April 10th COVID-19 Update

April 10, 2021

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

Sorry this didn't go out last night.  Just minutes before I was about to finish it and send it out, the national Granicus system (which our Legislature uses) went down for maintenance.  Grrrr....  Anyway, here it is with yesterday's numbers.  I'll send out today's later in the day.

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 is another good news/bad news day for Oregon.  On the good-news side, the number of new vaccinations reported today has again set a new record. 

But the number of COVID cases has again skyrocketed, taking us back to levels we haven’t seen since the end of January and the very beginning of February.  Hospitalizations are up as well.  It’s extremely frustrating to see these increases just as the vaccines are being deployed widely.  More than a third of all adult Oregonians have now had at least one vaccine, and more than one in five are fully vaccinated.  This jump in infections is presumably connected to the presence of more-contagious variants and the recent relaxation of restrictions, along with some reluctance among Oregonians in parts of the state to be vaccinated. 

The one bright spot is that we’re still seeing very low levels of COVID deaths compared to where we were a couple of months ago.  Will that change?

KOIN has a story speculating that we will likely see a big surge in COVID deaths as a result of the recent rise in COVID cases. I would say that the jury is still out on that. The author points to a substantial increase in reported cases this last week as an indicator. 

However, most of those were from a big one-day report on Tuesday.  As I’ve pointed out, nearly all of those cases were actually late-reports and dated back weeks if not months ago. If those are removed, our daily average for the last 2 weeks is around 2.5 deaths per day.  So they don’t necessarily point to a big rise in deaths right now.  That’s not to say we won’t see that happen.  So stay tuned, and please stay safe.

And do 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 761 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 170,085.
• 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. 
• Positive Test Results: OHA reported 991 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 245,701.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 25,636 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,345,105.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.9%.
• Hospitalization Information: The OHA only reports on the first two items below during the weekend. I’ll update the other metrics on Monday.
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 170 (12 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 46 (7 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).
• Deaths: I’m pleased to report 0 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon remains at 2,440.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 54,790
      • 30,068 were conducted yesterday
      • 24,722 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: 2,225,321
      • 1,139,332 Pfizer doses
      • 1,012,175 Moderna doses
      • 72,833 Johnson & Johnson doses
    • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,409,593
      • 885,096 now fully vaccinated with two doses
    • To date, 2,772,135 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
      • 80.3% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 76.6%. 
      • For more details, including the demographics of those receiving the vaccine and the counties in which the vaccines are being administered, 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 Brief Updates:
  • Sorry, I copied the wrong link for this one yesterday: 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.
  • The Oregonian’s Aimee Green has written story about the impending crush that we can expect on April 19^th, when all Oregonians above 16 become eligible for COVID vaccines.
  • The Oregonian’s Andrew Theen has a long piece probing why people in Eastern Oregon may be  may be reluctant to be vaccinated.
  • And the Oregonian’s Fedor Zarkhin has just published a piece (this morning, so I’ve added it) on mixed responses to the vaccine among communities of color in Oregon.

Update from OHA

As I’ve mentioned before, the House has a standing subcommittee on COVID, chaired by Rep Maxine Dexter, an ICU doctor when she’s not legislating.  Each Wednesday afternoon there’s an update from OHA. 

This past Wednesday's hearing included reports from OHA Director Pat Allen and State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger.  Director Allen revealed that the OHA will no longer be deploying vaccines to the counties based solely on population.  Recognizing that the takeup rate varies from county to county, they will try to base the allocations on anticipated need.  Here are the PowerPoints from his presentation.

Dr. Sidelinger provided a range of information related to the current upsurge in COVID cases and the status of testing and contact tracing in the state. Here are his PowerPoints.

If you’re interested. in watching the hearing, you can do that here. Just click on the arrow in the circle near the top of the page.

What Kind of Flu Season Have We Had?

A newsletter reader wrote me this morning wondering how our influenza cases compare with COVID cases this year.  I let him know that I’d heard that seasonal flu numbers have been lower in Oregon since the pandemic began, as a result of masking, social distancing, school closures, and a larger number of Oregonians getting the flu vaccine last fall. 

OHA actually puts out a weekly report called "Flu Bites".(be patient, as it can take a while to load), which provides a number of metrics and comparisons.  As you’ll see, it reflects the far lower cases of influenza vs COVID.  If you’re interested, you can check it out on a weekly basis.

Legislature Wins Redistricting Extension from the Oregon Supreme Court

Yesterday the Oregon Supreme Court agreed with the Legislature’s request to extend the timeline to finish the redistricting process.  That process cannot follow the normal timeline because of the long delay that we still face in getting data from the federal census.  States are now slated to receive the data in August. 

In a unanimous decision, the Court is giving the Legislature three extra months to draw the new legislative and congressional boundaries.  

Here is Chief Justice Walters' Opinion.

We will now have until September 27^th to finish this work, 4 to 6 weeks after the data is available.  There is lots of preparatory work to be done between now and the time that the data becomes available.  You can stay connected with the redistricting process at the Legislature’s Redistricting Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/redistricting/

This new timeline will require the Legislature to come back into special session in the fall to ratify the work of the Redistricting Committee, likely just before the September 27^th deadline. 

If the Legislature cannot agree by then or is otherwise unable to meet (e.g., a quorum cannot be achieved), redistricting will become the responsibility of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. 

Whether redistricting is done by the Legislature or by the SOS, the decision can be appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court.  The timelines laid out in Appendix 2 of the decision are such that the process must be completed in time for candidates to file in March for the 2022 midterm election.

The Secretary of State has made it clear that she is very pleased with the decision and has no plans to seek changes.

Let me know if you have any questions about the process at this point.

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 761. Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (6)

Benton (9)

Clackamas (82)

Columbia (16)

Coos (4)

Crook (8)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (74)

Douglas (9)

Grant (3)

Harney (1)

Hood River (4)

Jackson (57)

Jefferson (2)

Josephine (20)

Klamath (48)

Lane (67)

Lincoln (4)

Linn (17)

Malheur (3)

Marion (57)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (132)

Polk (11)

Tillamook (6)

Umatilla (3)

Union (4)

Wasco (6)

Washington (83)

Yamhill (3)

And the Deaths:

OHA reports no additional COVID deaths today.

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