June 25th COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

June 25, 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.

Almost nothing has changed from yesterday on the COVID front.  There were exactly the same number of reported cases (232) and the same number of deaths (one).  Hospitalizations are down a little.  New vaccinations are up a little, and we have crossed the 69% mark for adults receiving their first vaccine. 

In recognition of that, the Governor announced today that nearly all COVID restrictions and mask mandates (aside from those still mandated by the federal government) will end at the end of June (Wednesday is June 30) or as soon as the 70% mark is hit.  She wanted to give a clear end date for restrictions, so that businesses could begin to prepare for that long-awaited moment.

It is almost completely certain that before that moment comes, though, the 2021 Legislative session will have come to an end.  We started today thinking we would finish today, albeit very late tonight.  However, the House decided to call it a day around 4 pm and adjourned for the day.  Obviously, neither chamber could do its work without final bills coming over from the other side, so the Senate too called it quits for the day about an hour later.  We’ll be back in the morning and will keep at it until we’re finished.

Some of the big final bills passed either their first or second chamber today. The big recycling modernization bill passed the House narrowly on a mainly party line vote, and is now headed to the Governor’s desk. The big wildfire bill passed the Senate on a surprisingly strong bipartisan vote once an amendment was passed that defused the conflict over it. (I reported on that last night.)  The 100% Clean Electricity bill passed the House and will be taken up in the Senate tomorrow.  I’m a Chief Sponsor of that one as well and am very much looking forward to getting it passed—fittingly, on a day that will be setting records for heat in June.

I’ll tell you all about the final day in tomorrow night’s newsletter—which will probably be the last in my 15-month run of daily COVID newsletters.

Until then, please stay safe and let me know if you have any questions about information in tonight’s newsletter.

 

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TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA reports 232 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 207,558.
  • Variant COVID Cases: Here are this week’s case counts for the COVID variants in Oregon, cumulative from the beginning of the pandemic (released on Wednesday):
    • 1,538 (up from 1,433) cases of the B.1.1.7 (formerly known as the U.K. variant, now called the Alpha) variant,
    • 315 cases (up from 286) of the P.1 (formerly Brazilian, now Gamma) variant,
    • 132 (up from 125) cases of the B.1.351 (formerly South African, now Beta) variant.
    • In addition, we are now seeing 1,106 (up from 1,028) cases of the B.1.427/B.1.429 variant (Epsilon)and
    • 10 cases (same as last week) 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 355 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 301,155.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 9,289 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is 5,373,773.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 3.8%.
  • Hospitalization Information:
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 151 (11 fewer than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 32 (same as yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 114 (16 fewer than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 443 (17 more than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 16 (same as yesterday)
    • Available Ventilators: 828 (4 more than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 1 additional COVID death today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is 2,761.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 16,171
        • 5,173 were conducted and reported yesterday
        • 10,998 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 9,197 doses per day.
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 4,352,835
    • 2,460,273 Pfizer doses
    • 1,724,910 Moderna doses
    • 165,523 Johnson & Johnson doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,371,850
    • 2,131,952 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 31,264 (down by 4,026).
  • To date, 5,472,065 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (That’s 1,570 more doses than yesterday, for a total of 34,590 additional doses this week.)
    • 80.0% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 84.5%.
    • 58.1% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (65.5% of those 16 and older, 69.1% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard).
    • 52.1% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (59.3% of those 16 and older).
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  • 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

  • Here’s reporting from OPB on the Governor’s decision to drop COVID restrictions at the end of the month. (More on that in the summary of her press conference further down in the newsletter.)
  • On the same day that the Governor announced the dropping of all COVID restrictions statewide in a few days, the Oregon Department of Education announced that no COVID restrictions are planned for the next school year.  Here's reporting from OPB. And here’s the full report from ODE, entitled the Ready Schools Safe Learners Resiliency Framework for the 2021-22 School Year. 
  • It hasn’t been easy for the media to get full, prompt information on the pandemic from OHA. Some of this is due to the law, which limits what they can release, even when the information is aggregated to protect individual identities. It’s also due in part to lack of specific personnel at OHA to fulfill the public records requests. SB 719 would have fixed both these problems, but in the final days of the session it became clear it wasn’t moving.  This is particularly frustrating for me, as I was one of the chief sponsors and pushed it as far as I could.  Ironically, what it probably needed was more of a push from members of the media themselves. Here's reporting from the Oregonian.

