January 24th Legislative and COVID Update

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Michael Dembrow

January 24, 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 we continue to see improvements in all of Oregon’s COVID metrics. Since it’s the weekend, it’s not surprising to see the number of reported deaths lower here in Oregon and in national reporting.  However, the general decline in Oregon’s cases, hospitalizations, and deaths is clearly part of an ongoing (and welcome) trend.

Immunizations continue to be proceeding at a good pace, partly due to large vaccination events in various parts of the state in order to finish up vaccinations for the initial 1a priority group. Two-thirds of the members of this group will have received their first dose this week.

This week marks the first full week of legislative committee meetings.  You’ll find that nearly every committee is beginning to hold public hearings on bills that have been assigned to it.  This newsletter includes information about the process of giving public testimony and new ways for the public to get involved

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 582 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 138,168.
  • Positive Test Results: OHA reports 710 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 182,893.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 13,074 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,073,532.
  • Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 5.4%. The national ratio today is 8.4%.
  • Hospitalization Information: The first two bullets are newly-reported numbers; the others are the same as Friday’s, as the OHA does not report on these over the weekend.
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 310 (same as yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 80 (3 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 183 (19 fewer than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 713 ( fewer than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 41 (9 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 796 (12 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 3 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 1,880.
  • Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 14,755
      • 11,243 administered yesterday
      • 3,512 administered previously and report received yesterday
    • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 300,662
    • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 257,289.
      • 39,264 now fully vaccinated with two doses
    • To date, 492,450 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. No increase from yesterday.
  • Today’s National Numbers:
    • Total Tests: 295,014,810 (up 1,709,230 from yesterday).
    • Total Cases: 24,899,354 (up 142,949 from yesterday.)
    • Deaths: 410,212 (up 1,940 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:
    • We’ve just learned that a third case of the new COVID variant strain (often referred to as the “UK Strain”) has been detected in Oregon. It involves someone in Washington County. You can read more about it in this release from OHA.
    • For a look at how another state is facing many of the same vaccination challenges that we are, check out this story from the Chicago Tribune story from the Chicago Tribune.
    • OPB’s Amelia Templeton takes a look at what it will take to get Oregon vaccinated. She focuses on four areas:  vaccine supply, personnel to staff vaccination centers, participation by pharmacies, access for “essential workers,” and improved communication from public health.
    • Somewhat similarly, here's a new article from the New York Times. showing why people’s hopes that vaccines will bring a quick end to the pandemic are sadly premature. Other safeguards will need to remain in place.
    • Another element of the collateral damage from most of our schools having to deliver instruction remotely is the difficulty it creates for teachers to get a clear sense of their students’ well-being. In normal times, teachers are able to alert authorities to signs of child abuse and other challenges to their students’ safety.  But these are not normal times.  Street Roots has another important story on how this is affecting Portland's kids.
    • The online magazine Education Week has an article and dashboard showing the states where teachers are currently being vaccinated. It shows 21 states at this point, but that number will grow this week, as Oregon and Florida are added. The information in the dashboard will be regularly updated over time, so keep checking for the most current information.

How About a Constituent Cocktail?

Now that session is on, I’m planning to supplement the regular First-Saturday-of-the-Month Constituent Coffee Zooms with evening Constituent Cocktail Zooms. (Sorry, you’ll need to do your own stirring, shaking, and/or pouring.)

The first of these will be this Thursday, January 28, 5:30-7:00.  Stay tuned for sign-up info. 

 

New Bills Introduced

On Friday I had the pleasure of driving down to Salem for a ten-minute floor session. (Actually, I must admit it was a beautiful morning, so it could have been worse.) Why was that necessary?  As I’ve mentioned before, floor sessions, unlike committee hearings, cannot happen remotely.  So, at least 20 of the 30 senators need to be there in person. (Some of those living far away from Salem were let off the hook.)

Why was a floor session necessary?  For the most part, these early floor sessions are mainly needed to allow new bills to be formally introduced (“first-read”).  The Senate will hold its next floor session on Thursday, February 4th, at 11 a.m.

One hundred two  new House measures were introduced on Thursday, and 30 new Senate measures. were introduced on Friday. These bills are now being referred to the appropriate committees.

