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March 4, 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 was another day with a large number of reported COVID deaths. OHA wasn’t able to get us the detailed information on the individuals we lost We’ll get that information tomorrow, after they’ve completed gathering the information on their locations, places of death, and underlying conditions. This is typical when there’s a large number, most of whom died weeks if not months ago and whose information was only now making its way to the OHA. Further down in the newsletter you will find the information about those who were reported yesterday.
These large “data dumps” make it seem as if our COVID deaths are surging. Once you place them in the weeks and months where they belong, however, you’ll see that our COVID deaths are continuing to decline.
Case counts also remain relatively low, as do hospitalizations. Our state positivity rate for today is unusually high, the result of a low number of tests and a high number of positive results. It’s not clear what exactly is going on with that. It’s likely an anomaly of some sort.
I’m happy to report that Kiki and I did get our first injections of the Pfizer vaccine this afternoon. It was at our local Walgreens and was quick and easy. Knowing how many others are still waiting, I feel very lucky that it worked out for us. Aside from the usual slight soreness in the arm, no adverse effects.
Tomorrow’s Kiki’s birthday, and it’s hard to think of a better present!
For those of you in the Portland area who are eligible but have not yet gotten your appointment, please remember to sign up at getvaccinated.oregon.gov if you haven’t done so yet. I’ve been told that up to 15,000 appointments will become available for the Convention Center site next week. Those randomly selected for those appointments will be contacted by text or email. If you have mobility challenges that cause you to need the airport drive-through site, you’ll still want to use the “ChatBot” that pops up on covidvaccine.oregon.gov.
If you want to try one of the pharmacies, as I did, I’d recommend going to the VaccineFinder Website. It has links to all the pharmacies that do vaccinations. (But don’t assume that just because they say they have doses, they actually do and can make appointments.) If you’re interested in trying the new single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I believe that they are being offered through Safeway/Albertsons. If you go to that site, you’ll be given a choice of a one-dose vaccine (J&J) or a two-dose vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna).
And you can also try calling 211.
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 392 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 156,673.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA reports no additional cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant in Oregon (still 11) nor of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant (still 1).
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Positive Test Results: OHA reports 847 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 226,145.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 10,629 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,798,067.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon is 8.0%. The national ratio today is 4.1%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 140 (same as yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 29 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 175 (3 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 615 (93 more than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 14 (3 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 782 (5 fewer than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 32 additional COVID deaths today. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,284.
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Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 24,014
- 16,376 were conducted yesterday
- 7,638 were conducted earlier, but the reports were received yesterday (there can potentially be a three-day window for reporting)
- Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 1,043,609
- 538,581 Pfizer doses
- 504,259 Moderna doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 659,943
- 377,819 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 1,341,775 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (31,600 more than yesterday)
- 77.8% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 75.1%.
- 16.1% 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. It provides access information for those in Category 1a and (eventually) in 1b.
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Today’s National Numbers:
- Total Tests: 359,511,410 (up 1,596.075 from yesterday).
- Total Cases: 28,585,852 (up 65,487 from yesterday).
- Deaths: 510,408 (up 1,743 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 Quick Updates:
- As you’ll see on the COVID ActNow map, Oregon remains one of the safest states in the continental U.S. today. We’ve been joined now by Washington, and Missouri’s infection rate is now slightly better than ours. Unfortunately, you’ll also see that Texas, which has just lifted its face-covering requirements, remains among the riskiest states in the nation.
- The Governor announced today that Counties whose risk level was lowered last week can count on staying at this lower level for an additional two weeks even if their numbers rise. This is designed to provide more certainty and stability for local businesses at risk of bouncing in and out of different regulations if they are on the edge. The next risk-level assignments will be announced next Tuesday.
- The New York Times has an article today about the mixed reaction to the new Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine. It is very attractive for its sturdiness and ease of use, but some people worry that it will give them less protection. Experts say this is not the case.
- The White House is working with insurers to help set up vaccination appointments for high-risk, low-access people in an effort to increase equitable distribution of vaccines. Read about it here.
- Reuters has a long piece about ways in which the risk of the new COVID variants could shape the trajectory of the pandemic.
It’s Constituent Coffee Time!
Saturday morning is the first Saturday of the month, so it’s time for another zoom constituent coffee. This is your chance to get an update on legislative business, challenges, and goals, and enter into a dialogue with me and other constituents.
Here's the link to register for the Coffee.
Hope to see you there!
At the Capitol: March 4 Passes Without Incident
The Senate met for its first substantive floor session of the year this morning. As I’ve mentioned, up to now our floor sessions were essentially just for the introduction of new bills. Today was the first time that bills were actually voted on.
