May 28th COVID-19 uPDATE-

Michael Dembrow

Friends and Neighbors,

May 28, 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 and hospitalizations remain stable, and COVID deaths are back to a low number (following two days of the OHA and CDC catching up on earlier deaths).

We had a Senate floor session again this morning.  Surprisingly, our anticipated  4 ½ hour session was over in an hour—Republican senators chose to dispense with the reading of bills today, so things went very quickly.  It was a pleasant surprise and a nice way to begin the Memorial Day Weekend.

Another piece of good news arrived today.  For a while now, our legislative staffers have been exploring the option of unionizing.  It culminated in an election of the potential members, and the ballots were counted today. The staffers voted overwhelming to create a bargaining unit with the IBEW and begin to negotiate a contract with Legislative Administration.  Here's a story about the successful effort.

Please stay safe and let me know if you have any questions about information in today’s  newsletter.

 

INTRO

 

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA again reports 433 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 200,632. (Although OHA reported 433 new cases, the difference between yesterday’s total and today’s is actually 422.  I’ve alerted them, and they’re looking into the discrepancy.)
  • Variant COVID Cases: OHA has just released updated variant case counts: 983 (up from 716) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 142 cases (up from 78) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 80 (up from 56) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 257 (up from 237) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 688 (up from 631) 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 589 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 291,058.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 13,629 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 5,113,007.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 4.0%.
  • Hospitalization Information:
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 260 (4 more than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 59 (9 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 149 (18 more than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 522 (68 more than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 34 (6 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 774 (2 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 5 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,665.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 30,898
        • 16,334 were conducted and reported yesterday
        • 14,564 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 28,503 doses per day.
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,898,044
    • 2,171,355 Pfizer doses
    • 1,584,788 Moderna doses
    • 140,073 Johnson & Johnson doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,218,243
    • 1,811,098 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 5,101,436 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 89,151 more than yesterday, for a total of 355,201 additional doses so far week.)
    • 76.4% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 80.6%.
    • 54.2% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (61.8% of those 16 and older, 64.9% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
    • 44.1% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (51.7% of those 16 and older).

 

vaccinated

If You Missed Wednesday’s Facebook Live on Face Coverings

On Wednesday, May 26, experts from OHA and Oregon OSHA answered questions about the new guidance regarding face coverings in a Facebook Live meeting.

One question that came up is whether asking for proof of vaccination is a violation of HIPAA (the federal requirement that health professionals must keep individual medical information private). The answer is that this does not violate HIPAA requirements. This video clip answers the question in more detail.

To see the entire Facebook Live, you can watch the full-length video here

 

Updates Provided to the House Subcommittee on COVID-19

The House Healthcare Subcommittee on COVID-19 received its weekly briefing on Wednesday.  This time it was again from OHA Director Pat Allen, and also from Oregon Department of Education Director, Colt Gill, who spoke to them about school reopenings.

You can find the website for the hearing here. here. It will allow you to watch the archived video of the hearing and also to access the meeting materials, which include the presenters’ PowerPoint slides.

Here are some of the highlights from Director Allen:

  • Oregon’s current infection rates are among the highest in the country right now, but they are definitely coming down.
  • We are 9th in the country for the rate of vaccinations for 12-15-year-olds.
  • In a remarkable statistic, Benton County saw 40% of its 12-15-year-olds vaccinated in the first week of eligibility.
  • Though vaccination rates are going down, the gap between White Oregonians and people of color is continuing to close.

And from Director Gill:

  • With the new guidance from the OHA, children no longer need to wear face coverings when outdoors.
  • However, districts can choose to be more restrictive and continue to require face coverings.
  • Participants at outdoor graduations can be unmasked.
  • If held indoors, participants can be unmasked if their vaccination status has been verified. (Again, the district can choose to ask everyone to remain masked.)
  • Staff can be unmasked among themselves at meetings if students aren’t present and vaccination status has been verified.
  • But again, districts can continue to require that everyone wear face coverings. Similarly, any student who prefers to wear a face covering even when outdoors is free to do so.  Teachers need to watch out for bullying in case some students give others a hard time over their preference to remain covered.
  • ODE is expecting all schools to be open a full 5 days a week in the fall (though districts can choose a 4-day week as some did before the pandemic).
  • They will be encouraging teachers to continue using internet resources to stay in contact with parents, which has turned out to be one of the benefits of distance learning.
  • Another of the lessons learned from the pandemic is that the state is unprepared for comprehensive distance instruction. ODE will be working on developing standards for quality online education, including for online charter schools.

 

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 433. (As noted above, the actual number may be 422; the county numbers reported below add up to 433.) Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (2)

Benton (1)

Clackamas (53)

Clatsop (3)

Columbia (8)

Coos (2)

Crook (2)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (40)

Douglas (26)

Gilliam (1)

Harney (6)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (14)

Jefferson (9)

Josephine (6)

Klamath (14)

Lane (21)

Linn (21)

Malheur (6)

Marion (45)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (66)

Polk (13)

Tillamook (1)

Umatilla (16)

Union (3)

Wasco (4)

Washington (40)

Yamhill (7)

 

And the Deaths:

This morning OHA was able to release individual information on the 21 deaths reported yesterday. Again, most of them are from several weeks ago or longer. 

The 21 are followed by the five that were reported today. As you’ll see, they are all from the last few days, what we would expect from a normal report.

Oregon’s 2,640th death is a 98-year-old man from Benton County who tested positive on April 22 and died on May 11 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,641st death is an 87-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on April 20 and died on April 27 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,642nd death is an 80-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on April 13 and died on April 20 at Portland Adventist Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,643rd death is a 78-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on March 17 and died on March 23 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,644th death is a 94-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive on Feb. 18 and died on March 23 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,645th death is a 93-year-old woman from Deschutes County who tested positive on April 26 and died on May 3 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,646th death is a 37-year-old man from Jefferson County who tested positive on May 21 and died on May 24 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,647th death is a 55-year-old man from Klamath County who tested positive on April 15 and died on May 1 at Oregon Health and Sciences University Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,648th death is a 78-year-old woman from Klamath County who tested positive on April 12 and died on April 19 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,649th death is an 85-year-old woman from Linn County who tested positive on April 20 and died on May 4 at Good Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,650th death is a 98-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive on April 15 and died on May 12 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,651st death is a 50-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive on May 5 and died on May 7 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,652nd death is an 81-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 13 and died on May 5 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,653rd death is a 69-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on May 7 and died on May 12 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,654th death is a 64-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 26 and died on May 5 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,655th death is a 93-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 27 and died on May 6 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,656th death is a 54-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 22 and died on May 13 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,657th death is a 64-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 12 and died on May 4 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,658th death is a 70-year-old man from Multnomah County who died on April 23 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,659th death is a 78-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive on April 23 and died on May 6 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,660th death is a 78-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive on April 23 and died on May 5 at OHSU Health Hillsboro Medical Center.

Note from OHA: Additional information is known about Oregon’s 2,627th death of an 87-year-old man from Linn County. He was originally reported as a Lane County resident.

Note from OHA: Additional information is known about Oregon’s 2,628th death of a 24-year-old man from Lane County. He was originally reported as a Linn County resident.

 

Oregon’s 2,661st death is a 68-year-old woman from Josephine county who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 26 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,662nd COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive on May 7 and died on May 26 at Salem Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,663rd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on May 11 and died on May 17 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,664th COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on May 11 and died on May 24 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,665th COVID-19 death is a 62-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on May 9 and died on May 27 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.

 

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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: 503-281-0608
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301