April 28, 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.

As you’ll see in tonight’s newsletter, COVID cases have gone up again, as we would expect for midweek, and so are the number of detected COVID variants.  The same is true for vaccinations.

This past week’s Weekly Report was released today, and it shows increases in nearly all the metrics for the fifth week in a row.  Only the number of reported deaths has come down.

As you’ll see further down in the ewsletter, modeling is suggesting that the combination of added vaccinations and the new risk levels should lead to reductions in new cases in two to three weeks. 

On the legislative front, you’ll see that the Senate is now facing a slowdown in bill passage, whose cause has little to do with anything that’s actually happening in the Senate.  See below for explanation.

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

• New COVID Cases: OHA reports 888 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 182,916.
• 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.  The reported numbers have increased this week: 168 (up from 112) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 13 cases (up from 7) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 18 (up from 10) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 159 (up from 140) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 519 (up from 479) of the B.1.429 variant. 
• Positive Test Results: OHA reported 1,120 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 264,001.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 17,243 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,650,812.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 6.5%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 326 (2 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 64 (7 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 149 (5 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 485 (9 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 32 (same as yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 805 (9 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 2 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,490.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 40,769
      • 23,214 were conducted yesterday
      • 17,555 were conducted earlier, but the reports were received yesterday (there can potentially be a three-day window for reporting)
      • The 7-day running average is now 34,906 doses per day.
    • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 2,894,880
      • 1,543,641 Pfizer doses
      • 1,257,014 Moderna doses
      • 93,000 Johnson & Johnson doses
    • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1773,928
      • 1,209,607 now fully vaccinated with two doses
    • To date, 3,643,965 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s an additional 70,230 since yesterday, for a total of 243,550 coming in so far this week.)
      • 79.4% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 77.7%.
      • 43.3% of Oregonians have received at least one dose.
      • 29.5% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated.
      • 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:
  • With schools now back in session in-person, we’re now seeing increasing numbers of COVID cases among students. (You can track these in the OHA COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report) This may be due to their being in school, or it may be due to the fact that COVID is surging in their communities, or most likely it’s a combination of both.  OPB’s Emily Cureton does a deep dive on what's happening in Bend-LaPine Schools
  • The New York Times has a story about the current surge of COVID cases in Oregon.
  • Meanwhile, the New York Times also reports that COVID cases are declining in half of U.S. states.
  • Montgomery County in Maryland has decided on an interesting (and I would say sensible) approach to its COVID restrictions—it’s connecting loosening of restrictions to increasing levels of vaccinations.
  • Ready for a little uplift? Here’s a nice piece from the AP reminding us how much better Mother's Day will be this year, compared to last year for people who’ve been vaccinated.

May Day! May Day! Constituent Coffee Coming!

May Day this year is this Saturday, May 1.  And that of course means my monthly constituent coffee from 9 a.m. to 10:30ish.  This is your chance to zoom in, let me know what your concerns are, hear what’s going on at the Capitol and behind the scenes, and get a prognosis of what’s before us in the coming weeks.

To register for this one, click on this link.

Hope to see you there!

Slowdown in the Senate

I’m actually starting this newsletter while on the Senate floor.  I have time to do so because Senate Republicans, as the House Republicans had done previously, are now insisting that every bill be read aloud in its entirety.  As a result, from now on all bills—even though most of them are passing nearly unanimously—will take much longer to pass.  Unfortunately, Senate Republicans are also refusing to come back to the floor to work after committees finish meeting at 5.  This is clearly an effort to see our work grind to a halt.

Why are they doing this?  First of all, because they can.  The Oregon Constitution continues to include archaic language requiring that all bills be read aloud before being voted on.  It dates back to a time before it was easy to turn out print copies of bills (let alone electronic copies). It’s obviously no longer necessary but the Constitution has never been changed to remove it.  Because of it, for many decades one of the beginning-of-session rituals has been for the Senate to vote to waive the requirement (which requires a 2/3 vote). 

Starting in 2016, Republicans have only been willing to waive the requirement on a daily basis.  During the 2016 session Senate Republicans did insist on bill reading for a couple of weeks, and it was such a painful experience for all involved that it seemed unlikely to be used again.  It’s such a waste of valuable time and resources.  But here we are again.

As for why it’s being invoked again right now, that’s not clear yet.  Inter-party relations have been pretty positive in the Senate this session, and Republicans certainly can’t say they haven’t been treated fairly by the Senate President.  Their leadership has said that the reason for this move is apparently a response to the latest COVID restrictions imposed by the Governor to combat the current explosion of COVID cases.  It’s not clear how slowing down the work of the Senate is going to help with that, however.

I suspect  that Republican leadership may also be influenced by outside pressure over SB 554, the gun safety bill, which is scheduled for a vote on the House floor tomorrow.  They don’t seem likely to walk out over this bill when it comes back to the Senate for concurrence next week, so this may be seen as an alternative.