Until today’s meeting actually began, it wasn’t clear how it would go. Would there be a quorum? Would any of the members refuse to wear a mask? Would Republicans vote no on all the bills in protest? Would there be QAnon-inspired protests at our Capitol mirroring what was feared would occurred today at the U.S. Capitol. As it turned out, there were no protests today at either Capitol. And it was more or less a normal floor session, aside from COVID.
Nearly all the members were in attendance (1 D and 2 Rs were absent), and all wore masks throughout the session. Senator Dallas Heard, the new Chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, consistently cast no votes in protest against session rules, but that wasn’t true for his Republican colleagues. Senator Kim Thatcher put on the record that although she had voted no in committee on a bill related to the Oregon Youth Authority, her no vote in committee was meant as a protest against the decision to hold committee meetings remotely, rather than bring people into the Capitol at this time. (The bill was SB 83, which, as it happened, I was assigned to “carry”—i.e., explain the bill’s contents and the reasons to vote for it—my first carry of the year.) She then voted for the bill on the floor, as did everyone other than Senator Heard.
Actually, the first thing we did this morning was vote to confirm a large group of appointees to various boards and commissions, and as heads of state agencies. Most were confirmed as a single group on a nearly unanimous vote. The Republican caucus had asked that seven of the nominees be separated out for individual votes for a variety of reasons. Those were all eventually confirmed on party-line votes.
Today also marked the first instance of a ritual that occurs in the early days of all “normal” sessions—the hazing of new legislators carrying their first bills. They are subjected to questions that have nothing to do with the bill itself and everything to do with creating a sense of humor and bonhomie from members of both parties. This year that privilege went to newly-elected Senator Kate Leiber. She handled it with great good humor.
Truth be told, it felt a little odd to be performing this ritual masked and amidst the underlying ongoing tensions between the parties. But ultimately it was a moment of grace amidst a difficult session. We’ll see how it goes next week. But for now, on a day when our counterparts in the U.S. Senate had to endure the word-by-word reading of the hundreds of pages of the American Recovery Plan as part of a delaying tactic (been there, done that), I’ll count my blessings . .
You can see the various appointments and bills that were passed today here.
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 392. Nearly ¾ of all COVID cases reported today were again outside the Portland Tri-County area. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Baker (3)
Benton (8)
Clackamas (24)
Clatsop (1)
Columbia (3)
Coos (21)
Crook (4)
Curry (2)
Deschutes (26)
Douglas (23)
Grant (2)
Hood River (1)
Jackson (37)
Jefferson (10)
Josephine (23)
Klamath (7)
Lane (18)
Lincoln (1)
Linn (8)
Malheur (1)
Marion (38)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (52)
Polk (6)
Tillamook (1)
Umatilla (18)
Union (8)
Wallowa (1)
Washington (34)
Yamhill (6)
And the Deaths:
Here is information about the 27 deaths that were reported yesterday. Today’s 32 deaths are still being researched and will be available tomorrow. As expected, nearly all of these are deaths that occurred 2-4 weeks ago but are only now being reported to OHA.
Oregon’s 2,226th COVID-19 death is a 101-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Feb. 9 and died on Feb. 14 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,227th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Feb. 6 and died on Feb. 14 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,228th COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Feb. 6 and died on Feb. 12 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,229th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 22 and died on Feb. 21 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,230th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 22 and died on Feb. 10 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,231st COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on Feb. 21 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,232nd COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 19 and died on Feb. 15 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,233rd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 22 and died on Feb. 24 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,234th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Jan. 18 and died on Feb. 28 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,235th COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 28 and died on Feb. 22 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,236th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 27 and died on Feb. 14 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,237th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on Feb. 10 at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,238th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Feb. 12 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,239th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Jan. 13 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,240th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 1 and died on Feb. 11 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,241st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 5 and died on Feb. 22 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,242nd COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 3 and died on Feb. 24 at Adventist Health Portland.
Oregon’s 2,243rd COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 1 and died on Feb. 14 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,244th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Jan. 17 and died on Feb. 18 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,245th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 8 and died on Feb. 14 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,246th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Feb. 19 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,247th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Feb. 17 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,248th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 24 and died on Feb. 14 at her residence.
Oregon’s 2,249th COVID-19 death is a 47-year-old man in Wallowa County who tested positive on Jan. 25 and died on March 2 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,250th COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Feb. 18 and died on March 1 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,251st COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Feb. 13 and died on Feb. 23 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,252nd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Polk County who tested positive on Jan. 20 and died on Jan. 30 at Salem Hospital.
 
 
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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