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March 25, 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.
I’m beginning this newsletter on the Senate floor. We are currently dealing with SB 554, the bill barring firearms (aside from those needed by law enforcement) from the Capitol and potentially from other public buildings in the state. We do have a quorum today, as six of our Republican colleagues are present. One of our Democratic colleagues was excused today as a result of concern over COVID.
I have plenty of time to write (though unfortunately today’s COVID data is not yet available) because the Republicans have insisted that SB 554 be read aloud in its entirety, ultimately a job for four of our clerks. And then there were eight efforts to substitute SB 554 with other motions in an effort to drag things out and make speeches for the record that essentially made the same points over and over again. Frankly, it’s what a minority party does when the end result is inevitable. (If the Democrats didn’t have enough votes committed to pass it, it wouldn’t have come to the floor.)
In the end, four hours later, all but one Democrat voted aye, and that was enough to pass it and send it to the House.
Although much of the Republican criticism of the bill was based on the assertion that urban Democrats were imposing urban anti-gun values on rural Republicans, in fact one of the big compromises in the bill was to allow for prohibition decisions to be made at the local level. Though the Legislature has decided to prohibit firearms from state buildings, it is leaving the decision of whether or not to allow them up to individual cities, counties, colleges, universities, and school districts. Some will, some won’t, as is currently the case in the private sector.
On the COVID front, today’s case numbers are a little higher, but fortunately the number of reported deaths remains low. As you’ll see, the deceased are also younger (one woman in her fifties, another in her sixties); that too seems to be a pattern now, with fewer of the deceased coming from older Oregonians in long-term care.
Vaccinations are back up again, with 37,000 reported today
Please sty 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 422 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 162,806.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA again reports no increases in the number of variant cases in Oregon. 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 569 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 235,342.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 13,409 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,112,003.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 4.2%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 108 (6 more than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 17 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 184 (15 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 691 (5 fewer than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 9 (same as yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 799 (17 more than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 additional COVID deaths today. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now at 2,370.
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Vaccinations:
- As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 36,915
- 23,339 were conducted yesterday
- 13,576 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: 1,613,998
- 803,440 Pfizer doses
- 774,225 Moderna doses
- 35,336 Johnson & Johnson doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,046,267
- 596,426 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 2,068,755 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon (an additional 11,100 doses).
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Additional Quick Updates:
Get Vaccinated Oregon Website Being Updated
With more people becoming eligible for COVID-19 vaccination on Monday, March 29, the Get Vaccinated Oregon (GVO) tool has been updated with questions about the new eligibility groups. OHA is encouraging everyone who has signed up but not yet gotten a vaccine to update their information.
- If you’ve signed up for notifications only, please update your information by visiting oregon.gov and clicking “Get Started.”
- If you have created a Get Vaccinated Oregon profile, please visit oregon.gov and click “Login” in the top right of the page. When you get a pop-up, click the “X” and you’ll be able to log in and update your information.
Here are some things to know about the GVO:
- If you update your info this week but won’t be eligible until March 29, the tool will say you are ineligible. This will automatically update on March 29 if you become eligible.
- The GVO tool reflects statewide eligibility only. It does not take into account the counties that have been approved to move ahead of the statewide timeline (see below).
- If you haven’t yet received a COVID-19 vaccine, you should go ahead and sign up for the GVO tool.
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 422. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Baker (10)
Benton (1)
Clackamas (42)
Clatsop (9)
Columbia (7)
Coos (12)
Crook (1)
Curry (6)
Deschutes (21)
Douglas (13)
Hood River (1)
Jackson (21)
Josephine (22)
Klamath (9)
Lake (3)
Lane (16)
Lincoln (4)
Linn (17)
Malheur (2)
Marion (49)
Multnomah (69)
Polk (8)
Tillamook (4)
Umatilla (11)
Union (1)
Wasco (3)
Washington (54)
Yamhill (6)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,369th COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on March 8 and died at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.
Oregon’s 2,370th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Grant County who tested positive on March 9 and died on March 23 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:
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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