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May 20, 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.
COVID case counts are up a little today, but hospitalizations are continuing to move back down. Vaccinations are up today, and large amounts of vaccines are continuing to come into the state. Our per-day average of doses administered is just under 30,000.
Tomorrow five counties will move down into “Lower Risk” status tomorrow as a result of hitting the threshold of 65% of county residents age 16 and older. Multnomah County has also hit that level and is making plans to move to Lower Risk a week from tomorrow. You can follow all the county levels here.
Vaccinations remain on track to get the state to the 70% threshold needed for us have most COVID restrictions lifted statewide within the next month or so. As you’ll see below, today we are at 62.7% of those 18 and older, which is the CDC standard that we’ll be using. So, 7.3% to go.
Neither the House nor the Senate will be holding floor sessions tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that. We in the Senate are still needing to sit through bill readings on the floor, and it’s actually quite exhausting (and somewhat irritating). Today I carried a bill that unfortunately was 13.5 pages and took a half-hour for the computer reader to read, even with the reader cranked way up. Of those 13.5 pages, about four lines were changes to the existing statute, correcting an error in a bill that was passed in 2019. Nevertheless, the entire section of statute in which it was located needed to be read aloud.
Still, we’ve been able to stay on track with the bills coming out of committee (nearly all of them House bills slated for their second floor vote and final passage). It’s not clear what my Republican colleagues are actually gaining by insisting that the bills be read aloud or if the requirement will end before the end of the session, but for now it continues. In any case, we’ll soon be able to spend more time on the floor, as committees begin shutting down for the session (that will begin at the end of next week).
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
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New COVID Cases: OHA reports 603 new COVID cases today. The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 197,356.
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Variant COVID Cases: The reported variant case numbers were just updated yesterday. The updated case counts include 716 (up from 425) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 78 cases (up from 29) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 56 (up from 35) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant. In addition, we are now seeing 237 (up from 196) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 631 (up from 586) 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.
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Positive Test Results: OHA reported 1,036 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 285,038.
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Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 19,157 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 4,987,751.
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Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 5.4%.
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Hospitalization Information:
- Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 301 (5 fewer than yesterday)
- ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 77 (1 more than yesterday).
- Available ICU Beds: 151 (18 more than yesterday)
- Other Available Beds: 425 (35 fewer than yesterday).
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 42 (3 fewer than yesterday).
- Available Ventilators: 779 (10 fewer than yesterday).
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Deaths: I’m sorry to report 5 additional COVID deaths today. The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,606.
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Vaccinations:
- As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
- New Immunizations Reported Today: 37,228
- 20,028 were conducted and reported yesterday
- 17,200 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 29,005 doses per day.
- Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,650,737
- 2,019,000 Pfizer doses
- 1,502,573 Moderna doses
- 127,499 Johnson & Johnson doses
- Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,114,580
- 1,656,783 now fully vaccinated with two doses
- To date, 4,712,335 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s an additional 33,570 doses, for a very healthy total of 362,220 for the week so far.)
- 77.5% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 79.4%.
- 51.6% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (59.5% of those 16 and older, 62.7% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
- 40.4% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (47.3% 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 age 16+). It shows how close each county is to hitting the 65% target.
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Additional Brief Updates:
- The Governor will be holding a press conference tomorrow at noon to respond to questions about COVID response. Here's information about it and how to watch. I hear there will be an announcement about a new monetary incentive program for new vaccinations.
- The Washing Post editorial board has come out in support of vaccination certificates, arguing that they "could help avoid a chaotic post-pandemic world."
- A Washington Post columnist argues that we should not be providing monetary or other incentives to get people vaccinated. We should be shaming them.
- According to those experienced in interacting with patients, shaming may not be the most effective strategy to persuade a friend or loved one to seek out a vaccine. The New York Times has an interactive piece that provides several options for you to choose from and evaluates your choices.
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OPB has a long piece on reactions to the new face covering policy in Oregon.
OHA Pediatric COVID-19 Report Released
OHA has just released a report on the impact of COVID-19 on “pediatric” Oregonians, i.e., those under age 18.
As of May 12, there have been 193,014 COVID-19 cases reported in Oregon. Pediatric cases, account for 23,161, or 11.9%, of the total cases. There have been 35 cases of the very serious Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) reported in Oregon. Oregon witnessed two surges in pediatric COVID-19 cases in 2020 and is currently experiencing a third in 2021. Similar to cases in adults, pediatric cases began to rise again at the beginning of April.
The full report indicates that while pediatric case counts have increased, pediatric patients remain far less likely than adults to develop severe cases of COVID-19. Only 1.0% of pediatric patients have been hospitalized at some point during their COVID-19 illness. In contrast, 6.1% of adults with COVID-19 have been hospitalized.
With vaccines now available to all children aged 12 and older, we would hope to see those percentages go down further.
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 603. Here is today’s breakdown by county:
Baker (1)
Benton7 (6)
Clackamas (73)
Clatsop (3)
Columbia (7)
Coos (10)
Crook (8)
Curry (1)
Deschutes (42)
Douglas (25)
Harney (7)
Hood River (1)
Jackson (19)
Jefferson (5)
Josephine (18)
Klamath (15)
Lane (36)
Lincoln (2)
Linn (46)
Malheur (4)
Marion (51)
Morrow (3)
Multnomah (90)
Polk (9)
Umatilla (24)
Union (1)
Wasco (5)
Washington (74)
Yamhill (17)
And the Deaths:
Oregon’s 2,602nd COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman from Benton County who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 15 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,603rd COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on April 22 and died on May 18 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,604th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on April 20 and died on May 18 at Mercy Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,605th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man from Baker County who tested positive on May 3 and died on May 15 at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center in Boise, ID.
Orgon’s 2,606th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on May 8 and died on May 17 at Sky Lakes 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
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
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