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March 31, 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.
We’re seeing somewhat higher case counts right now, including in Multnomah County. Hospitalizations seem to have stabilized, though, and COVID deaths fortunately continue to be way down. As you’ll see in the Weekly COVID data report below, weekly COVID deaths are at their lowest level since last June. The number of long-term care facilities that still have active cases is one-tenth where it was in January.
Vaccines continue to pour into Oregon ahead of schedule, as we’re on track to hit 250,000 doses this week. Unfortunately, as you’ll see below, the news that 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were accidentally ruined at the factory could set us back. Still, accelerated administration of vaccines in parts of the state is allowing some counties to begin giving doses to people who weren’t supposed to be eligible until next week.
Meanwhile, closer to home for me—literally—I’m looking forward to getting my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at our nearby Walgreens tomorrow. As it turns out, I’ll be joined in that status next week by many of my legislative colleagues. The Governor has directed OHA to set up a vaccination site near the Capitol on Wednesday for legislators who have yet to be vaccinated. They’ll be getting the one-dose J&J vaccine.
With two House members currently infected, causing several House floor sessions to be cancelled, the Governor and legislative leaders decided that it is essential that we get legislators vaccinated ASAP in order to prevent further disruptions to the limited days we have left in this legislative session’s schedule. We unfortunately already have a number of important COVID and wildfire relief actions and appropriations waiting as a result of the slowdown in the House. Hopefully, this will help.
You can read more about this decision here. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/31/oregon-lawmakers-covid-19-vaccine/
By the way, of the 102 House bills that have been voted out of committee and are awaiting action on the House floor, 94 came out of committee on bipartisan votes, and 86 of them were unanimous coming out of committee.
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 441 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 012.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA reports one additional case of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant in Oregon. The total number of such cases is now 19, 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 700 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 239,269.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,008 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,191,940.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 5.0%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 139 (same as yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 36 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 147 (11 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 571 (74 fewer than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 15 (1 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 798 (4 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 2,383.
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Vaccinations:
- As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 38,373
- 23,834 were conducted yesterday
- 14,539 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: 1,806,528
- 914,065 Pfizer doses
- 850,234 Moderna doses
- 41,187 Johnson & Johnson doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,156,895
- 683,818 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 2,344,785 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon (45,180 more doses than yesterday for a total of 236,830 so far this week).
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Additional Brief Updates:
- We learned today that many millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccines were found to be flawed in the factory and are unusable. Oregon’s authorities are concerned that the resulting reduction in J&J vaccines may cause a delay in Oregon’s hitting its targets.
- On the positive side, we also learned today that the results of recent trials of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on children 12-15 has been as effective as one can be: the vaccine has proven 100% effective in preventing infection in a trial of more than 2,200 children.
- The Atlantic’s Zeynep Tufekci has done another fine job of summarizing where we are right now in the pandemic, as we are potentially looking at a fourth “surge” as COVID variants proliferate and restrictions are relaxed—but some of their negative effects countered by the spread of vaccines.
- Speaking of the COVID variants, OSU wastewater studies are showing the presence of the UK variant in two cities in Oregon: Grants Pass and McMinville. Details here.
Coming This Saturday: April Constituent Coffee
The Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, which means it’s time for a zoom constituent coffee. It’ll be another chance for you to let me know your priorities and suggestions, hear about what’s going on at this point in the session, find out more about what’s in the works, and ask any questions that you have.
It will go from 9 am to 10:30 am. You can sign up here. Hope to see you there!
Weekly Data and Outbreak Reports: Cases Rise, Deaths Way Down
The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released today, shows higher daily cases and lower hospitalizations and deaths than the previous week.
- OHA reported 2,456 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 22 through Sunday, March 28. That represents a 28% increase from the previous week.
- New COVID-19 related hospitalizations fell slightly to 137, down from 139 last week.
- There were 10 reported COVID-19 related deaths, which is the lowest weekly total since last June.
- There were 92,083 tests for COVID-19 for the week of March 21 through March 28.
- The percentage of positive tests rose to 3.7%.
Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows the status of outbreaks in long-term care facilities, workplaces, childcare centers, and K-12 schools. Within the world of long-term care, cases and locations of cases continue to decline: last week there were just 24 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings.
12/9/20 191 facilities
1/13/21 202 facilities
2/10/21 116 facilities
3/10/21 44 facilities
3/17/21 37 facilities
3/24/21 31 facilities
3/31/21 24 facilities
Some Counties Able to Expand Eligibility Early
Today, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced that 20 Oregon counties have submitted attestation letters, signaling their intention to immediately offer COVID-19 vaccinations to expanded eligibility groups.
The counties are Benton, Coos, Crook, Deschutes, Douglas, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union and Wheeler.
By attesting, these counties can now begin vaccinating all individuals listed in Phase 1B, Group 7, ahead of the previously designated statewide start date of April 5.
 Group 7 is composed of:
- Frontline workers as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- People living in multi-generational households.
- People aged 16-44 with one or more health conditions with increased risk
Here are details about this and other groups.
Saving Lives at the Sage Center
Some of you may remember that I’ve taken vanloads of constituents to meet counterparts in Senator Hansell’s district in Eastern Oregon (in Morrow and Umatilla Counties). During our last trip we had lunch at a very cool museum/interpretive center in Boardman, the Sage Center, which focuses on agriculture and food processing in the area.
Last week, the Oregon Health Authority and Morrow County Public Health co-hosted a pilot vaccination event for agricultural workers at the Sage Center. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers became eligible for vaccination in 22 counties on March 22 and across all of Oregon on March 29.
The four-day event at the Sage Center featured live radio broadcasts in Spanish by local station La Raza. Multilingual staff and volunteers assisted participants through the process.
Agricultural workers, including farm, seafood and food processing facility workers are at high risk of getting COVID-19 as a result of their close living and working conditions.
All 1,066 people who were vaccinated received appointments to return in three weeks for their second dose.
Similar events are in the works for the future.
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 441. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Baker (7
Benton (14)
Clackamas (61)
Clatsop (2)
Columbia (10)
Coos (7)
Crook (2)
Curry (2)
Deschutes (13)
Douglas (5)
Grant (6)
Harney (1)
Jackson (30)
Josephine (17)
Klamath (14)
Lake (1)
Lane (35)
Lincoln (3)
Linn (18)
Malheur (1)
Marion (25)
Multnomah (94)
Polk (10)
Tillamook (3)
Umatilla (3)
Union (3)
Washington (47)
Yamhill (5)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,382nd COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on March 19 and died on March 30 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,383rd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive on March 16 and died on March 29 at Bay Area 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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