April 14th COVID-19 Update

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Michael Dembrow

April 14, 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.

Unfortunately, despite the growing number of vaccinations (nearly 75% of all seniors 65 and older have now received at least one vaccination, and more than 36% of all Oregonians), our COVID cases are indeed surging.  Today’s number is the highest it’s been since January.  Hospitalizations are up again, as is our test positivity rate.  The number of COVID deaths fortunately remains low.

As you’ll see in the weekly COVID data report, the trends are on the increase for the third week in a row.

And we’re still waiting to hear how long the pause on deployment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be. 

The Senate was back on the floor today, passing 14 bills and resolutions. (I carried two, both from the Judiciary Committee—one fixing a technical problem related to unclaimed goods and one that is a longstanding goal of mine—creating a right to appointed counsel if a person is being placed under a guardianship.)

The House passed four bills in all today.  However—and this is big—House Republicans have at last agreed to waive the reading of bills aloud for the remainder of the session.  The price?  You’ll find more below.

Please stay safe, and let me know if you have any questions about information in today’s newsletter.

 

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA reports 816 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 172,206.
  • 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.  You’ll see big increases in reported variant cases this week:  69 cases (up from 22) of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 4 cases (up from 1) of the P.1 (Brazilian variant), and 8 cases (up from 0) of the B.1.427 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 124 cases (up from 54) of the B.1.427 variant, and 474 (up from 217) of the B.1.429 variant.  I’m not sure how many of these reported increases are due to better testing and how many are actual new cases. Given what we’re seeing around the country, most of these are likely new cases.
  • Positive Test Results: OHA reported 872 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 248,123.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,284 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,388,954.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 6.1%.
  • Hospitalization Information:
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 200 (3 more than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 52 (same as yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 149 (10 fewer than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 500 (9 more than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 20 (2 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 812 (3 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 3 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,449.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 39,326
        • 24,097 were conducted yesterday
        • 15,229 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: 2,354,930
        • 1,215,483 Pfizer doses
        • 1,051,811 Moderna doses
        • 86,622 Johnson & Johnson doses
      • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,492,658
        • 945,453 now fully vaccinated with two doses
      • To date, 3,004,755 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 117,710 doses more than yesterday, or 232,620 for the week so far.)
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Oregon Latino Network, an advocacy group for Oregon’s Latinx community, will be holding a press conference on Thursday to level charges at the OHA for not adequately getting Latinx Oregonians vaccinated.  You can read about it here.
    • As you saw in the numbers above, COVID variants are starting to turn up in larger numbers in Oregon. State Epidemiologist discussed this development with the House Health Care Subcommittee on COVID-19  this afternoon.     You can read more about it in this article in The Oregonian.
    • Here’s the latest on the J&J Pause.
    • Here’s a story about the inordinate burden that the Pause is posing for underserved communities.
    • On the Good News front, Pfizer is now saying that  it can deliver 10% more doses of its vaccine than planned by the end of May.

 

House Republicans Agree to Waive Bill Readings—In Exchange for an Equal Share of Redistricting Decisions

In a late-breaking piece of news, House Speaker Tina Kotek announced that henceforth Redistricting Chair Andrea Salinas will be sharing the committee leadership with a Republican—Rep.Shelly Boshart Davis of Albany.  An additional Republican (Republican Leader Christine Drazan) will be added to the committee, bringing the numbers of Rs up to the same level as the Ds. That means that the crucial decisions regarding the drawing of legislative and congressional district maps must be agreed to by both parties. 

In exchange, Republicans voted to waive the requirement of reading bills aloud for the remainder of the session, opening the door to prompt passage of the long list of bills waiting for a vote.

It’s an interesting gamble.  This essentially repeats the position we were in back in 2011, when the House had 30 members of each party.  That ended up working out well, in my opinion.  We’ll see how it goes this time.

If the equal numbers lead to a deadlock this time, authority for drawing the maps will be put into the hands of our new Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan. That’s certainly not something the Republicans would want to see happen.  

It’s not yet clear what this might mean for us senators. Tomorrow’s Senate Democratic Caucus meeting should be an interesting one . . .  

You can read more about this late-night development in a story that just came out. from OPB’s Dirk Vanderhart.                

 

OHA Releases the Latest Weekly COVID Data and Outbreak Reports: Nearly All Metrics Increasing for Third Week in a Row

The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released today, shows a third consecutive week of surging daily cases, higher hospitalizations and higher deaths than the previous week.

  • OHA reported 3,722 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, April 5 through Sunday, April 11. That represents a 26% increase from the previous week.
  • New COVID-19 related hospitalizations rose to 156, up from 150 last week.
  • There were 47 reported COVID-19 related deaths, which OHA reports as the highest weekly total in five weeks. (However, 33 of those deaths were reported in one day, last Tuesday, and most of them were from weeks or months ago. With those removed, the death count is closer to last week’s total.)
  • There were 103,928 tests for COVID-19 for the week of April 4 through April 10, an increase of 11%.
  • The percentage of positive tests was 4.4% (down very slightly from 4.5%).

Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 24 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings, a slight increase from last week.

          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

          4/7/21             21 facilities

         4/14/21           24 facilities

The Outbreak Report also includes the latest data on COVID in workplaces, childcare centers, and public and private K-12 schools.

 

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 816. Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (14)

Benton (25)

Clackamas (97)

Clatsop (2)

Columbia (13)

Coos (4)

Crook (2)

Curry (3)

Deschutes (84)

Douglas (8)

Grant (32)

Harney (1)

Hood River (8)

Jackson (50)

Jefferson (3)

Josephine (19)

Klamath (27)

Lane (49)

Lincoln (6)

Linn (23)

Malheur (2)

Marion (83)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (126)

Polk (18)

Sherman (1)

Tillamook (1)

Umatilla (9)

Union (2)

Wasco (8)

Washington (86)

Yamhill (9)

 

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,447th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Tillamook County who tested positive on March 17 and died on April 13 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,448th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Union County who tested positive on February 22 and died on March 15. Location of death is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 2,449th COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on March 1 and died on April 7 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.

 

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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,

dembrow signature

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