends the three weeks in a row of declining rates of increase (following seven weeks of increases). 
• The number of COVID tests unfortunately declined again, to 123,821 (down from the previous week’s 134,498).
• The positivity rate increased from 6.7% to 7.5%.
• The number of new COVID hospitalizations rose by 6% from last week.
• The number of COVID deaths last week declined, from 86 to 73, the lowest it’s been for many weeks (and dramatically down from the record 186 set two weeks ago).
• The cumulative death rate since the beginning of the pandemic reached 1,500 on January 3. With a cumulative case count of 118,458 on January 3, this is again an average case fatality rate of 1.3% (though the fatality rate is much higher for older Oregonians).

The report again provides information about disease symptoms and risk factors; along with racial/ethnic/age/gender demographics. It provides an update on people with intellectual/developmental disabilities and the number of COVID patients at various hospitals around the state.

It no longer includes information on outbreaks in long-term care, workplaces, child care, and K-12.  That information is now included in a separate Outbreak Report.

Racial/Ethnic

The report again demonstrates significant disparities among racial groups.  You can see this in the charts below, with data that I’ve taken from the December 23 report, the December 30 report, and from this January 6 report..  It allows you to see at a glance the proportion of case counts within different racial groups and ethnic groups (technically, “Hispanic” is not a race and is counted as an ethnic group, with numbers from a separate chart). 

To help you understand the racial/ethnic data reported in the weekly report, I’ve also created a chart that shows the hospitalization and death rates per 100K population, along with the infection rates per-100K population for each racial/ethnic group.

You’ll see again how much higher the case rates per 100,000 are for most racial/ethnic groups compared to White Oregonians. Black Oregonians are 2.3 times more likely to contract the disease than are White Oregonians, Native Americans 3 times more likely, Latinx Oregonians are nearly 4 times more likely, and Pacific Islanders are now 4.3 times more likely. The differences, while still large, have nearly all continued to go down slightly from week to week.

You’ll also again see that hospitalization rates among those who have contracted the disease are quite a bit lower for Latinx, and somewhat higher for Pacific Islanders than for the population of White Oregonians.  Among those who have contracted the disease, the percentage who ultimately die of it remains somewhat higher for Whites than for people of color.

However, you’ll also see in the final chart that when examined as a proportion of their populations in Oregon, the hospitalization and death rates for Blacks, Native Americans,  Latinx, and especially Pacific-Islander Oregonians continue to be disproportionally high. (The hospitalization rate for Pacific Islanders is more than 6 times the rate for Whites, while their death rate is three times the rate for Whites.)  Looking at these probability rates helps us to see why it’s so important that special outreach needs to be made to members of these racial/ethnic groups.

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 1,643.  Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:

Baker (4)

Benton (37)

Clackamas (125)

Clatsop (5)

Columbia (25)

Coos (12)

Crook (18)

Curry (3)

Deschutes (80)

Douglas (20)

Harney (6)

Hood River (12)

Jackson (121)

Jefferson (8)

Josephine (54)

Klamath (35)

Lake (1)

Lane (101)

Lincoln (13)

Linn (49)

Malheur (23)

Marion (106)

Morrow (14)

Multnomah (369)

Polk (38)

Sherman (1)

Tillamook (7)

Umatilla (91)

Union (15)

Wallowa (2)

Wasco (17)

Washington (175)

Yamhill (56)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 1576^th COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on December 14 and died on January 7 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1577^th COVID-19 death is a 84-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on December 21 and died on January 8 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1578^th COVID-19 death is a 82-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on December 21 and died on January 7 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1579^th COVID-19 death is a 89-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on January 5 and died on January 6 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1580^th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on December 31 and died on January 5 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1581^st COVID-19 death is a 80-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on December 28 and died on January 6 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1582^nd COVID-19 death is a 89-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on December 11 and died on December 17 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1583^rd COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Jackson County who died on December 26 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1584^th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Jackson County who died on January 1 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1585^th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on December 28 and died on January 3 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1586^th COVID-19 death is a 89-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on December 28 and died on January 2 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1587^th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on December 22 and died on December 31 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1588^th COVID-19 death is a 88-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on December 17 and died on December 24 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1589^th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on December 12 and died on December 25 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1590^th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on December 13 and died on January 8 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 1591^st COVID-19 death is a 85-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on November 27 and died on December 15 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1592^nd COVID-19 death is a 80-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on December 30 and died on January 7 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1593^rd COVID-19 death is a 84-year-old man in Morrow County who tested positive on January 4 and died on January 6 at Good Shepherd Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1594^th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on November 28 and died on December 24 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1595^th COVID-19 death is a 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on December 7 and died on January 5 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 1596^th COVID-19 death is a 86-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on December 17 and died on January 3; location of death is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1597^th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on December 17 and died on December 30 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1598^th COVID-19 death is a 89-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on December 16 and died on January 5; location of death is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1599^th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on December 28 and died on January 7 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 1600^th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on December 31 and died on January 1 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1601^st COVID-19 death is a 84-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on December 27 and died on December 27.

Oregon’s 1602^nd COVID-19 death is a 85-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on December 27 and died on January 8 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1603^rd COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on December 28 and died on January 7 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:

• Multnomah County has a status report on reopening.
• You can view the reopening status of all 36 counties here.
• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 
• Oregon's Office of Emergency Management now has a website for information about COVID-19.
• You can sign up here for regular coronavirus updates from OHA.
• Multnomah County has an excellent website with lots of really important advice and guidance.
• Here’s one from the Governor’s Office.
• The Employment Department has put together a webpage with Q&A’s on a number of employment issues related to COVID-19 (e.g., eligibility for Unemployment Insurance benefits).
• The Oregon Education Department has a new site for COVID-19 updates.
• The Department of Corrections has a COVID tracking website.

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