March 9th COVID-19 Update

Click to edit this placeholder text.

March 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.

Case numbers have gone up in today’s report, double what they were in previous days.  Hopefully that’s not the beginning of something new, but rather a catching-up of reporting.  Our other metrics remain relatively low today.  And, as you’ll see below, Multnomah County is on track to be moved from “High Risk” to “Moderate Risk,” which will result in more people being able to be in restaurants, gyms, and other venues at the same time.

For some reason, yesterday was a relatively low day for vaccinations.  Nevertheless, we are starting to see more people getting appointments for the coming days.  I was contacted by several newsletter readers today with the good news that they have been contacted by All4Oregon and offered vaccination appointments at the Convention Center.  The new system appears to be working.

I just heard that some thousands of additional doses have gone out to pharmacies in the state.  You can check that out at the VaccineFinder website: https://vaccinefinder.org/search/.

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 517 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 158,007.
• Variant COVID Cases: OHA again reports no changes on the variants in Oregon, so  the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant in Oregon is still at 11 and the P.1 (Brazilian) variant is still at 1.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reports 487 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 228,506.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 12,599 tests today Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 3,889,664.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.9%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 134 (15 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 31 (2 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 156 (29 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 689 (65 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 12 (1 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 758 (12 fewer than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 5 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,303.
• Vaccinations: As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported Today: 15,945
    • 8,760 were conducted yesterday
    • 7,185 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: 1,179,510
    • 589,309 Pfizer doses
    • 586,594 Moderna doses
    • 2,782 Johnson & Johnson dose

• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 750,486
  • 425,098 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• To date, 1,418,455 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
  • 83.2% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 76.0%. 
  • 18.4% of Oregonians have now been vaccinated with one dose.
  • 10.4% of Oregonians have now been fully 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.

• Additional Quick Updates:
  • OHA released the  new county COVID metrics. You’ll see that our statewide infection rates and positivity rates have continued to decline. This is definitely the case for the Portland Metropolitan area, with the rates for Multnomah County especially low.
  • The link in the following item was incorrect. Here we go again:  Interested in seeing where the states are in terms of reopening their schools?  Here's a tracker that provides a national picture.  
  • The New York Times had an article about the experience of returning to in-person schooling after a year.
  • You may have noticed that yesterday’s newsletter didn’t include the national data that I’ve been getting from the COVThID Tracking Project (from The Atlantic and the Johns Hopkins University). That’s because the Project has come to an end.  It has been a tremendous resource for me and for many publications.  You can read more about its accomplishments https://covidtracking.com/  Ah well.  I never thought these COVID updates would outlive the COVID Tracking Project, but there it is.
  • One of the challenges that we’ve had with vaccinations is getting them to residents of our adult foster care homes. The federal pharmacy program fell short in getting to these small but important care sites.  But the state has stepped up, and progress is being made.  Here’s a story from KGW.com.
  • Every Wednesday the House Health Care Committee’s subcommittee on COVID devotes some time to an update on vaccination rollout in Oregon.  If you’re interested in watching (at 3:15 pm) or checking out the latest info from OHA, here's the link.

Changes to County Risk Levels Announced

With the release of the new county metrics, a number of counties will change their risk status.  Here is today’s  press release from the Governor. It describes the changes in risk levels.  Two counties—Jackson and Malheur—would have moved up to higher risk, except that the Governor is allowing them two weeks extra time at their lower levels while they try to turn things around. 

Multnomah County, whose numbers have been steadily improving, has now joined Clackamas and Washington County in moving from “High Risk to “Moderate,” which will allow it to open venues to higher occupancy.

Here is the list of counties and their new status.

To see what restrictions are in place for each risk level, click here and scroll down to the guidance chart.

Multnomah County Reaches Out to Homebound Seniors

Like many of you, I’m concerned that even as more and more seniors are receiving or being scheduled for the COVID vaccine, many of those who lack internet or otherwise have difficulty accessing the appointments process will fall through the cracks.  I asked Multnomah County what they are doing to help with targeted outreach to these vulnerable individuals.  Here’s what I heard back from them today:

There are a number of avenues that are being used to reach out to isolated homebound:

• Oregon DHS has provided County Health with a list of over 5,000 older adults and people with disabilities who are receiving Medicaid or OPI services and who have one or more risk factors for being homebound or isolated.
• We are partnering with the 4 large health systems to reach out to their members who may be isolated and homebound.
• County Health staff and contractors (District Centers, Enhancing Equity contractors, Meals on Wheels People, etc.) are reaching out to all of our clients to ensure they have the support they need to sign up for a vaccine or get them on a list for homebound support for vaccination. They are providing lists to County Health of individuals who are homebound, as well as providing direct assistance with sign up.
• We are sharing information on the ADRC [Aging and Disability Resource Connection Hotline: 503-988-3646] & 211info publicly so that older adults and their families know to call if they need assistance.
• DCHS is in conversations with AARP to see if they have volunteers who can be available as "vaccine assistors."
• OHA is also starting to fund Community Based Organizations (currently funded for CHW and wrap around support) for outreach and vaccine assistance.  Oregon Public Health and County Health will connect to work together with CBOs.
• We are also setting up our own call center to be able to handle calls about vaccination, to augment 211.

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 517. A little less than 2/3 of all COVID cases reported today were from outside the Portland Tri-County area.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (4)

Benton (12)

Clackamas (47)

Columbia (5)

Coos (27)

Crook (1)

Curry (11)

Deschutes (14)

Douglas (15)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (49)

Jefferson (4)

Josephine (29)

Klamath (15)

Lake (2)

Lane (17)

Lincoln (4)

Linn (14)

Malheur (2)

Marion (61)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (76)

Polk (8)

Umatilla (17)

Union (7)

Washington (56)

Yamhill (10)

And the Deaths

Oregon’s 2,299th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Feb. 19 and died on March 5 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,300th COVID-19 death is a 43-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on March 7 and died on March 8 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,301st COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old woman in Baker County who tested positive on Feb. 18 and died on March 7 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho.

Oregon’s 2,302nd COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Feb. 11 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,303rd COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Feb. 28 at OHSU Health Hillsboro 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.
• 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 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