January 17th COVID Update

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Michael Dembrow

January 17, 2021

Friends and Neighbors,

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 report contains very good news—I would say too good, likely the result of reduced reporting over the weekend.  Newly reported cases are just under 800, and only one COVID death was reported today—and that one dates back to December.  I suspect we’ll see some catching up in the numbers reported later in the week.

On the vaccination front, Saturday was another strong day for getting Oregonians vaccinated.  As you’ll see below, we have now successfully administered 61.2% of the doses we’ve received so far, a huge improvement over where we were just a week ago, and currently third best in the nation.  Don’t be surprised if this percentage goes down temporarily, as we get another big shipment in this week. It will be interesting to see how quickly the additional doses turn into successful inoculations.                                                         

In tonight’s newsletter, you’ll also see an analysis of the most recent Weekly Outbreak Report, which looks at the week’s trends for those in long-term care, workplaces, childcare centers, and schools.  Overall, the trends in all these areas show improvements over the previous week’s report.

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 799 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 133,205.
  • Positive Test Results: OHA reports 802 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 176,913.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,034 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 2,956,623.
  • Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 5.7%. The national ratio today is 10.1%.
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional COVID death today. You can read about the Oregonian that we’ve lost further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 1,800.
  • Hospitalized: OHA does not fully report on new hospitalizations over the weekend. They did report that the number of people hospitalized with COVID has continued to go down.  The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 361, which is four fewer than yesterday. However, there are 95 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is three more than yesterday. The total number of new hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic is 7,198.
  • Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 15,784
      • 12,781 administered yesterday
      • 3,003 administered previously and report received yesterday
    • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 204,974
    • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 182,478.
      • 19,480 now fully vaccinated with two doses
    • To date, 335,075 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
      • 61.2% of these doses have been administered so far (national average is 45.9%). Oregon is now third in the nation for the percentage of doses administered
  • Today’s National Numbers:
    • Total Tests: 281,906,748 (up 1,836,498 from yesterday).
    • Total Cases: 23,627,890 (up 185,518 from yesterday.)
    • Deaths: 388,869 (up 2,044 from yesterday).
    • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site HERE https://covidtracking.com/data/national
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Oregonian’s Mike Rogoway and Jeff Manning took a close look at  bankruptcies in Oregon and found to their surprise that they are the lowest they’ve been in years. The article goes into why that might be the case right now.
    • The Oregon Health Authority has scheduled another Facebook Live event next Wednesday at 11:30. It will feature OHA Public Health Division Director Rachael Banks and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dana Hargunani to answer your questions about vaccinations. The Facebook Live is available in Spanishand English.

WEEKLY OUTBREAK REPORT

OHA’s weekly COVID report no longer includes information on outbreaks.  That information is now included in a separate weekly outbreak report. The latest report came out on Wednesday.

The Outbreak Report reports on outbreaks at long-term care facilities, workplaces, childcare centers, and schools as of January 10.

 

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 11,193 cases and 921 deaths associated with congregate care settings. (Deaths among those living in long-term care facilities again constitute 57% of all deaths due to COVID.)

This is an increase of 672 (down from 673) new cases and 66 (up from 45) new deaths from the previous week.   This stabilization in new cases and increase in new deaths is in line with what we saw last week for the population as a whole. (This week’s increased death rate brings us back to where we were two weeks ago.)

With more and more COVID vaccinations in our skilled nursing facilities, and the start this week of vaccinations for the rest of the long-term care population—we should see a return to declines in new cases.  

To date, there has still been only one death of a staff member reported.

Once again the report is divided between “Active” outbreaks and “Resolved” outbreaks.  This week’s report lists outbreaks in 202 (down from 216) long-term care facilities that are still considered active.  They are responsible for 4,684 cases and 303 deaths.  You can see them listed by facility in chronological order.

Once a facility has gone 28 days without a new case, it is moved to the “Resolved” list. If a new outbreak occurs, it is then moved back to the Active list.  There are  308  facilities whose outbreaks are now considered Resolved (up from 278).  They too are listed in chronological order.

In addition to the listed facilities, there are now 172 (up from 162) smaller congregate settings, those 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 rate of increase in the number of new cases has gone up in the last week.  This week we saw 726 new COVID cases attributed to workplaces (vs. 1,374 the previous week).  We again saw 1 new COVID death related to a workplace outbreak.

Cumulatively, since the beginning of the pandemic workplace outbreaks have been responsible for 15,275 cases and 71 deaths.  This is 12% of all cases in Oregon as of January 10.

I regret to say that again the largest single workplace sector for COVID remains our correctional institutions, a proportion that is on the rise.  Prison cases (which includes staff and adults in custody) again make up the five largest active workplace outbreaks in Oregon, and seven of the largest 10.  In all, outbreaks at state, federal, and county corrections facilities are responsible for 2,771 (down from 1,863) of the 5,534 current active outbreaks (50% of the current active workplace outbreaks, down from 66% last week).  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 121 (down from 128) workplaces listed as “Active” this week, totaling 5,534 cases (up from 5,096 last week).  Here are the top 10 workplaces by number of cases:

  1. Snake River Correctional Institution, Ontario (582, +8)
  2. Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton (531, +1)
  3. Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla (428, +213)
  4. Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, Madras (293, +28)
  5. Oregon State Correctional Institution, Salem (250, +15)
  6. Amazon Distribution Center, Troutdale (195, +15)
  7. Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem (180, +46)
  8. Salem Hospital, Salem (165, +7)
  9. Oregon State Hospital, Salem (144, +28)
  10. Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, Wilsonville (130, +49)

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 17 facilities listed as Active (up from 16). They comprise a total of 106 cases (up from 96 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.  Twenty-four centers are now on the Resolved list (up from 18),

In addition to the listed centers, there are 18 (up from 13) 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 continuing decline in active outbreaks and in the number of cases among students and staff after the first week back in school.  If the return to school leads to an increase in cases, we’ll start seeing it next week.

This week’s report on schools with in-person instruction shows active outbreaks at 28 (down from 45) public and private schools (including elementary, middle, and high schools) around the state.  These outbreaks comprise 26 (down from 30 last week) cases among students and 55 (down from 91 last week) cases among staff members or volunteers.

There are now 171 schools in the recently “Resolved” category (up from 148), meaning that it’s been more than 28 days since a new case was reported.  They now comprise 136 students and 216 staff members.

Though increasing, the overall numbers remain relatively low and somewhat 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 is 799. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:

 

Baker (2)

Benton (12)

Clackamas (66)

Clatsop (16)

Columbia (10)

Coos (5)

Crook (6)

Curry (6)

Deschutes (46)

Douglas (11)

Gilliam (3)

Harney (2)

Hood River (3)

Jackson (30)

Jefferson (15)

Josephine (30)

Klamath (6)

Lake (1)

Lane (53)

Lincoln (6)

Linn (7)

Malheur (7)

Marion (86)

Morrow (5)

Multnomah (102)

Polk (34)

Tillamook (3)

Umatilla (57)

Union (10)

Wasco (8)

Washington (131))

Yamhill (20)

 

And the Death:

Oregon’s 1,800th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive Dec. 6 and died Dec. 25. Location of death is being confirmed.

Additional Graphs:

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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.



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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,

dembrow signature

Senator Michael Dembrow
District 23


email: Sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov
web: www.senatordembrow.com
phone: 503-281-0608
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301