These came in addition to the much larger group of bills introduced on January 11.  Here again are the Senate bills  and the House bills.

Remember, you can sign up to follow any of these bills by going to their webpages and e-subscribe.  You’ll be notified of any upcoming hearings and proposed amendments.  You can also e-subscribe to automatically receive agendas for any of the committees that you’re interested in.

New Ways to Testify on Bills

Given the need to have all committee meetings take place remotely, at least for the next couple of months, it’s crucial that the Legislature have ample opportunities for the public to testify before committees either through written testimony or through video or audio formats.  In fact, technology is proving itself able to expand access to many who have not previously had the wherewithal to get to Salem to testify.  I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again—this may well turn out to be one of the silver linings of the pandemic, if it results in ongoing openness of the process.

That’s why on my very first week of Senate Education meetings, as Chair I’m scheduling an extended opportunity for public testimony on Wednesday.

You’ll find information on how to testify remotely on the agenda page for every committee meeting.  Here is a detailed set of instructions that was sent out to legislators last week.  It will show you how to register to do it via email, via phone, or by going to the Capitol itself (a computer station will be located outside of the Capitol for anyone who doesn’t have access to a computer).  Just remember that you need to register to testify before the hearing actually starts.

Our wonderful support staff have also made it easier for people to submit written testimony, which becomes accessible to the public and part of the permanent public record of any introduced measure.  It used to be that any submission needed to be processed by the committee assistant and could take some time to upload.  It’s now immediate and very easy.  For instructions on how to do this, go to the new "Citizen Engagement" Portal  (and by the way, even if you’re not a citizen, or not yet a citizen, you can still engage!).  Click on “How to Submit Testimony,” and you’ll be walked through the process.  That page has a lot of other useful information as well.

 

Coming Up This Week:  Senae Education Committee Will Hold Hearings on School Reopening

there is much that is controversial in the debate around the potential reopening of Oregon’s schools to in-person instruction, concerns that they will occur too slowly to be effective or too quickly to be safe.  There is much controversy around the decision to delegate the reopening decision to local school districts and around the Governor’s decision to make K-12 and childcare workers eligible to be vaccinated this week.  There is concern for some that school buildings will not be ready to be safely reopened, as well as concern among others that the required safety protocols will be difficult for districts to meet.

In order to better understand the plans, their benefits, and remaining safety concerns, I’ve decided to use both sessions of the Senate Education Committee this week to focus on this issue. 

On Monday from 3:15 to 4:45 we’ll hear invited testimony from the department, health professionals, teachers, students, parents, and others.  It will be an opportunity for Senate and House Education Committee members to hear from and query those invited to testify.  You’ll find the agenda and links to meeting materials and video access  here.

Then on Wednesday will be devoting the first twenty minutes or so to hearing from Dr. Richard Corsi, a national expert on ventilation and air flow, who we’re fortunate to have at Portland State University.  Then we’ll open the floor to the public, taking public testimony from those who want to share their ideas and reactions.  You can find that agenda here.

The Department of Education has released the latest update to its Ready Schools, Safe Students Guidelines that includes changes to the advisory metrics and safety requirements for school districts considering reopening.

Under Version 5.5.0 the advisory metrics have been modified to bring the state more in line with other states and the recommendations of the Harvard Global Health Institute.  Under the revised metrics, more elementary schools will be eligible to reopen for in-person instruction. (This includes much of the Portland area, thanks to improvements in our COVID rates here over the last few weeks.)  The decision to reopen remains with individual school districts. If they do choose to reopen, their reopening plans will still need to be approved by the Oregon Department of Education and they will need to comply with all the safety protocols around masking, small class size, cleaning, and other requirements.

Governor’s Press Conference Focuses on Vaccinations and Schools

The Governor has received a great deal of criticism for her decision to prioritize educators once the first priority group (Group 1a) has been largely inoculated.  That first group prioritizes front-line medical providers, congregate care residents and staff, and people with serious medical conditions and disabilities who receive care at home (and their caregivers). That group should be two-thirds vaccinated at some point this week.

