May 19th COVID-19 Update

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 we generally see on Tuesdays, COVID case numbers reported today are higher than they were over the weekend (when reporting tends to be spotty).  Still, at 484, today’s count is the lowest it’s been since the end of March.  Death rates continue to be low.

The big news today in Oregon is two-fold: First, we received clarifications on how the new masking policy for indoor spaces will work here in Oregon.  It will assuage those who were worried that stores and other public spaces will be filled with individuals pretending to be vaccinated, removing their face coverings, and putting others at risk: under the new policy, vaccinated individuals can only remove their masks in places that are asking for proof of vaccination.  But it is infuriating those who either don’t believe in masking or believe that asking about vaccination status is an infringement of their personal privacy. 

The second piece of news is that five counties have already vaccinated enough of their residents to qualify to be moved to Lower Status (where many restrictions are lifted or eased) this Friday.  It’s a taste, we hope, of things to come.

Tomorrow’s a big day at the Capitol.  The May Revenue Forecast will be released at a briefing by the Office of Economic Analysis starting at 3:15.  You can link to the hearing from here.

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 484 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 196,390.
• Variant COVID Cases: The reported variant case numbers should be updated tomorrow or the next day.  For now, the reported numbers are unchanged. The case counts include 425 (up from 311) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 29 cases (up from 18) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 35 (up from 28) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 196 (up from 177) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 586 (up from 566) 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 906 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 283,445.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,905 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,957,229.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 6.1%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 342 (3 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 81 (1 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 156 (4 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 479 (16 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 38 (1 more than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 773 (5 fewer than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 4 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,594.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 26,637
      • 19,088 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 7,549 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 26,901 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,589,416
  • 1,979,851 Pfizer doses
  • 1,484,294 Moderna doses
  • 123,650 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,085,966
  • 1,620,407 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• To date, 4,571,505 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s an additional 184,010 doses, for a total of 221,390 for the week.)
  • 78.5% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 79.5%.
  • 51% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (58.9% of those 16 and older).
  • 39.6% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (46.3% of those 16 and older).
  • 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.
  • Want to see how close each county is to hitting the 65% target for moving to lower risk? Here's an interactive map showing percentages for total population and for eligible population (residents above age 16).

• Additional Brief Updates:
  • If a store asks an individual for proof of vaccination, is that a HIPAA violation?  Probably not, say the experts.
  • The Oregonian’s Doug Perry debunks another COVID vaccination myth:  that the vaccinated "shed" dangerous viruses.
  • Though the vaccines have proven themselves to be extremely effective for most people, they are less effective for some people with particular medical conditions.  Read more about their challenges.
  • A professor of public health identifies four kinds of people holding us back from full vaccination.
  • With access to some venues by the vaccinated now dependent on an honor system, the inevitable question emerges, who can I trust?
  • The L.A. Times reports that California will wait until June 15 to implement the new masking recommendations from the CDC.

New Clarity On Oregon’s Masking Policy

You’ll recall that the CDC is now advising that those who are fully vaccinated can go into public indoor places without having to wear a face covering.  The unvaccinated, on the other hand, cannot.  The CDC left it up to the states to implement and figure out how to distinguish between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Many states are leaving it up to stores and other venues, and most of the national chains are leaving it to the honor system.

Last week Governor Brown told us that we would be following the CDC recommendations and allowing vaccinated Oregonians to go without masks, but she didn’t provide details about how we would know who was vaccinated and who was unvaccinated.  On Friday Dr. Sidelinger (the State Epidemiologist) predicted that places that were going to allow vaccinated people to be without masks would have to ask for proof of vaccination status, but that further guidance from the OHA would be forthcoming.

That guidance arrived today.  The Oregon Health Authority sent out a policy release today, clarifying how we will be implementing the new CDC masking guidance here in Oregon.  Masks will indeed no longer be required in public settings for the fully vaccinated, but only in those settings where vaccination status is checked.  Where vaccination status is not checked, everyone will continue to be required to wear them, at least for the time being.

Dr. Sidelinger held a press conference this afternoon.  Here are some of the points he made:

• Given the high numbers of infections and hospitalizations that we are continuing to experience here in Oregon (as opposed to most other states), it’s important that those not fully vaccinated continue to wear face coverings when in close contact with others who are unvaccinated for whatever reason.
• Once we hit our statewide target of 70% at least partially vaccinated (projected to be sometime in June), we can likely dispense with this requirement.
• The requirement only applies to indoor public spaces—for the most part, everyone can be without face coverings while outdoors (though it’s recommended that they still be worn when in crowded outdoor events).
• The state won’t be developing new “vaccine passports,” but vaccinated individuals will need to show the vaccine cards that were given them when they were vaccinated (or a copy or photo) in order to go without a face covering in an indoor public space.
• There will be no “vaccination police” looking for lawbreakers. Enforcement will be complaint-driven.

As you can imagine, objections to the new policy have been fast and furious.  My inbox has been full of people complaining about being forced to reveal their vaccination status and calling for a law that would shield them from that question.  Some frontline workers are concerned about being put in a position where they have to enforce the mandate.  At the same time, others have been complaining about being exposed to people without masks at work. 

It will likely be a rocky couple of weeks as this is settling out.

Here's more from the Oregonian.

Higher Vaccination Rates Lead Some Counties to Lower Risk

The Governor announced today The Governor announced today that five counties will be able to enter Lower Risk status beginning on Friday.  The five counties are Benton, Deschutes, Hood River, Lincoln, and Washington.  All of them have at least 65% of their age 16+ population vaccinated at this point and have submitted plans for equitable outreach to vaccinate as many of the remaining unvaccinated as possible. 

Multnomah County hit the 65% figure today but has already announced that it will apply for Lower Risk next week.  They expect to receive that approval next Tuesday and be allowed to enter Lower Risk on Friday, May 28.

Here's more from the OHA blog.

Again, you can see the specific activities allowed for each risk level in this chart.

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 484. Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (1

Benton (1)

Clackamas (29)

Clatsop (1)

Columbia (1)

Coos (6)

Crook (4)

Curry (4)

Deschutes (35)

Douglas (20)

Grant (4)

Harney (3)

Jackson (39)

Jefferson (5)

Josephine (4)

Klamath (21)

Lake (3)

Lane (29)

Lincoln (1)

Linn (25)

Malheur (2)

Marion (39)

Multnomah (76)

Multnomah (68)

Polk (5)

Tillamook (2)

Umatilla (26)

Union (2)

Wallowa (1)

Washington (79)

Yamhill (7)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,591st COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 29 and died on May 14 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,592nd COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive on May 10 and died on May 13 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,593rd COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on April 28 and died April 28 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,594th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on April 26 and died on May 14 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

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

• 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