 

Ready for An End-Of Session Recap?

Next Tuesday, June 29, Reps Barbara Smith Warner, Khanh Pham, and I will be holding a ZOOM TOWN HALL!!!  It’ll be an opportunity for us to give you a recap of the many accomplishments (and inevitable frustrations) during this very unique 2021 legislative session.  There will be A LOT for us to talk about.  Hope you can make it!

It will be from 5 to 6 pm.  You can register here.

I’ll be following up with a constituent coffee a week from Saturday.  Hope to see you at one or both.

 

Governor Brown Calls for an End to Restrictions at End of Month

This morning, Governor Kate Brown and OHA Director Patrick Allen provided an update on her decision to sign a new executive order lifting all remaining COVID-19 health and safety restrictions issued under Oregon’s emergency statutes. Restrictions will be lifted when Oregon achieves a 70% first dose adult vaccination rate or on Wednesday, June 30, whichever occurs sooner. (As of today, we’re at 69.1%.)

Director Allen provided an update on vaccinations in Oregon and described how COVID-19 will be managed after June 30. Now that more than 69% of Oregon adults have received at least one vaccination, Oregon will continue to work toward vaccinating eight in 10 adults, particularly in hard-hit communities of color. 

However, he did provide some good news regarding the vaccination effort.  Although vaccinations have really slowed down overall among Oregonians in general, they are currently occurring at twice the rate for people of color than for White Oregonians. This is apparently the result of targeted campaigns involving community-based organizations.   

Director Allen also highlighted that Oregon data show that more than nine in 10 COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations occur among people who are not vaccinated at all or are not fully vaccinated.

You can watch a rebroadcast of the press conference here and read the press conference talking points here.

During the press conference the Governor was asked why she was waiting for the end of the month, given the extreme heat that we’re facing this weekend.  She was asked why she wasn’t dropping the capacity limits immediately for pools, movie theaters, and other places where people might want to go in order to stay cool.  The Governor responded cooling centers would be opened up around the state.

Nevertheless, by the end of the day the OHA had decided to suspend the limits in those places immediately.

 

Final Update on Chlorine

Legislators received word this evening from the director of the Office of Emergency Management, Andrew Phelps, that the chlorine crisis has come to an end.  The facility in Longview that had had the equipment failure is now fully operational:

Greetings, Legislators,

Pending any new disruptions, this will be the final update on the chlorine supply disruption we’ve been monitoring for the past week.

Good news! Westlake reports their Longview facility is operational and is producing product and ahead of schedule. They will be coordinating directly with their distributors and customers to assist with prioritization of initial deliveries. Although the State ECC is demobilizing for this issue, we’ve asked our city, county  and tribal partners and utilities to notify us as soon as they become aware of any supply issues that may disrupt their operations. There are no drinking water or wastewater utilities with less than a 7-day supply of chlorine.

 

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 232.  Here is today’s breakdown by county:

Benton (4)

Clackamas (20)

Columbia (3)

Coos (4)

Crook (3)

Curry (2)

Deschutes (12)

Douglas (9)

Jackson (16)

Josephine (3)

Klamath (6)

Lane (15)

Lincoln (7)

Linn (23)

Malheur (3)

Marion (30)

Multnomah (35)

Polk (7)

Tillamook (2)

Umatilla (15)

Union (1)

Wasco (1)

Washington (12)

Yamhill (1)

 

And the Death:

Oregon’s 2,761st death is an 81-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on June 12 and died on June 23 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

 

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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

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,

dembrow signature

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