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February 13, 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.
Hope you were able to get out and experience the snow today. I did, and it was so exhilarating to see all the kids—and their parents--out sledding and snowballing and snow-angel-ing and even snowboarding and X-country skiing. OK, true confessions—the bar is low: any time away from Zoom is good time. But today was special.
As you’ll see further down in the newsletter, today’s reported number of new COVID cases has again gone down. That’s great, and it portends further reductions in hospitalizations and COVID deaths in the future if it continues.
That may be a big “IF,” though. Here in the Metro area our dramatically improving COVID metrics allowed us to move from “Extreme Risk” to “High Risk” yesterday, allowing more indoor activities to be attempted. With the snow, we probably haven’t seen much effect yet, but we will. If our case counts can continue to go down, we’ll see further relaxation of the necessary restrictions, and let’s hope for that. But if increased activity in restaurants and taverns and gyms leads to our cases going back up, we’ll need to be prepared to back off again. As I said in an email to a constituent earlier today, I wish we didn’t have to be on this roller-coaster, but overall it’s what has kept Oregon in the top tier of states successfully managing their case counts and morbidity rates.
On the other hand, if you look at today’s reported COVID deaths, you’ll see another big number (43, following yesterday’s 38), and you may wonder what’s going on. As you’ll see in the individual descriptions of those we’ve lost, only 12 of the 81 deaths reported yesterday and today occurred this month. The rest were a function of late reporting of deaths that occurred in December and January. The process of death reports making their way to OHA can be long and circuitous, involving local medical examiners, the CDC, and others. In the epidemiological tables, these earlier deaths will be placed where they belong, and we’ll see that the overall trend continues to be a decline in COVID deaths here in Oregon. That shouldn’t be surprising, given the decline in new cases and hospitalizations that we were seeing in January.
I was again gratified to hear from several of you out there that you were able to successfully get vaccination appointments for yourself or your loved ones using one of the online appointment tools, either the OHA tool or the pharmacy tool. (I’ll again give the links further down.) I haven’t yet heard from anyone who has used the 211 telephone method, so if you have, please do let me know how it went.
I will say that even though the big Portland sites were canceled yesterday, we still had an impressive 20K+ vaccinations occur in the state yesterday.
I know it may not be obvious from this newsletter, but I’m actually spending most of my waking hours on a variety of important legislative issues. (OK, there’s also the Cascade Festival of African Films www.africanfilmfestival.org, which has been remarkable in its new online format this year.) I’ll include more legislative news in Sundays newsletter.
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 474 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 150,034.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA continues to report a total of 4 Oregonians who have tested positive for the B.117. (UK) variant and none of the other variants. We haven’t seen any new cases in the last two weeks. (However, though Oregon’s testing for the variants is more extensive than in most states, testing for variants remains limited.)
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 417 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 197,041.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,482 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,398,185.
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Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 2.9%. The national ratio today is 5.2%.
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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: 216 (14 more than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 49 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 165 (13 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 673 (90 more than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 27 (2 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 813 (8 more than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 43 newly-reported COVID deaths (nearly all of them dating from December and January but just reported to OHA).. 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 2,137.
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Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 20,386
- 11,783 administered yesterday
- 8,603 administered previously and report received yesterday
- Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 669,988
- 356,584 Pfizer doses
- 312,758 Moderna doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 475,828
- 189,061 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 885,250 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 333,629,359 (up 1,743,784 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 27,356,889 (up 90,199 from yesterday).
- Deaths: 474,423 (up 3,428 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:
- The top French health authority has decided that people who have had COVID-19 and have recovered from it only need one dose of the vaccine, essentially serving as a booster shot, 3-6 months after recovery. You can read more here.
- President Biden believes that we are on track to fully vaccinate all Americans who want the vaccine by the end of the summer. This would be a remarkable achievement. But, as the New York Times reports, big challenges remain.
- One of the benefits of being a legislator is that I become privy to all sorts of information about COVID via email. For example, it has allowed me to learn that the COVID vaccine leads to lifelong infertility. Well, as you can guess, unfortunately much of what comes into our inboxes is false, including that. Today’s New York Times clears up a number of COVID vaccine myths, thanks to a professor of pediatrics at my graduate school alma mater, Indiana University.
Links to Vaccination Sites
If you’re 75 and older, you’ll be able to start signing up for a COVID appointment on Monday. Some of you have already been able to snag one of the limited number of appointments on the pharmacy site, which I believe are filled for now (though it doesn’t hurt to try) or have been able to get an appointment because you’re in the 80+ category.
Most counties have already vaccinated everyone in the 1a category (frontline healthcare workers; staff and those living in nursing homes and other congregate care facilities; those living at home but receiving medical care from a caregiver; those with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities and their caregivers), and some have fully vaccinated their educational and childcare workers. Following a court order, many adults and juveniles in incarcerated custody are now being vaccinated as well.
If you had an appointment for yesterday or today at the Convention Center or the outdoor airport site, you should already have been contacted with a new appointment date. If you had an appointment sometime in the coming week, you should still be able to count on it happening as scheduled. For better or for worse (I think it’s for better) here in Oregon appointments are not being made unless it is certain that doses will be available.
If you’re part of the Kaiser system, you can register directly with them at their site.
If you want to use the Pharmacy Program, which is just getting underway, here are the chain pharmacies’ websites; individual Health Marts will need to be contacted directly:
People can also phone their local pharmacy and try to schedule an appointment over the phone.
