June 11th COVID-19 Update

June 11, 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.

In tonight’s newsletter you’ll find another good day for all COVID metrics in Oregon and a decent day for vaccinations.  We’re now down to 87,702 Oregonians still needing their first shot before we hit the 70% target.  It may actually be a little lower than that, but we’re still waiting for the CDC to sort out some of its reporting problems.  That may not be completed until the beginning of next week.

Despite this overall positive report, today has been an extremely difficult day for me and for many of my Senate colleagues.  We lost a real jewel of a woman in the early hours of this morning—Lawanda Manning, wife and life partner of Senator James Manning of Eugene/Junction City. 

Those of us in the Capitol community knew Lawanda well because she worked with the Senator as his chief of staff and was always close by.  She was an incredible anchor, not just for him but for all the young staffers, and frankly for us all.  She was extremely level-headed, down to earth, straight-talking, but always kind. 

My heart goes out of course to James and his family, but really to us all   It’s a huge loss.  She left us too suddenly and at too young an age.

It puts everything into perspective. 

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 308 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 204,587.
• Variant COVID Cases: Here are the cumulative case counts for the COVID variants in Oregon: 1,240 (up from 1,152) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 200 cases (up from 176) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 108 (up from 86) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 279 (up from 257) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 716 (up from 700) 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 478 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 296,868.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 11,652 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 5242,201.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 4.1%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 169 (4 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 40 (1 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 124 (13 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 485 (28 more than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 13 (3 fewer than yesterday)
  • Available Ventilators: 789 (10 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m happy to report that for the second time this week OHA reports 0 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is still 2,726.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 24,213
      • 15,926 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 8,987 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 17,697 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,171,738
  • 2,352,742 Pfizer doses
  • 1,662,657 doses
  • 154,388 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,310,053
  • 2,007,367 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• Number of Oregonians who still need to get a first dose for Oregon to reach the 70% threshold: 87,702 (5,532 fewer than yesterday)
• To date, 5,337,605 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 3,870 more than yesterday, so 47,960 doses have come in so far this week.)
  • 78.2% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 82.1%.
  • 56.4% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (64.0% of those 16 and older, 67.4% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 48.3% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (56.5% 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

• Here are some interesting statistics from USAFacts about the vaccination rollout around the states.
• Here’s more on breakthrough cases--those extremely rare cases of a person developing severe COVID symptoms despite being fully vaccinated. They are rare but they do occur—because no vaccine can ever be 100% effective for everyone.  But the perfect should not become the enemy of the extremely good.

Governor Holds Press Conference Today: Here’s What She Covered

The Governor held one of her regular meetings with the press today to discuss the latest in COVID and vaccination trends.  She was joined today by State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger, who gave a brief overview of the current situation and also discussed elements of the just-released epidemiological forecast for Oregon (details of that in tomorrow’s newsletter).

You can watch it here and read the press conference talking points here.

Here are my own notes on the key points:

