June 7th COVID-19 Update

June 7, 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.

Today’s COVID case count is exceptionally good (122 and no deaths), the best we’ve seen for many, many months.  Obviously, much of that is due to erratic weekend reporting (you’ll see below that several of the counties with the largest case counts did not report at all).  Still, that’s typical of Mondays, but these numbers are far lower than we’ve seen even on a Monday for a long time.  It’s another sign of progress.

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 122 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 203,374.
• Variant COVID Cases: Here are the cumulative case counts for the COVID variants in Oregon: 1,152 (up from 983) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 176 cases (up from 142) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 86 (up from 80) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 277 (up from 257) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 700 (up from 688) of the B.1.429 variant.  OHA is now producing a  Variant Dashboard, providing current variant case numbers for the state as a whole and for various parts of the state.  It’s updated each Wednesday.
• Positive Test Results: OHA reported 239 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 294,892.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 7,374 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 5,213,640.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.2%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 206 (8 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 50 (8 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 178 (20 more than Friday)
  • Other Available Beds: 559 (71 more than Friday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 29 (same as Friday).
  • Available Ventilators: 767 (16 fewer than Friday).
• Deaths: I’m happy to report 0 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is still 2,694.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 37,930 more than Saturday
      • 10,301 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 3,967 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 14,456 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,086,994
  • 2,293,598 Pfizer doses
  • 1,641,377 Moderna doses
  • 1 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,286,813
  • 1,939,623 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• To date, 5,319,355 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 29,710 doses coming in so far this week.)
  • 76.8% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 81.5%.
  • 55.8% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (63.5% of those 16 and older, 66.8% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 47.1% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (55.1% 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.

• Additional Brief Updates:
  • Oregon OSHA, which regulates standards for worker safety in Oregon, has announced that it will remove the restrictions on distancing and going mask-free once the state hits the Governor’s 70% vaccination target. Here's more.
  • We’re learning more about the U.K. COVID variant. It’s powerful.  Here's what we know so far.
  • Here’s an interesting story and statistics from Inside Higher Education about what college and university students think about the vaccine.
  • One of the bills that we passed on the Senate floor today was House Concurrent Resolution 11, which changed the words of Oregon’s state song, “Oregon My Oregon,” removing racist and archaic language. Here's a story about the new song, along with the new lyrics.

Just A Little Over 100,000 to Go

The OHA reports today that the number of adult Oregonians needing vaccinations to reach the 70% threshold is 106,671.  By tomorrow, we should be below 100,000, as we’re vaccinating around 10,000 adults (for this purpose those who are 18+) per day. 

OHA will soon have a page where you can watch the countdown to the 70% threshold that will relax all or nearly all of the state standards.  Once there’s a good link to that page, I’ll share it.

House Republicans Call on Representative Nearman to Resign

You may have already heard that all of his House Republican colleagues have called on Representative Nearman to resign as a result of his having allowed armed attackers into the Capitol in December.  In previous newsletters I’ve shared with you the latest video “smoking gun” in which he clearly was letting attackers know how to contact him to arrange for their entry into the building. He followed through on his plans for “Operation Hall Pass.” His actions that day put us all at risk, but especiallythe state police who protect us and put their bodies on the line for us that day.

If you haven’t been following his case or the communication from the House Republicans, here's reporting from OPB. 

I very much appreciate the House Republicans calling on Nearman to resign.  I know it’s a hard thing to do in our polarized political climate, but it’s the right thing.

Since Nearman is a House member, senators have been looking to our House colleagues to investigate and do the right thing.  The video footage from the Capitol on that day made it likely that investigators would find him at fault and potentially subject to conviction on criminal charges. But we also didn’t want this to be seen as a partisan issue—i.e., Democrats seeking political gain by removing a member of the other party.

With the release of this latest “smoking gun,” the time has come for House Republicans to step up and do the right thing.  They have, and hopefully we will soon be able to move on.  It's long past time for Representative Nearman to leave the Legislature. 

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 122.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (1)

Benton (1)

Clackamas (19)

Clatsop (1)

Columbia (3)

Coos (1)

Crook (1)

Deschutes (8)

Douglas (5)

Grant (1)

Harney (2)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (2)

Klamath (4)

Lane (14)

Linn (6)

Morrow (2)

Multnomah (37)

Polk (2)

Union (1)

Wasco (2)

Washington (2)

Yamhill (10)

And the Deaths

I’m happy to communicate that no new COVID deaths were reported today.

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