May 8th COVID-19 Update

Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin at 05/08/2021 07:10 PM PDT
Michael Dembrow

May 8, 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 report, not much has changed today.  We remain on a plateau of relatively high numbers, and it appears that the big increases we were seeing a couple of weeks ago are gone for now.  We continue to see the cadre of COVID deaths dominated by relatively younger people: in today’s report, five of the seven COVID deaths were in their sixties.

On the positive side, today’s vaccination report includes a record high of nearly 64,000 doses either administered yesterday or reported yesterday (sites have three days to report).  Nearly 40% of eligible Oregonians are now fully vaccinated.

Let me wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow.  For those of you fortunate enough to be fully vaccinated, please make the most of this special day.  For those of you who aren’t there yet, or who have family members who aren’t, I hope you’ll find creative ways to enjoy one another while staying safe (i.e., remaining largely outdoors, keeping a safe distance, and wearing face coverings if indoors.) 

Let me know if you have any questions about information in today’s newsletter.

 

mother's day

 

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA reports 833 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 190,804.
  • Variant COVID Cases: The reported variant case numbers remain unchanged from the most recent update.  They remain 311 (up from 168) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 18 cases (up from 13) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 28 (up from 18) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 159 (up from 177) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 566 (up from 519) of the B.1.429 variant.  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 1,097 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 274,655.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 19,363 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,818,110.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 5.7%.
  • Hospitalization Information: OHA only reports on the first two bulleted items below over the weekend. I’ll catch you up on the other metrics on Monday.
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 329 (5 more than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 84 (6 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 148 (14 more than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 512 (22 more than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 37 (3 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 787 (4 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 7 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,528.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 63,868
        • 27,835 were conducted yesterday
        • 36,033 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 33,318 doses per day.
      • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,277,717
        • 1,788,236 Pfizer doses
        • 1,382,573 Moderna doses
        • 105,457 Johnson & Johnson doses
      • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 1,953,221
        • 1,423,862 now fully vaccinated with two doses
      • To date, 4,035,095 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s the same as yesterday, so the total for this week remains at 290,609, a little lower than it has been.)
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Oregonian will be running a group of features tomorrow on  "Local COVID Heroes." Here’s a sneak preview of one of them, the story of a local family’s  excruciating COVID journey and miraculous escape.
    • Who are the states scaling back their requests for additional COVID vaccines? Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington State and Connecticut. Read more here.Oregon is among the states still requesting more.
    • Though COVID case numbers are declining in most of the country, increasing COVID cases on campus is causing many colleges and universities to tighten restrictions.
    • This week the National Association of State Workforce Agencies featured an article co-authored by the Oregon Employment Department’s State Employment Economist Gail Krumenauer and State Economist Josh Lehner explaining the difficulties Oregon’s economy is (and is not) facing as it reopens. They explain how the pandemic recovery is different from more typical recoveries.

 

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 833.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (7)

Benton (1)

Clackamas (92)

Clatsop (4)

Columbia (10)

Crook (8)

Curry (5)

Deschutes (115)

Douglas (4)

Gilliam (4)

Harney (1)

Hood River (2)

Jackson (35)

Jefferson (5)

Josephine (6)

Klamath (49)

Lane (55)

Lincoln (3)

Linn (26)

Malheur (7)

Marion (75)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (156)

Polk (9)

Tillamook (4)

Umatilla (9)

Union (2)

Wallowa (2)

Wasco (4)

Washington (94)

Wheeler (2)

Yamhill (29)

 

And the Deaths:

Note from OHA: Oregon’s 2,409th and 2,509th COVID-19 deaths, reported on April 6 and May 5, are the same person. Because of this error we are renumbering our reported deaths starting with 2,522 today.

Oregon’s 2,522nd death is an 87-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on May 2 and died on May 7 at Asante Ashland Community Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,523rd death is a 90-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on April 26 and died on May 7 at Asante Ashland Community Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,524th death is a 62-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on April 18 and died on May 7 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,525th death is a 65-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on April 16 and died on May 7 at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,526th death is a 69-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on May 2 and died on May 4 at Adventist Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,527th death is a 68-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 30 and died on May 7 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,528th death is a 68-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 23 and died on May 2 at his residence.

 

 

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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. 

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