We had briefly thought that teachers and everyone 65 and older would be able to begin receiving vaccines together this week. That was based on promises from outgoing federal Health and Human Services Director Azar, promises that turned out to be false.  Given the lack of extra doses, the Governor has decided to vaccinate the approximately 120,000 K-12 and childcare personnel first (a process that should take two weeks) and then on February 7 move to seniors, starting with the oldest cohort.

This remains consistent with the most recent guidance (12/22/2020, updated on January 8th from the CDC, which frees states to make their own decisions in including people from the 1b and 1c categories once they have extended the vaccine to those in 1a.  The challenge, of course, is that there’s not nearly enough vaccine enough to do everyone right now, and likely won’t be for months to come.

The Governor used the opportunity of her press conference on Friday to push back against some of the criticism and offer an explanation of her decision.  In order to do that, she was joined by the OHA Public Health Director (Rachael Banks), the State Epidemiologist (Dr. Dean Sidelinger), hospital administrators,  teachers, and a student.  You can watch the press conference here.

The Governor repeated her commitment to getting schools to reopen for in-person instruction this year, and the many reasons for that decision (which were echoed by the teachers and student).  Given the length of time it takes for the full two-dose course of the vaccine to be fully effective (6-8 weeks), educational workers need to be vaccinated right away if we want to get schools open for the final quarter of the school year.  

On the other hand, if we were to vaccinate all seniors (around 800,000 Oregonians) first, we wouldn’t get teachers fully vaccinated until mid-May, given the current rate of doses coming into Oregon from the federal distributors (approximately 100,000 doses per week).  In effect, for most districts that would mean giving up on in-person schooling for the entire year.

The teachers and students at the press conference spoke to the need to get schools reopened as soon as possible, especially for younger students, those who need the security and support that schools provide, and those whose family situations make distance learning very difficult.  The medical experts made the case that they could get all K-12 and childcare workers vaccinated within 2 to 3 weeks.

The Governor and medical experts were asked by one of the reporters how she could consider allowing teachers to be moved ahead of seniors, delaying access to the vaccine for those who are much more likely to die from the disease, even for two weeks.  The medical advisors pointed to the fact that the most vulnerable seniors are already being vaccinated--those who require the services of home health care workers or are living in skilled nursing or other congregate care settings and who represent about 3/4 of senior deaths.  This group should all be vaccinated by the end of the month, and as a result we should be able to look forward to the number of COVID cases and eventually deaths among seniors going down dramatically. (Over the last month, new cases have already gone down by 40% among those in congregate care.)

Those older Oregonians who are able to live more independently have largely been able to keep themselves safe. Director Banks pointed out that Oregon has the second lowest number of infections among seniors of all the states, and third lowest for COVID deaths among seniors.

When asked why Oregon has not yet opened vaccines up to those 65 and over, as many other states have, Director Banks responded that those states are in effect simply layering more people in line for a limited supply of vaccine.  We are already hearing many stories of people waiting in long lines, only to be told that they have waited in vain, or if they do manage to get appointment, those appointments are now frequently being canceled. (I’ve been hearing this frustration from legislative colleagues in other states.)

Rather than open the doors to everyone 65 and older all at once, as most states have done, Oregon will sequence those in the 65+ age group in descending order of age (and thereby risk) : 80+ (February 7),  then 75+ (February 14), then 70+ (February 21),  then 65+ (February 28)  I think most people would agree that this strategy makes sense. (Even I, who am in the bottom tier for a little while still . . .)


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 582. Two-thirds of today’s reported cases are again in counties outside of the Portland Tri-County area. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:

Benton (3)

Clackamas (49)

Coos (26)

Crook (9)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (31)

Douglas (14)

Harney (1)

Hood River (9)

Jackson (47)

Jefferson (4)

Josephine (20)

Klamath (26)

Lake (5)

Lane (49)

Lincoln (6)

Linn (18)

Malheur (3)

Marion (72)

Morrow (3)

Multnomah (78)

Polk (18)

Tillamook (1)

Umatilla (16)

Union (5)

Wasco (2)

Washington (59)

Yamhill (7)

 

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 1,878th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Douglas County who tested positive on Jan. 21 and died on Jan. 20 at his residence.

Oregon’s 1,879th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 14 and died on Jan. 22 at her residence.

Oregon’s 1,880th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 26 and died on Jan. 22 at Salem Hospital.

 

 


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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