May 2 COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

May 2, 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.

Today’s COVID counts are down a little (as they often are on the weekends), but I’m afraid hospitalizations and positivity rates have gone higher.  Today’s COVID hospitalizations have taken us to a new high for the current surge, and the positivity rate has nearly done the same.

We’ll see what this week brings.

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 756 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 186,344.
  • 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 830 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 268,561.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 10,901 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,718,296.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 7.6%.
  • Hospitalization Information: OHA only reports on the first two bullets on the weekend. I’ll catch you up on the remaining metrics on Monday.
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 345 (14 more than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 76 (5 more than yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 153 (4 more than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 827* (340 more than yesterday).
      • *This seems unbelievably high. An error?
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 33 (2 more than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 806 (5 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 3 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,501.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 22,443
        • 19,147 were conducted yesterday
        • 3,296 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 33,710 doses per day.
      • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,046,021
        • 1,632,562 Pfizer doses
        • 1,315,254 Moderna doses
        • 96,937 Johnson & Johnson doses
      • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,850,948
        • 1,286,314 now fully vaccinated with two doses
      • To date, 3,744,945 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s the same as yesterday, for a total of 344,530 coming in this past week.)
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • Here’s an excellent piece by the Oregonian’s Aimee Green on those who are getting COVID now in the "Fourth Surge." (Warning: this one may be for subscribers only.)
    • Professor Ibram X. Kendi has released a thought-provoking piece in The Atlantic calling for  both data equality and policy equity as a way of addressing the racial disparities that COVID has laid bare. This must include paying particular attention to the incarcerated, the unhoused, and the undocumented.
    • The Statesman-Journal has a story about businesses affected by COVID closures.
    • The Washington Post asked some writers to offer up one new COVID habit that they intend to keep. Here they are. They may well include some of yours.
    • Not surprisingly, many Americans are starting to think about long-awaited summer travel. Also, not surprisingly, finding available hotel rooms, campsites, and rental cars is already shaping up to be a challenge.  Here’s an overview of the problem from Axios.

 

Coming Up:  Town Hall This Wednesday

Representatives Barbara Smith Warner (HD 45) and Khanh Pham (HD 46) and I will be holding another zoom town hall this Wednesday evening at 5:30.  We’ll be joined by House Ways and Means Co-Chair Dan Rayfield at the beginning to talk about the budget process and prognoses.

You can sign up for it here.

Hope to see you there!

 

In the Legislature:  The Week Ahead

The Senate enters its second week with Republicans refusing to waive the requirement that all bills be read aloud in their entirety before they can be voted on.  Twenty-six bills are currently scheduled for Monday through Wednesday. 

We did manage to stay on schedule last week.  In order to stay that way, we have five full floor sessions scheduled for this week.  We should be able to get through all the remaining Senate bills this week (not counting those still in Senate Rules, Revenue, or in Ways and Means).

So far, the House has only four bills scheduled for floor votes this week.  Expect to see more added as the days go by.

I’ll be carrying seven bills on the floor so far this week.  A few of them were Judiciary bills that were assigned to me; the remainder are personal priorities or Education Committee bills.

Monday:

SJM 1: Senate Joint Memorial 1 calls on Congress to codify a requirement prohibiting ICE from detaining parents who are taking their children to school or dropping them off at a bus stop. This follows an incident that occurred in Tigard last year and that we’ve seen in other states as well.

Tuesday:

SB 134A: Maintains the confidentiality of Oregon Youth Authority records for a youth in OYA custody unless there is a compelling public interest in releasing those records to the public. 

:SB 236: This bill directs a study of the disproportionate use of discipline in Pre-K programs.  It will prohibit Pre-K providers that receive state funding from suspending or expelling children from their programs, starting in 2026.  This is a companion piece to HB 2166, which will fund resources for parents and providers to support alternative forms of discipline.

SB 574:  Allows motorcyclists to “lane filter,” allowing them to go between lanes of traffic on multi-lane highways, but only if traffic has come to a complete stop or has slowed to 10 MPH or slower. 

SB 813:  Clarifies that court deadline timelines that were extended as a result of the COVID State of Emergency confirmed by the Legislature in HB 4212 (the first Special Session last year) are extended throughout the period in which the State of Emergency has been renewed and remains in effect.

SB 836:  Requires the Department of Corrections to consider all alternatives to suspending or terminating Alternative Incarceration Programs and reporting to the Legislature if they take such an action.  Such programs were suspended during the initial months of the COVID pandemic, leading to avoidable uncertainty and confusion for adults in custody and their families.  This bill should lead to better decision-making and communication in the future.

Wednesday:

SB 732:   Directs school district boards to create Equity Advisory Committees to advise them on the educational equity impacts of policy decisions and to inform district leaders when situations arise that negatively impact underrepresented students.

I’m happy to report that all of these bills are short!  Please let me know if you have any questions about any of them.

 

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 756.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Benton (16)

Clackamas (93)

Columbia (4)

Coos (4)

Crook (8)

Deschutes (67)

Douglas (11)

Grant (1)

Hood River (6)

Jackson (13)

Jefferson (4)

Josephine (10)

Klamath (35)

Lane (56)

Lincoln (3)

Linn (24)

Malheur (1)

Marion (81)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (217)

Polk (12)

Tillamook (2)

Union (1)

Wallowa (3)

Wasco (2)

Washington (74)

Yamhill (14)

 

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,499th death is a 74-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on April 17 and died on April 29 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,500th death is a 72-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 23 and died on April 30.

Oregon’s 2,501st death is an 84-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on April 19 and died on April 29 at Salem Hospital.

 

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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: 503-986-1723
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301