June 18th COVID-19 Update

June 18, 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.

As you’ll see in tonight’s newsletter, there nothing much out of the recent ordinary to report on the COVID front today.  Slow but steady vaccination rates are getting us gradually to the state target of 70% of adults vaccinated.  A little more than 50,000 Oregonians need to have received at least one dose to get us there.  We’re currently getting between 4,000 and 5,000 first vaccinations into the arms of Oregonians each day. So we should certainly hit the President’s target of 70% by July 4^th (though it appears that the country as a whole unfortunately won’t).

I’m happy to report that all the bills in full Ways and Means passed today and are now headed to the floor of their first chambers (i.e., SBs to the Senate floor, HBs to the House floor).  All the Ways and Means subcommittees have shut down, and any remaining policy bills that have been required to go through the Ways and Means process will have to go through the Capital Construction subcommittee.  To be honest, though, very few of the bills not yet voted out of their subcommittees or scheduled for Monday’s meeting of Capital Construction will pass this session.  The calendar is exerting its inexorable influence. 

I’m pleased to see that the final big environmental priority— SB 762A, the big wildfire bill, is scheduled for a work session in Capital Construction on Monday morning.  It includes a number of important wildfire prevention investments, wildfire risk mapping,  and requirements to make homes more fire resistant in areas at high risk. Given the increasing threat of droughts, longer fire seasons, and other effects of climate change, it’s crucial that this work begin immediately.

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 315 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 206,299.
• Variant COVID Cases: Here are this week’s case counts for the COVID variants in Oregon, cumulative from the beginning of the pandemic:: 1,433 (up from 1,240) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 286 cases (up from 200) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 125 (up from 108) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 291 (up from 279) cases of the B.1.427 variant, 737 (up from 716) of the B.1.429 variant, and 10 cases of the new B.1.617.2 (Delta).  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 403 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 299,074.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 11,061 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is 5,311,756.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.6%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 150 (1 fewer than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 37 (same as yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 127 (14 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 496 (30 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 22 (3 more than yesterday)
  • Available Ventilators: 786 (13 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 5 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is 2,750.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 13,063
      • 6,124 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 934 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 14,716 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,282,816
  • 2,422,839 Pfizer doses
  • 1,696,938 Moderna doses
  • 160,990 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,344,714
  • 2,086,483 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 51,616 (down by 4,081). We remain on track to hit the threshold by the end of the month.
• To date, 5,437,475 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 22,370 more than yesterday, for a total of 99,870 additional doses so far this week.)
  • 78.8% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 83.6%.
  • 57.5% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (64.8% of those 16 and older, 68.5% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 50.0% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (58.2% 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 and more, 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

• We had great hopes for the Johnson & Johnson 1-dose vaccine as a way to seriously ramp up acceptance of the vaccine among those hesitant to be vaccinated.   Sadly, it didn't work out that way.
• For all of you who’ve been dreaming of a visit to Europe sometime soon,  here's some good news.
• And for the very rich among you, whom the pandemic has probably made even wealthier, here's how others in your income bracket are spending their wealth.as restrictions are being lifted.
• With low vaccination rates in some parts of the country (generally those characterized as “red states”), the President seems to be accepting that we will fall short  of his goal of 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4^th. Oregon, fortunately, remains on track to get there.
• The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Treasury have launched a portalto allow families that don’t typically file tax returns to register for the $300-per-child monthly child tax credit payments now available as a result of the federal American Rescue Plan. Here's more.

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 315.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (2)

Benton (2)

Clackamas (33)

Clatsop (2)

Columbia (5)

Coos (2)

Crook (4)

Curry (5)

Deschutes (12)

Douglas (17)

Harney (5)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (19)

Jefferson (2)

Josephine (8)

Klamath (6)

Lane (17)

Lincoln (2)

Linn (19)

Malheur (4)

Marion (25)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (52)

Polk (12)

Sherman (1)

Umatilla (28)

Wasco (1)

Washington (26)

Yamhill (7)

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,746th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man from Jefferson County who tested positive on May 8 and died on June 17 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,747th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man from Deschutes County who tested positive on June 2 and died on June 6 at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,748th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman from Clatsop County who tested positive on April 11 and died on June 1 at her residence.

Oregon’s 2,749th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on April 20 and died on April 25 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,750th COVID-19 death is a 45-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive on June 6 and died on June 16 at Salem Hospital.

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