June 22nd COVID-19 Update

June 22, 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 numbers reflect cases that came in at midnight, thus the beginning of weekday reporting.  As a result, COVID case numbers are higher than they’ve been the last couple of day (when they reflected limited weekend reporting), but overall lower than they’ve been on past Tuesdays.  That’s a good trend.  Vaccinations are also up somewhat, but still much lower than we’d like them to be.  You’ll see links further down in the newsletter to reporting on the ongoing vaccination slowdown here in Oregon and in other parts of the country.

Today in the Legislature was a very good day for two of my priorities this session. SB 233, the Common Course Numbering bill (which will lead to seamless transfer from high school to college, college to college, college to university, and university to university) passed unanimously on the House floor this afternoon.  It now heads to the Governor’s desk for her signature.  SB 236 was more politically polarized but equally important.  It addresses the problem of suspensions and expulsions of children from pre-K programs.  These suspensions and expulsions happen at much higher rates for children with disabilities and children of color, and it needs to stop. Here's a press release from House Democrats about the bill.  It originated in my committee in the Senate and was then shepherded and improved by my good friend and colleague, Rep. Karin Power, in the House.  It too is now headed to the Governor’s desk.

Tomorrow morning in the Senate we’ll be voting on another priority, SB 582,the big recycling modernization bill.  I’m really looking forward to seeing that one move along. As you know, we’ve been struggling with our recycling system ever since the Chinese began to refuse to take our heavily-contaminated recycling product several years ago.   This bill will require the industry to take some responsibility for this growing problem, and help pay to dispose of this packaging responsibly.

Tomorrow most of us will also be heading down to Eugene to pay a final farewell to Lawanda Manning and support our good friend and colleague, Senator Manning.  It will be difficult to take the time to do so on one of the final days of the session, and it will be heartbreaking, but it’s necessary and a priority.

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 267 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 207,105.
• 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 (formerly known as the U.K. variant, now called the Alpha) variant, 286 cases (up from 200) of the P.1 (formerly Brazilian, now Delta) variant, and 125 (up from 108) cases of the B.1.351 (formerly South African, now Beta) 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 306 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 300,213.
• Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 9,041 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is 5,345,089.
• Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.4%.
• Hospitalization Information:
  • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 135 (11 more than yesterday)
  • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 35 (1 fewer than yesterday).
  • Available ICU Beds: 125 (2 fewer than yesterday)
  • Other Available Beds: 441 (12 fewer than yesterday).
  • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 15 (3 fewer than yesterday)
  • Available Ventilators: 813 (14 more than yesterday).
• Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional COVID death today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is 2,757.
• Vaccinations:
  • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
    • New Immunizations Reported Today: 9,296
      • 4,708 were conducted and reported yesterday
      • 4,588 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 11,201 doses per day.

• Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,318,187
  • 2,443,680 Pfizer doses
  • 1,709,047 Moderna doses
  • 163,375 Johnson & Johnson doses
• Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,357,2583
  • 2,110,737 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 42,176 (down by 2,430 from yesterday).
• To date, 5,462,945 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 6,560 more doses than yesterday, for a total of 25,470 additional doses this week.)
  • 79.0% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 84.1%.
  • 57.8% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (65.1% of those 16 and older, 68.7% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
  • 51.6% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (58.8% 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

• The Governor’s Office released the latest update on county risk levels. Polk County has hit the 65% threshold that takes them to Lower Risk, and several other counties have been moved down from High Risk to Moderate Risk. Here is the complete list of county placements.
• The Associated Press has looked at the national numbers and concluded that we are not likely to hit the President’s goal of vaccinating 70% of adults (defined as those 18 and older), but  we have already vaccinated 70% of those over the age of 30.  We're falling short among those in their late teens and twenties.
• Here in Oregon, we are moving closer to the national goal but very, very slowly. Here's good, thorough reporting from OPB.
• Here's more on the ongoing saga of the 178 Houston Methodist Hospital health care workers who had refused to be vaccinated and were suspended and given two weeks to get vaccinated. You’ll remember that their suit to change that policy was recently dismissed in federal court.  The hospital system, with a total of just under 25,000 employees, has either fired or accepted the resignations of 153 of them. Twenty-five did choose to get vaccinated.
• States (including Oregon) are moving away from mass vaccination sites and towards small-scale outreach efforts. It's kind of like the "ground game" in a political campaign.

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 267.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Baker (12)

Benton (4)

Clackamas (22)

Clatsop (2)

Columbia (2)

Coos (1)

Curry (10)

Deschutes (9)

Douglas (12)

Gilliam (1)

Grant (1)

Hood River (1)

Jackson (14)

Jefferson (1)

Josephine (12)

Klamath (2)

Lake (1)

Lane (18)

Lincoln (4)

Linn (10)

Malheur (6)

Marion (25)

Morrow (1)

Multnomah (25)

Polk (12)

Sherman (3)

Umatilla (18)

Union (2)

Wasco (1)

Washington (31)

Yamhill (4)

And the Death:

Oregon’s 2,757th death is a 55-year-old woman from Washington County who tested positive on May 7 and died on June 10 at OHSU Health Hillsboro 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