March 21st COVID-19 Update

March 21, 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.

Our COVID numbers are low today, even for a Sunday.  We’ll see over the next few days if that’s due to late reporting. 

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 224 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 161,534.
• Variant COVID Cases: OHA does not report on potential additions to the number of variant cases over the weekend.  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.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reported 308 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 234,139.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 10,526 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,066,061.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 2.9%.
• Hospitalization Information: OHA only reports on the first two bulleted items over the weekend. So, the other numbers are unchanged from yesterday.  I’ll update them on Monday.
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 112 (6 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 22 (4 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).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional COVID death today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now at 2,363.
• Vaccinations:
• As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
  • New Immunizations Reported Today: 22,232
    • 14,149 were conducted yesterday
    • 8,083 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: 1,509,386
    • 741,634 Pfizer doses
    • 735,478 Moderna doses
    • 31,302 Johnson & Johnson doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 973,795
    • 560,090 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 1,858,385 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (same as yesterday.)
    • 81.2% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 79.4%. 
    • 23.8% of Oregonians have now been vaccinated.
    • 13.7% 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 1b.

• Additional Quick Updates:
  • The Oregonian’s Mike Rogoway takes a look at where Oregon’s economy is a year after business shutdowns had to be ordered: the pandemic recession has been.both the state's steepest and deepest but not as bad as had been feared.
  • The AP reports on an analysis showing that states that widely opened their vaccination eligibility early wound up falling behind states that went at it more slowly and gradually.  Read more here.
  • Are you fully vaccinated? Ready to go to a restaurant?  The Washington Post has some things for you to consider.
  • In a similar vein, the New York Times has a story about this unusual period in which (fully-vaccinated) seniors are now more comfortable hitting the restaurants than younger people are.
  • Also on the good-news front, early studies indicate that pregnant mothers who have been vaccinated are passing antibodies on to babies in vitro and through breastmilk.

The Week Ahead in the Legislature

With House Republicans still requiring that all bills be read in their entirety before they can be debated and a vote held on the House floor, the House will meet four times this week (M-Th), with evening sessions scheduled each day.  This will allow bills to make their way over to the Senate in a timely manner.

Senate is still holding floor sessions just twice a week--Wednesday and Thursday.  (Senate Republicans are still waiving the requirement to read bills in their entirety.)  A Monday session will be added the first full week of April.  Nine bills are scheduled for this Wednesday, none of them controversial.  That will likely not be the case for Thursday, but we don’t yet have Thursday’s bills posted.  I’ll let you know in Wednesday’s newsletter.

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 224. Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (1)

Benton (8)

Clackamas (21)

Columbia (6)

Coos (6)

Deschutes (11)

Douglas (8)

Grant (3)

Jackson (12)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (13)

Lake (1)

Lane (8)

Linn (12)

Marion (38)

Multnomah (28)

Polk (4)

Union (2)

Washington (40)

Yamhill (1)

And the Death:

Oregon’s 2,363rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Grant County who tested positive on March 12 and died on March 19 at St. Charles Bend 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:

• 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