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April 9, 2021
Dear Neighbors and Friends,
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.
COVID case counts are down slightly today, but still much higher than they’d been until recently. Hospitalizations, fortunately, are down, as are COVID deaths.
The number of vaccines administered in Oregon yesterday hit another all-time high in today’s report, for the second time in the last two days. More than a third of adult Oregonians have now received at least one dose of the vaccines. OHA’s vaccination tracker (linked in the section below on vaccination) now reports on vaccination levels by county.
As you’ll see in one of the articles linked below, the CDC is now looking at the newly-reported instances of “breakthrough” COVID cases around the country. As far as we know right now, the numbers of such cases (infections found in people despite their having been fully vaccinated) remain extremely low, but they can be deadly for individuals who are particularly fragile. While the vaccines have been remarkably effective among older people (to which the plummeting death rates are a testament), some elderly individuals have a more difficult time creating antibodies and remain vulnerable. That’s why we still need to be cautious (i.e., masking and distancing) while the virus is still among us.
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 560 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 169,338.
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Variant COVID Cases: OHA is now producing a Variant Tableau dashboard providing current variant case numbers for the state as a whole and for various parts of the state. It does not report any increases in the number of variant cases in Oregon today.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reported 617 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 244,719.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 19,073 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,.319,403.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 4.1%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 158 (10 fewer than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 39 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 165 (3 fewer than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 550 (68 more than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 15 (2 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 810 (39 more than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional COVID death today. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,440.
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Vaccinations:
- As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 53,121.
- 33,410 were conducted yesterday
- 19,711 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: 2,170,531
- 1,108,618 Pfizer doses
- 993,842 Moderna doses
- 67,112 Johnson & Johnson doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,374,408
- 859,912 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 2,772,135 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon (33,600 more than yesterday, 337,560 so far this week).
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Additional Brief Updates:
- The CDC is finally taking a look at the "breakthrough cases" of COVID in the U.S. This article from the Washington Post does a good job of contextualizing the problem.
- Here's another story about the challenge that many rural areas around the country are finding with vaccine reluctance.
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Here's an in-depth look by the Kaiser Family Foundation at the national controversies around “vaccine passports.”
- VOX provides us with three possible scenariosfor the next few months.
- States have been receiving Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the tune of 5 million per week. Next week that will plummet to 700,000 for the country as a whole, putting the President’s vaccination timeline at risk. Here's why.
- Here’s an interesting (and troubling) new problem with the rollout of the vaccines: states that have not been ordering their allotted share. Why would that happen? Read more here in this article from the Washington Post.
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 560. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Baker (3)
Benton (3)
Clackamas (51)
Clatsop (6)
Columbia (7)
Curry (7)
Deschutes (51)
Douglas (8)
Grant (24)
Harney (1)
Hood River (1)
Jackson (27)
Jefferson (6)
Josephine (18)
Klamath (25)
Lake (2)
Lane (47)
Lincoln (9)
Linn (17)
Malheur (2)
Marion (33)
Morrow (1)
Multnomah (97)
Polk (11)
Tillamook (3)
Umatilla (10)
Union (3)
Wallowa (1)
Wasco (1)
Washington (83)
Yamhill (3)
And the Deaths:
The first five deaths below were reported yesterday, but the information wasn’t release until this morning.
Oregon’s 2,435th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Baker County who tested positive on March 24 and died on April 3 at his residence.
Oregon’s 2,436th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on March 13 and died on April 5 at Providence Medford Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,437th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on March 16 and died on April 6 at Providence Medford Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,438th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Feb. 24 and died on March 4.
Oregon’s 2,439th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on April 1 and died on April 6 at Salem Hospital.
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Oregon’s 2,440th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old man in Clatsop County who tested positive on March 25 and died on April 5 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Note from OHA: More information is known about Oregon’s 2,403rd death, an 83-year-old man in Douglas county. He tested positive on Jan. 29 and died on March 22 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Riverbend. His date of positive test and location of death were originally reported in error.
 
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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