February 27th COVID-19 Update

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February 27, 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 case numbers were a little higher today, presumably the result of  cases that were left out of yesterday’s report now being counted.  The state’s positivity rate was lower, as were hospitalizations.  Continuing a trend that we’ve been seeing for a while now, the number of new cases outside the Portland region are disproportionately higher.

Yesterday was another record day for vaccinations.  Nearly 80% of all doses received have been administered so far, even with the big jump in supply this week.  We expect further increases in Pfizer and Moderna doses arriving in the coming weeks.  We learned today that the FDA has given emergency use authorization to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, so we will also see those beginning to arrive in Oregon in the coming weeks.  The J&J vaccine does not need to be kept at the very low temperatures needed for the other two, and it only requires a single dose to create very high protection, so we can expect the OHA to decide to send them to areas where access is more challenging.

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 455 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 155,315.
• Variant COVID Cases: OHA reports that an additional Oregonian has tested positive for the B.117. The total number reported in Oregon is now 10.  (UK) variant and none of the other variants. (However, although Oregon’s testing for the variants is more extensive than in most states, testing for variants remains limited.)
• Positive Test Results: OHA reports 468 positive tests today, The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 033.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 15,975 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,580,095.
• Positivity Rate: Today’s test positivity ratio for Oregon is 2.9%. The national ratio today is 4.3%.
• Hospitalization Information: OHA only reports on the first two bulleted items over the weekend. The others remain the same as Friday’s report.
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 148 (4 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 31 (3 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 167 (1 more than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 616 (73 more than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 15 (2 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 806 (6 fewer than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 newly-reported COVID deaths today.  You can read more about those we’ve lost further down in the newsletter.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,208.
• Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported Today: 32,288
    • 24,926 administered yesterday
    • 7,362 administered previously and report received yesterday
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 943,692
    • 491,092 Pfizer doses
    • 451,878 Moderna doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 603,738
    • 334,379 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 1,194,495 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s an additional 16,550 new doses distributed to sites yesterday.)
    • 79% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 75.5%. 
    • 14.7% of Oregonians have now been vaccinated.
    • 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. each county's Vaccination Website. It provides access information for those in Category 1a and (eventually) in 1b.

• Today’s National Numbers:
  • Total Tests: 353,224,805 (up 1,637,459 from yesterday).
  • Total Cases: 28,296,217 (up 70,622 from yesterday).
  • Deaths: 502,171 (up 1,822 from yesterday).
  • These national numbers come from the COVID Tracking Project. You can visit that site HERE https://covidtracking.com/data/national
• Additional Quick Updates:
  • I mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter that approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could come as soon as Sunday. Well, it actually came a day early, as the FDA granted the vaccine emergency approval this afternoon. We could see doses become available very quickly—for Oregon that will likely mean 200,000 doses by the end of March and 1 million by the end of June.  You can read more here.
  • People are now wondering which vaccine they should hold out for—the 2-shot Pfizer and Moderna or the single shot Johnson & Johnson. A professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health says the answer is an easy one—go with whatever vaccine is offered to you first.   Here's why.
  • Here’s  another article about the probability that those who have been vaccinated will be less likely to transmit the virus to the unvaccinated.

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 455.  More than 2/3 of today’s cases are again from outside the Portland Tri-County area.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (6)

Benton (7)

Clackamas (35)

Columbia (13)

Coos (42)

Curry (2)

Deschutes (14)

Douglas (16)

Hood River (4)

Jackson (67)

Jefferson (4)

Josephine (9)

Klamath (5)

Lake (1)

Lane (29)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (9)

Malheur (7)

Marion (43)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (32)

Polk (12)

Umatilla (12)

Union (3)

Wasco (1)

Washington (73)

Yamhill (6)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,207th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Feb. 22 and died on Feb. 25 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,208th COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Jan. 13 and died on Feb. 15 at Asante Three Rivers 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.

AND FINALLY,

Here again are some resources that you will find useful:

• Multnomah County has a status report on reopening.
• You can view the reopening status of all 36 counties here.
• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 
• Oregon's Office of Emergency Management now has a website for information about COVID-19.
• You can sign up here for regular coronavirus updates from OHA.
• Multnomah County has an excellent website with lots of really important advice and guidance.
• Here’s one from the Governor’s Office.
• The Employment Department has put together a webpage with Q&A’s on a number of employment issues related to COVID-19 (e.g., eligibility for Unemployment Insurance benefits).
• The Oregon Education Department has a new site for COVID-19 updates.
• The Department of Corrections has a COVID tracking website.

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