Fortunately, we were able to stay long enough to get through our agenda today despite the slowdown. (In part because we have the computer simulated reader cranked up faster than the House did.  I think we could push it up a notch further.)

We’ll see how it goes.  We assume this will last for a while.  We’d been talking about have four floor sessions a week starting next week; now it will likely be five.

Here's a story about the slowdown from OPB’s Dirk Vanderhart.

Weekly COVID Data And Outbreak Reports Released: Ongoing Surge

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

• OHA reported 5,729 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, April 19 through Sunday, April 27. That represents a 21% increase from the previous week and marks the fifth consecutive week of 20% or higher increases in daily cases.
• New COVID-19 related hospitalizations nearly doubled from 171 to 333.
• There were 26 reported COVID-19 related deaths last week, up from 19 the previous week, but still relatively low.
• There were 133,563 tests for COVID-19 for the week of April 18 through April 24, up from 113,817 the previous week.
• The percentage of positive tests was 6%, up from 5.3% the previous week.

Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 34 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings. This too is another increase, though overall instances remain low.

          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

         4/21/21           24 facilities

         4/28/21           34 facilities

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

OHA Reports to the Legislature

The House Health Care Subcommittee on COVID-19 received its weekly briefing from OHA this afternoon.  Director Pat Allen and State Epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger presented updates both on the disease and on the vaccination effort.  Here are some highlights:

• Director Allen referenced the observation in the New York Times showing Oregon’s rate of COVID case increase in the last two weeks (about 54%) to be by far the largest in the country.
• We are now #17 in the nation for number of new cases, a shocking departure from where we’ve been in the past.
• Fortunately, we’re still among the lowest states for number of new COVID deaths.
• The explosion in cases is likely due to two things: a high prevalence of COVID variants in this state and a higher-than-average number of susceptible individuals—i.e., people who have not been exposed to the virus in the past.
• It used to be that this number of new cases would inevitably lead to a record number of COVID deaths. Fortunately, for various reasons the two are now decoupled.
• Increases in our test positivity rate suggest that we need to be testing more: too many people are being tested only because they show symptoms.
• Most of the counties that are headed to Extreme Risk status on Friday should have been there already according to the metrics that have been in place since November. Now that hospitalization rates are approaching levels of stress, these delays can no longer safely occur.
• The ECMO therapy machines are currently close to being maxed out.
• With the new CDC guidance on outdoor mask requirements, counties in Extreme Risk will be able to have more outdoor dining and greater numbers of people at outdoor events than had previously been possible.
• Vaccinations among older people are continuing to go up.
• It continues to vary by county. Demand in the Portland metro area remains extremely strong.  Twelve other counties have asked not to receive their allotted doses this week because they don’t have enough demand right now. 
• Those counties are also among those with the lowest vaccination rates, which is very troubling.
• You can go to the Salem Fairgrounds now and get a vaccine without waiting.
• The gap between vaccinations of Latinx Oregonians and White Oregonians is steadily diminishing.
• In contrast to many other parts of the country, in Oregon 95% of those who’ve received their first dose are getting their second dose.
• Younger adults are being affected with more serious disease, likely a result of the variants.
• The combination of increased numbers of Oregonians infected and vaccinated should help flatten the curve of increase and start a decline in cases in the next few weeks.
• That’s what modeling from OHSU is advising.
• We’re going to increase our testing over the next few weeks.
• 1200 schools are providing onsite testing for students who are feeling ill at school.
• OHA will begin doing voluntary weekly testing of school staff. That will continue during summer programs.
• Will add mobile testing to vaccination sites.
• Most of our cases now appear to be from the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant of COVID. That’s more transmissible and more dangerous, but the COVID vaccines are successful at providing immunity from it.  It’s proving particularly virulent for younger people who have not yet been vaccinated.

Here are the slides from  Director Allen's presentation.

Here are the slides from Dr. Sidelinger's presentation.

And here’s a presentation that the committee also heard on efforts to vaccinate Oregon's Latinx communities.

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 888.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (4)

Benton (21)

Clackamas (109)

Clatsop (2)

Columbia (12)

Coos (3)

Crook (10)

Curry (10)

Deschutes (67)

Douglas (8)

Grant (5)

Harney (1)

Hood River (2)

Jackson (58)

Jefferson (6)

Josephine (22)

Klamath (55)

Lake (4)

Lane (57)

Lincoln (3)

Linn (45)

Malheur (5)

Marion (103)

Morrow (2)

Multnomah (153)

Polk (13)

Tillamook (4)

Umatilla (17)

Union (1)

Wallowa (3)

Wasco (3)

Washington (73)

Yamhill (10)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2489th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on April 12 and died on April 27 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,490th death is a 73-year-old man from Linn county who tested positive on April 10 and died on April 13.

Click to edit this heading.

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