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February 7, 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.

At under 400, today’s number of reported COVID cases is the lowest it has been for many months.  It’s Sunday, so that may in part be due to weekend reporting, but it may also be a continuation of the downward trajectory that we’ve been experiencing over the last few weeks.  The week will tell.

Vaccinations continue to be deployed in high numbers.  Nearly three-fourths of the vaccines that we’ve received so far have been administered. 

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the next phase of the vaccine rollout, with vaccination appointments being accepted for those 80 and older.  On February 15 those 75 and older become eligible, then on February 22 those 70 and above, and on February 28 those 65 and older.  Given current supply, it’s expected to take until early April for everyone in these age groups to receive their first doses (though by then many will have already had their second doses as well). 

As I try to wait patiently for my own turn to come somewhere in this time period, the work of the Legislature of course continues.  You’ll find below a description of some of the key topics that will be discussed in my committees during this coming week.

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 393 new COVID cases today.  This count is a combination of positive test results and those who are presumed positive. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 147,122.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reports 466 positive tests 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 193,847.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 12,381 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3304,822.
• Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 3.8%. The national ratio today is 6.5%.
• Hospitalization Information: Over the weekend, OHA only reports on the first two bulleted items. The others are the same as Friday’s.
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 230 (2 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 53 (1 more than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 151 (7 more than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 633 (31 more than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 28 (4 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 767 (19 fewer than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 4 new COVID deaths. You’ll find more information about those we’ve lost recently further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,023.
• Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported Today: 21,694
    • 17,940 administered yesterday
    • 3,754 administered previously and report received yesterday
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 554,143.
    • 300,603 Pfizer doses
    • 252,949 Moderna doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 412,650.
    • 136,062 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 734,950 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
    • 74.4% of these doses have been administered so far (national average is now 70.9%). We’re currently #11 for highest administration of the vaccine.  The percentage of doses administered will go down tomorrow or the day after if we receive the new doses we expect this week, but relative to other states Oregon will likely remain among the better-performing states.
    • For more details, including the demographics of those receiving the vaccine, here is a link to more information about the vaccine and vaccination protocols.
    • Here is the daily vaccination tracker from Bloomberg.
    • And here is a link to each county's vaccination website. It provides access information for those in Category 1a and (eventually) in 1b.

• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 812,696 (up 1,480,757 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 26,796,705 (up 96,003 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 454,134 (up 1,474 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:
  • USA Today has a story about the hit-or-miss nature of educators getting access to the COVID vaccine around the country. It focuses on Chicago, but you’ll also find references to Oregon in it.  It’s titled OVID-19 Vaccines for Teachers Comes Down to Location—and Luck.”  Read it here.
  • That article also includes a link to an online talk that the heads of the two largest national teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, had recently with Dr. Fauci, in which they discussed President Biden’s goal of reopening schools to in-person instruction, at least for elementary school children, as soon as possible—and what it will take to do that safely. 

At the Legislature—The Week Ahead:

Let me give you a sneak preview of a few of the things the Legislature will be dealing with this week.  Again, committees will be meeting remotely, and the House and Senate will have one floor session each—the House on Tuesday, the Senate on Thursday—mainly for the purpose of introducing new bills to the legislative process.

Here are the highlights of the week ahead of me in my four committees:

Senate Education:

Monday:  SB 713, “Ban the Higher Ed Box,” prohibiting colleges and universities from inquiring about an applicant’s prior convictions before admission.

SB 553, Tuition Equity for COFA students

Wednesday:  SB 232: Diversifying the Education Workforce

          SB 227: Update on Ethnic Studies

Senate Judiciary:

Monday: Ballot Measure 110 Implementation

Tuesday:  SB 207, Funds Office of Corrections Ombudsman

Wednesday:  Joint Meeting with House Subcommittee on Equitable Policing for presentations on Police Arbitration

Senate Energy and Environment:

Tuesday:  SB 286, SB 289 Related to Environmental Justice

Thursday: SB 318, Resource Adequacy—Making sure we have the capacity to handle increased electrification

Joint Education Subcommittee of Ways and Means:

***Along with being responsible for the budgets of the various educational entities from pre-K through universities, the Education Subcommittee is also responsible for the budgets of a number of different health licensing boards, and usually begins with an examination of the work and budget requests of those boards.  We began hearing from boards last week (including Pharmacy, Dentistry, Psychology and Therapists).  This will continue this week.

Monday: Presentations on the Boards of Medical Imagining, Mortuary and Cemetary, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and the omnibus Health-Related Occupational Licensing Board.

Wednesday: Public Testimony on the Various Licensing Boards

You can follow the work of these and any other committees by going to the Oregon Legislative Information System website at olis.oregonlegislature.gov

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 393.  A little less than 2/3 of today’s reported cases were from counties outside the Portland Tri-County area.  Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:

Baker (1)

Benton (8)

Clackamas (28)

Columbia (3)

Coos (11)

Crook (5)

Curry (9)

Deschutes (30)

Douglas (10)

Harney (2)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (23)

Jefferson (6)

Josephine (6)

Lake (2)

Lane (28)

Lincoln (4)

Linn (8)

Malheur (1)

Marion (41)

Morrow (3)

Multnomah (63)

Polk (16)

Umatilla (13)

Union (1)

Wasco (3)

Washington (51)

Yamhill (16)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2020^th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old in Multnomah County who tested positive on November 19 and died on November 29 at their residence. Gender is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2021^st COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on January 11 and died on February 4 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2022^nd COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on January 22 and died on February 5 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 2023^rd COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on January 26 and died on February 5 at Salem Hospital.

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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