For those in the Portland area who are eligible (75 and above starting on Monday), the large vaccination sites at the Convention Center (indoor) and the Airport (drive-through) are also available. You can make your appointment by going to the OHA vaccination website https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/ and use the scheduling tool. You’ll be able to choose either vaccination site there.
If you’re outside the Portland area, go to your local county website for more info. Here is a link to each county's vaccination website.
If you haven’t yet signed up for Get Vaccinated Oregon notifications, I encourage you to do so. Just go to getvaccinated.oregon.gov and click on “Check Eligibility” if it’s your first time.
And finally, if you’d rather speak directly to a person, you’ll want to phone 211. It’s a service that can connect you not only to vaccinations but to a variety of social services and supports. The Governor has recently called up 30 National Guard soldiers to assist them in staffing their phone lines, which has substantially reduced wait times.
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 474. More than two-thirds of today’s reported cases were again from counties outside the Portland Tri-County region. Here is the breakdown of cases by county today:
Baker (1)
Benton (19)
Clackamas (25)
Columbia (10)
Coos (20)
Crook (3)
Curry (1)
Deschutes (22)
Douglas (25)
Hood River (2)
Jackson (33)
Jefferson (5)
Josephine (19)
Klamath (3)
Lake (4)
Lane (52)
Lincoln (1)
Linn (13)
Malheur (3)
Marion (30)
Morrow (4)
Multnomah (74)
Polk (16)
Tillamook (2)
Umatilla (15)
Union (5)
Wallowa (1)
Wasco (1)
Washington (51)
Yamhill (14)
And the Deaths:
The first 38 deaths below are from yesterday’s report, but it took OHA a while to track down the details on each. As you’ll see, all but two are actually late-reports dating back to December and January and only now being reported to the state. It seems as if our number of deaths is spiking, but in fact the cases below show that our COVID death count is in decline, a function of the reduced number of infections and hospitalizations that we saw in January.
The subsequent 43 deaths were reported today. All but ten actually occurred in previous months (including one from back in October where the test wasn’t processed till after the death).
Oregon’s 2,057th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 15 and died on Jan. 24 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,058th COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 17 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,059th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 23 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,060th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Jan. 14 at Adventist Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,061st COVID-19 death is a 103-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 30 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,062nd COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 6 and died on Jan. 13 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,063rd COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 15 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,064th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 8 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,065th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 16 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,066th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 10 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,067th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 19 and died on Jan. 7 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,068th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Jan. 18 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,069th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Jan. 3 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,070th COVID-19 death is a 48-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Feb. 10 and died on Feb. 10 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,071st COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Jan. 9 and died on Jan. 20 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,072nd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died on Dec. 7 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,073rd COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Jan. 12 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 2,074th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,075th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 7 and died on Feb. 10 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,076th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 15 and died on Dec. 29 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,077th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,078th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 1 at Adventist Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,079th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Jan. 23 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,080th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 30 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,081st COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Jan. 10 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,082nd COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 8 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,083rd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Dec. 28 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,084th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 6 and died on Jan. 25 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,085th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 12 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,086th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 12 and died on Feb. 10 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,087th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,088th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 20 and died on Jan. 18 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,089th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Dec. 29 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,090th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 13 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,091st COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 19 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,092nd COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Jan. 7 and died on Jan. 18 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,093rd COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 19 and died on Jan. 21 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,094th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Nov. 23 died on Jan. 3 at his residence.
Today's Reported Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,095th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Jan. 4 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,096th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,097th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 3 and died on Feb. 1 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,098th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,099th COVID-19 death is a 31-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 27.
Oregon’s 2,100th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 26 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon's 2,101st COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 26 at Adventist Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,102nd COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 15 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,103rd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 12 and died on Jan. 22 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,104th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 17 and died on Jan. 26 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,105th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 24 and died on Feb. 2 at Adventist Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,106th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Crook County who tested positive on Jan. 17 and died on Feb. 11 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,107th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Crook County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 4 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,108th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 2 and died on Jan. 7 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,109th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Jan. 4 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,110th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Feb. 2 and died on Feb. 2. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,111st COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 31 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,112nd COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive on Feb. 4 and died on Feb. 12 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,113rd COVID-19 death is a 101-year-old woman in Hood River County who became symptomatic on Jan. 20 after contact with a confirmed case and died on Feb. 11 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,114th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on Nov. 29 and died on Jan. 16 at OHSU.
Oregon’s 2,115th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 18 at Samaritan Albany General Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,116th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on Jan. 10 and died on Jan. 21 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,117th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Feb. 5 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,118th COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 16 and died on Jan. 19 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,119th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Oct. 26 and died on Oct. 21 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,120th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 14 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,121st COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 20 and died on Jan. 11 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,122nd COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Jan. 21 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,123rd COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 9 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,124th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 14 and died on Jan. 25 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,125th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 15 and died on Feb. 1 at Oregon Health and Sciences University.
Oregon’s 2,126th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 12 and died on Jan. 13 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,127th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 25 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,128th COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 11 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,129th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 18 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,130th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Jan. 27 and died on Feb. 3 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,131st COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Feb. 3 at Good Shepherd Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,132nd COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Feb. 4 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,133rd COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Wasco County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 4 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,134th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 17 and died on Jan. 27 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,135th COVID-19 death is a 46-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 7 and died on Jan. 13 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,136th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 21 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,137th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 13 at her residence.
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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