May 23rd COVID-19 Update

May 23, 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.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report on the COVID front this Sunday.  Hospitalizations continue to decline.  Case counts are down as well, but that may be a function of weekend reporting.  We’ll have a better sense of that in a couple of days.  Recent increases in vaccinations have pushed our daily average (calculated over the last week) to more than 31,000.  However, many of those are second doses and children between 12 and 15.  It’s first doses of adults that count for our percentage targets.

In the Legislature, agency budgets are starting to come to the Senate and House floors this week.  Most notable of them in this first round is the K-12 budget, what’s known as the State School Fund.  It’s currently set at $9.3 billion for the next two years.  It will come to the Senate floor on Tuesday morning.

This is the last week for bills to pass out of their second-chamber committees (i.e., they’ve already passed out of one chamber, been assigned to a committee in their second chamber, and in most cases have had a public hearing already in that second chamber).  If they aren’t voted out of committee and sent to the floor with a “do pass” recommendation by Saturday, they’re done for this session.  (Of course, the system always allows for exception: they may always be sent over to the Rules Committee if they need a little more time.)

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 334 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 198,689.
• Variant COVID Cases: The most recent variant case counts include 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.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reported 747 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 287,655.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 14,769 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 5,039,805.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 5.1%.
• Hospitalization Information: OHA only releases updates for the first two metrics over the weekend.  I’ll catch you up on the rest on Monday.
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 248 (10 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 71 (3 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 156 (5 more than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 552 (127 more than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 39 (3 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available Ventilators: 791 (12 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 4 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,622.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 29,464
      • 17,564 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 11,900 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 31,010 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,765,116
  • 2,092,218 Pfizer doses
  • 1,538,260 Moderna doses
  • 132,924 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,164,594
  • 1,726,292 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• To date, 4,746,235 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 396,120 for this past week.)
  • 79.3% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 80.0%.
  • 52.9% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (59.9%*** of those 16 and older, 62.9%*** of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 49.1% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (48.1%*** of those 16 and older).
    • ***The percentages in parentheses are from Friday. OHA will update them tomorrow.

• 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.

• Additional Brief Updates:
  • Multnomah County will be moving to Lower Risk status this week, now that it has passed the 65% vaccination rate (at least one dose for those age 16 and older) and has submitted an equity plan. If you’re interested in seeing that plan, here it is.
  • Here are some Q & As on COVID vaccines and kids from the NY Times.
  • Wired ran an excellent story a couple of weeks ago about aerosol scientist Linsey Marr and the controversy over droplets vs. aerosols that exposed the "scientific screwup that helped COVID kill."
  • A pediatrician wrote an opinion piece that appeared in this morning’s Oregonian about why she will continue to wear a mask in public "to protect kids and community."
  • In his latest piece on the current state of Oregon’s economy, the Oregonian’s Mike Rogoway points out the ongoing decline in manufacturing in this state, a decline that began before the pandemic began.

Where Are Today’s  Cases?

If we put together the positive test results and new “presumptive cases” reported today, the overall number of new cases reported is 334.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Benton (4)

Clackamas (26)

Columbia (2)

Coos (3)

Crook (5)

Deschutes (43)

Douglas (10)

Jackson (7)

Jefferson (7)

Josephine (5)

Klamath (7)

Lane (28)

Linn (21)

Marion (51)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (67)

Polk (4)

Tillamook (1)

Wasco (1)

Washington (6)

Yamhill (36)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,619th COVID-19 death is a 51-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on May 20 and died on May 21 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,620th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on May 5 and died on May 22 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,621st COVID-19 death is a 67-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive on May 1 and died on May 21.

Oregon’s 2,622nd COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on March 2 and died on May 21 at Mercy 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