June 15th COVID-19 Update

June 15, 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.

We’re back on track now with COVID reporting as we head to midweek.  The case numbers are higher than they were yesterday, but they’re more reliable.  Test positivity is down, but the number of deaths has gone up.  The problems that the CDC has been having in reporting Oregon’s total vaccination numbers accurately have been fixed.  You’ll see that number of Oregonians vaccinated needed to hit our 70% mark has gone down to just under 65,500; or, looked at another way, we are now at 68% of that 70% goal.

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 314 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 205,459.
• 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 290 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 298,010.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 10,101 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is 5,278,118.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 2.9%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 172 (2 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 46 (same as yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 137 (14 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 577 (9 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 20 (same as yesterday)
  • Available Ventilators: 777 (8 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 7 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is 2,737.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 21,811
      • 5,510 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 16,301 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 16,162 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,237,358
  • 2,395,246 Pfizer doses
  • 1,682,199 Moderna doses
  • 157,937 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,329,871
  • 2,054,069 now fully vaccinated with two doses
• The number of Oregonians who still need to get a first dose for Oregon to reach the 70% threshold is now 65,484 (down by 10,605). However, the CDC has still not fully fixed its reporting problems, so this number may actually be lower.  They say it’ll be fixed by tomorrow.
• To date, 5,375,995 5,399,425 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 23,430 more than yesterday, for a total of 61,820 additional doses so far this week.)
  • 78.4% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 83.2%.
  • 57.1% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (64.4% of those 16 and older, 68% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 50% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (57.5% 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

• The writers at Slate wonder if we’re not asking the vaccine-hesitant the wrong questions.  Here's their suggestion.
• As we’re focused on bringing down the number of infections via increased vaccinations, the number of the number of COVID deaths approaches 600,000, an astounding number.
• We had hoped to beat California’s June 15 timeline for broad reopening thanks to hitting the 70% vaccination threshold early. Such was unfortunately not to be, as a result of slowdowns in vaccinations here.  So, California is going ahead of us (as is New York). Here's more.  

 Here’s information about how renters can apply for rent assistance.

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 314.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (3)

Benton (1)

Clackamas (25)

Clatsop (3)

Columbia (7)

Coos (2)

Crook (4)

Curry (3)

Deschutes (6)

Douglas (18)

Harney (1)

Hood River (3)

Jackson (39)

Jefferson (2)

Josephine (4)

Klamath (7)

Lake (1)

Lane (24)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (9)

Marion (32)

Multnomah (34)

Polk (13)

Umatilla (14)

Union (1)

Wasco (1)

Washington (40)

Yamhill (11)

And the Deaths

Oregon’s 2,731st COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man from Deschutes County who tested positive on April 26 and died on May 11 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,732nd COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man from Curry County who died on May 10 at Bay Area Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,733rd COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive on May 6 and died on May 21 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,734th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive on April 29 and died on May 27 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,735th COVID-19 death is a 60-year-old man from Wasco County who tested positive on June 13 and died on June 13 at Mid-Columbia Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,736th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man from Lake County who tested positive on May 16 and died on May 20 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,737th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman from Klamath County who tested positive on May 18 and died on June 11 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

• 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