February 8th COVID Update

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February 8, 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 news continue to be positive.  New COVID cases are the lowest they’ve been since mid-October, together with just one COVID death.  COVID hospitalizations continue to decline.  The Portland Tri-County region may be on the verge of seeing our risk status improve, paving the way to limited reopening of restaurants and other indoor activities.

Meanwhile, vaccinations continue to be deployed at a good rate: nearly 78% of the doses that we’ve received have now been administered. (Unfortunately, that’s partly because we haven’t received additional supply for several days now.)

Today marked the beginning of vaccination appointments being taken for those 80 and older.  As expected, it was a rocky start.  By the end of the day, approximately 5,500 people in this category had been able to secure appointments for this week.  But many more tried to do so via the state website (at https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/) and 211, but found that there were no slots left for now.  The problem was not with the website itself but with the lack of supply.  (I tried out the state site towards the end of the day, pretending to be an 80-year-old to see how far I could get.  I made it to the point where I could schedule an appointment at the Convention Center—I also tried the outdoor site at the airport—but was told that no more appointments were being taken.)

You can read more about the current situation in this Oregonian article that came out just before the reservation system went live at 9 a.m., and this one that appeared at the end of the day.

I also signed up for notices at the new getvaccinated.oregon.gov site.  It will send me information once my age group comes up in a few weeks.  (If you want to sign up, you’ll want to click on “Check Eligibility” first; you’ll then be able to create a login and password.) 

Again, please stay patient and hope for more doses to come our way.

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 305 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 147,419.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reports 409 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 194,256.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 10,113 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,314,935.
• Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 4.0%. The national ratio today is 5.4%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 221 (9 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 55 (2 more than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 167 (16 more than Friday)
  • Other Available Beds: 749 (116 more than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 29 (1 more than Friday).
  • Available Ventilators: 786(19 more than Friday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 new COVID death. You’ll find more information about the Oregonian we’ve lost recently further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,024.
• Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported Today: 18,255
    • 10,515 administered yesterday
    • 7,740 administered previously and report received yesterday
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 572,400
    • 310,318 Pfizer doses
    • 261,488 Moderna doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 425,076
    • 141,874 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 734,950 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
    • 77.9% of these doses have been administered so far (national average is now 72.7%).

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• 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 now in 1b.

• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 325,298,499 (up 1,434,298 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 26,875,063 (up 77,737 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 455,455 (up 1,309 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 latest County Metrics Report has just been released.  You’ll see ongoing statewide reductions in the state as a whole, along with most counties, notably Multnomah County.
  • As a result of these lower metrics in the Metro area, the three counties may be in line to be moved from Extreme Risk to High Risk, which would allow indoor bars and restaurants to reopen to some extent.  Here's an Oregonian article about it.
  • Axios has a story on the many ways in which the COVID-19 vaccines  have shattered expectations.

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 305.  Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:

Baker (2)

Benton (5)

Clackamas (27)

Columbia (3)

Coos (15)

Crook (1)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (5)

Douglas (11)

Jackson (8)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (10)

Lane (30)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (5)

Marion (27)

Multnomah (66)

Polk (7)

Tillamook (2)

Umatilla (5)

Union (1)

Wallowa (1)

Wasco (2)

Washington (51)

Yamhill (17)

And the Death:

Note from OHA: Updated information is known about Oregon’s 1570^th death originally reported on Jan 8. He is a 70-year-old man in Josephine county. He was originally reported to live in Jackson county.

Oregon’s 2,024th COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Feb. 4 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center.

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.

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