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February 9, 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.
Our COVID numbers remain good today overall. A little higher than they’ve been over the last couple of days, but still well below where they were last week.
Similarly, vaccinations are moving along. Our administration rate remains over 70% even though we received an additional 66,000 doses of the vaccine today.
The big news for those of us in the Portland Metro region was the announcement this morning that our plummeting COVID infection rates are allowing us to have our county risk level moved down one level. You’ll find more information on this move further down in the newsletter.
This change will allow restaurants and taverns to reopen to limited indoor occupancy beginning on Friday, for the first time since mid-November. That’s great news for those in the industry, and I know that many people are anxious to get back to eating out. This decision makes sense, given our transmission trends, but it does of course carry risk. We know that it is difficult to stay masked in such settings or to avoidf close contact between individuals not in the same household. I do hope that this doesn’t lead to a rebound in cases.
Time will tell. For now, I think we’ll stick to takeout.
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
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New COVID Cases: OHA reports 529 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 147,932.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA continues to report 4 Oregonians who have tested positive for the B.117. (UK) variant. We haven’t seen any new cases in the last week. I’ll report on new cases in the future.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 622 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 194,878.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,063 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,328,998.
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Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 4.%. The national ratio today is 5.8%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 226 (5 motr than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 53 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 147 (20 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 582 (167 fewer than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 31 (2 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 786(same as yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 7 new COVID deaths. You’ll find more information about the Oregonians we’ve lost recently further down in the newsletter. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,031.
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Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 16,340
- 7,863 administered yesterday
- 8,477 administered previously and report received yesterday
- Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 588,740
- 319,392 Pfizer doses
- 268,743 Moderna doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 434,551
- 148,671 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 801,125 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 326,909,867 (up 1,611,368 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 26,968,049 (up 92,986 from yesterday).
- Deaths: 458,250 (up 2,795 from yesterday).
- These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site HERE https://covidtracking.com/data/national
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Additional Brief Updates:
Tri-County Area Moves from Extreme Risk to High Risk
As I suggested was imminent in last night’s newsletter, the improving metrics have resulted in ten counties being moved from Extreme Risk to High Risk, the next level down. Included among them are Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties. The move to the more relaxed category, which will allow for limited reopening of indoor restaurants, will begin on Friday.
The Governor made the announcement today.
Effective Feb. 12 through Feb. 25, 14 counties will be in the Extreme Risk level, 11 at High Risk, three at Moderate Risk and eight at Lower Risk. You’ll find a complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here.
OHA examines and publishes county data weekly. County risk levels are reassigned every two weeks. The first week's data provide a “warning week” to prepare counties for potential risk level changes. The next assignment of risk levels will be announced Feb. 23 and take effect Feb. 26.
Here's a chart showing what can and cannot be done under each of the four risk categories.
And here's an Oregonian story with more information about the change.
New House Bills Introduced
The House met this morning at the Capitol for introduction of new measures. You’ll find them here. They’ll be assigned to committee in the next few days.
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 529. Two-thirds of today’s reported cases were from counties outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:
Baker (4)
Benton (20)
Clackamas (65)
Columbia (3)
Coos (9)
Crook (1)
Curry (3)
Deschutes (5)
Douglas (16)
Grant (1)
Harney (18)
Hood River (10)
Jackson (19)
Jefferson (5)
Josephine (20)
Klamath (9)
Lake (13)
Lane (39)
Lincoln (1)
Linn (9)
Malheur (1)
Marion (54)
Morrow (3)
Multnomah (78)
Polk (19)
Tillamook (1)
Umatilla (29)
Union (5)
Wallowa (9)
Wasco (7)
Washington (40)
Yamhill (11)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,025th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman in Columbia County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Feb. 4 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,026th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 9 at her residence..
Oregon’s 2,027th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 17 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,028th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Feb. 6 at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,029th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on Feb. 2 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,030th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Union County who tested positive on Jan. 22 and died on Feb. 7 at Grande Ronde Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,031st COVID-19 death is a 44-year-old man in Hood River County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on Feb. 6.
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:
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: 503-281-0608
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301
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