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March 19, 2021
Dear 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 report includes another very high number of vaccinations. Nearly 60% of Oregon’s seniors have now received at least their first dose.
As you’ll see, COVID cases and the other metrics remain in the relatively low range they’ve been.
In the Legislature today marked one of the important deadlines of any session—by the end of today, any bill that has not been posted for a work session (i.e., scheduled to be voted on in its committee within the next few weeks) will not be able to move forward this session. So it was a day of final requests, deliberations, and decisions for committee chairs. A very tense day overall for me as a Chair and for me as someone with bills in many Senate committees. But for the most part, I and my committee and office staff managed to get through it without too much tragedy.
If you’re curious about the fate of a bill that you’re interested in, go to the Legislative Information System (oregonlegislature.gov) and see if it’s been scheduled for a public hearing or a work session. If it has been scheduled for a work session, it still has life. If not, it does not. (Unless it’s in Rules, Revenue, Ways & Means, or joint House/Senate committees such as Transportation—bills in these committees don’t need to move out of committee till the end of the session.)
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 381 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 160,994.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA reports no change to the count of reported variant cases in Oregon. So, the reported number of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant in Oregon remains at 17, and the P.1 (Brazilian) variant is still at 1. There are still 0 reported cases of the other variants.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reported 553 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 232,760.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 17,483 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,038,731.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.2%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 115 (1 fewer than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 30 (8 fewer than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 169 (14 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 650 (58 more than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 8 (3 more than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 808 (10 more than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 4 additional COVID deaths today. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now at 2,357.
- Vaccinations:
- As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 39,348
- 23,038 were conducted yesterday
- 16,310 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: 1,451,550
- 710,862 Pfizer doses
- 711,759 Moderna doses
- 27,984 Johnson & Johnson doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 935,500
- 536,803 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 1,851,175 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (53,630 more than yesterday.)
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Additional Quick Updates:
- OPB’s Jes Burns just finished the third of a three-part series on COVID response. This one focuses on the challenge of vaccine supply and demand.
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lFor another take on the question of which vaccine is the best, here’s a long piece from USA Today.
- Speaking of choices, Multnomah County public health will begin focusing on vaccinating its homeless population (among others) at the end of the month. Because of the special challenges of addressing this population, the single-dose Johnson & Johnson version will be the preferred choice. To do that, though, we’ll ne more doses of this particular vaccine. You can read more about it here.
- For those of you who receive your medical care from Kaiser Permanente, KP has just announced that they will be providing vaccines at their clinics before too long, assuming that increased doses come into the state. Here's info about that from Kaiser, along with a range of information about COVID and the vaccines.
CDC Changes School Distancing Standards
In a move that we knew was coming sometime soon, the CDC changed its school distancing standards today for kids in K-12. The standard was cut in half, from 6 feet to 3 feet. You can read the CDC statement here. And here is a story about it from the New York Times.
The key effect of this change is not just how close kids will be able to come to one or to their teacher, rather it will greatly expand the number of kids who can be in a classroom at the same time. That means less need to have kids come to school in shifts, hence the more time each can be in school each day.
However, since more kids will be in each classroom, other safety protocols, particularly with respect to classroom ventilation. It will be important to have properly adjusted HVAC systems, able to bring in plenty of outside air, or good portable air purifiers.
The new protocols apply to younger kids (K-5) and to kids in middle school and high school in areas where infection rates are below 100 cases per 100,000. (You can see where Oregon’s counties currently are here. here.
The Governor announced today that she has ordered OHA to revise its guidance to include the new CDC directive. I was told this afternoon that it will be ready soon. It will likely leave the decision about whether or not to incorporate the change up to individual districts.
I’ll let you know more and link to the new guidance when it becomes available.
The Latest Update from the Governor
Governor Brown held a press conference today to talk with reporters (and the public via livestream) about the current state of COVID action, vaccinations, and school reopening in Oregon. She was joined by OHA Director Pat Allen, State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger, and the CEO of the Asian Health and Service Center in Portland. Here are the highlights regarding the current state of vaccinations in the state:
- We’re about to cross the 1 million Oregonians who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, which is nearly 1 in 3 adult Oregonians.
- The goal is to hit 70%-80% of all Oregonians vaccinated, which should give us the critical mass to curb transmission of the virus.
- More than 58% of seniors have been vaccinated so far. We’re vaccinating 1%-2% of all seniors each day.
- We’re on track to hit our goal of vaccinating 70% of all seniors by the end of the month.
- Some counties are ahead of others in vaccinating seniors. Those that have already hit the 70% goal by the end of this week will be allowed to start vaccinating the next groups on the list (Phase 1B Group 6). Deschutes County (Bend and surroundings) has already hit the target. Benton, Baker, Polk, and Wheeler are close and will likely be ready by next week.
- Multnomah County has now vaccinated 2/3 of our seniors.
- In some counties, we’re seeing the rate decrease. This is not because they’ve been getting fewer doses. Rather, we may be seeing a decrease in desire to get vaccinated in some of the more rural areas.
- If we get the number of doses that the federal government has said we will (250K per week starting in April), we will be able to make everyone eligible by May 1.
- We’re currently doing approximately 25,000 vaccinations a day; hope to double that by the second half of April as a result of added supply.
- As exciting as these earlier eligibility opportunities are, it’s important to remember that even with the added supply, eligibility doesn’t necessarily translate into an immediate appointment. We have to expect initial bottlenecks with the addition of each new group, then a gradual increase in availability. As a result of increased supply.
- the initial bottlenecks should be less than was the case when seniors were initially added.
- There will be 2 million Oregonians newly eligible by the end of the month. There will not be enough vaccine available for them on March 29, but that will come over the following month.
- This is an incredible turnaround from earlier projections. It wasn’t that long ago that we were hearing projections of the end of the year before everyone was fully vaccinated.
- The focus will need to shift increasingly to reach those Oregonians who are more difficult to access.
New Oregon Vaccine Prioritization Timeline
March 22
- Counties that attest to largely completing the vaccination of residents 65 and older may begin vaccinating the next eligible groups.
- Vaccinations may also begin for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in counties where they are currently already working.
March 29: Phase 1B, Group 6
- All adults 45-64 with underlying health conditions,
- Migrant and seasonal farm workers,
- Seafood and agricultural workers,
- Food processing workers,
- People living in low-income senior housing, senior congregate and independent living,
- Individuals experiencing homelessness,
- People currently displaced by wildfires,
- Wildland firefighters, and
- Pregnant people 16 and older.
April 19: Phase 1B, Group 7
- Frontline workers as defined by the CDC,
- Multigenerational household members, and
- Adults 16-44 with underlying health conditions.
May 1
- All Oregonians, 16 and older.
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 381. Nearly 2/3 of today’s reported cases are from outside the Portland Tri-County area. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Benton (6)
Clackamas (42)
Clatsop (4)
Columbia (1)
Coos (23)
Crook (3)
Curry (13)
Deschutes (15)
Douglas (12)
Grant (4)
Harney (1)
Jackson (30)
Jefferson (3)
Josephine (31)
Klamath (9)
Lake (1)
Lane (16)
Lincoln (8)
Linn (10)
Malheur (3)
Marion (27)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (54)
Polk (4)
Umatilla (15)
Union (2)
Wasco (1)
Washington (39)
Yamhill (4)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,354th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Clatsop County who tested positive on Jan. 3 and died on Jan. 8. Location of death is being confirmed.
Oregon’s 2,355th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Feb. 28 and died on March 18 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,356th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Feb. 24 and died on March 17 at Salem Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,357th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Wasco County who tested positive on Feb. 11 and died on Feb. 11.
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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