• Sidelinger provided a summary of the ongoing reductions in all the COVID metrics: cases, percent positive test results, hospitalizations, and deaths.
• The landscape of the virus has continued to shift dramatically. We are still seeing two pandemic realities in Oregon: one for the vaccinated and one for the unvaccinated.
• If you’ve been vaccinated, your pandemic is coming to an end. If you’re unvaccinated, you remain at high risk of infection.
• Virtually everyone showing serious symptoms or hospitalized now has NOT been fully vaccinated.
• The new epidemiological model shows a much lower infection rate as of the end of May. As a result, by the end of this month we should be seeing a significant decline in cases—down to 100 new cases and just 5 new hospitalizations a day.
• The deadline for qualifying for the Take Your Shot Oregon Sweepstakes is coming up in a couple of weeks.
• Those who received their vaccine at a federal location (at a VA center or via the Indian Health Authority) or out of state are not automatically enrolled for the drawing. They must go to the website-- oregon.gov to sign up.
• In order to get more people vaccinated and safe, the Governor called on all Oregonians to be available to help any unvaccinated person we know—family member, friend, neighbor--to get vaccinated.
• If they are still uncertain, they should check with their doctor or another knowledgeable, trusted source.
• The Governor remains absolutely certain that we will hit the 70% mark by the end of the month.
• We are currently 18^th in the nation for vaccinating our adults.
• 11^th in country for 12-18-year-olds.
• When asked by a reporter about the problem employers are having finding workers, including those who may be earning more on unemployment than they were while working, the Governor acknowledged the problem but pointed out that those on unemployment will now need to start documenting and demonstrating that they are searching for work; but also that there are many other reasons people may not be returning—for example, ongoing concern about their health and difficulty in finding appropriate and affordable childcare. She also implied that in some of these cases wages need to go up.
• The Governor was pressed about her announcement that face coverings would no longer be required in most indoor settings after we’ve hit the 70% mark. Should that be the case even in an area where vaccination rates are lower and there is an outbreak?  Wouldn’t this be counter to the CDC guidance that masks need to be worn by anyone unvaccinated and not required only for the vaccinated? 
• Sidelinger suggested (correctly) that it is proving to be very difficult to ask some to wear face coverings and others not. It puts workers in a very difficult position.   
• He believes that even if the masking requirement is dropped for the unvaccinated once we’ve hit 70%, those who are unvaccinated should continue to wear face covering out of consideration for others who might be at particular risk of infection but for whom vaccinations are ineffective or not yet available (those with particular medical conditions or children). Whether they will or not is another question.
• He said that those with underlying medical conditions and children may still need to still limit their exposure until infection rates go down further. They won’t be able to assume that those around them are vaccinated.
• Nevertheless, as overall infection rates continue their steady decline, their risk of exposure will go down.
• As for the CDC guidelines about allowing some to go without face coverings and others not, the Governor suggested that those guidelines may well change before we hit our 70% threshold. We’ll see.

Here's OPB coverage of the press conference.of the press conference.

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 308.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Benton (3)

Clackamas (34)

Clatsop (4)

Columbia (6)

Coos (1)

Crook (8)

Curry (2)

Deschutes (14)

Douglas (15)

Grant (2)

Hood River (2)

Jackson (21)

Jefferson (3)

Josephine (3)

Klamath (2)

Lake (1)

Lane (12)

Lincoln (1)

Linn (12)

Malheur (2)

Marion (31)

Multnomah (67)

Polk (5)

Umatilla (11)

Union (1)

Wasco (1)

Washington (37)

Yamhill (7)

***Note from OHA: Due to routine data quality assurance reviews, OHA identified 19,992 duplicate negative electronic lab reports (ELRs) from April 30 to June 10, 2021, related to a single laboratory in Yamhill County. These duplicate negative ELRs were removed from the system last night. As a result, statewide and Yamhill County ELR counts have decreased and percent positivity has increased for this time period.

And the Deaths

OHA reported 10 deaths yesterday, but most of those were late reports, and individual information still needed to be researched. You’ll see them below.

There were no new deaths reported today.

Oregon’s 2,717th death is an 89-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 23 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,718th death is an 83-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 27 and died on Feb. 26 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,719th death is a 90-year-old woman from Crook County who tested positive on June 7 and died on June 8 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,720th death is an 80-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive on May 21 and died on May 23 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

Oregon’s 2,721st death is an 84-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on May 22 and died on June 8 at Mercy Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,722nd death is a 75-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on May 15 and died on May 21 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,723rd death is a 73-year-old man from Yamhill County who tested positive on April 17 and died on May 13 at his residence.

Oregon’s 2,724th death is a 55-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 21 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,725th death is a 55-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on May 4 and died on May 21 at Hillsboro Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 2,726th death is a 73-year-old man from Wasco County who tested positive on April 13 and died on May 21 at his residence.

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