June 12th Update from SD 23

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June 12, 2022

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 during this past week. 

For those of you here in the Portland area, I hope you’ve been able to enjoy the return of the Rose Festival after its two-year hiatus. Though everything is still on a somewhat reduced scale, it has seemed to be a bit of a return to “normal.” I was able to meet and speak to a group of Navy (U.S. and Canadian) and Coast Guard officers on Friday, sharing some of the challenges we’re facing right now with education and workforce. (Needless to say, the pandemic has been very hard for them as well.)  Yesterday and today I was able to spend time at Waterfront Park cheering on my daughter’s Dragon Boat team.  Like old times.

And to top it off, we even had drizzle and the occasional downpour!  In June! Just like old times! (Fingers crossed for an easier wildfire year this year . . .)

In tonight’s newsletter, you’ll find information on a couple of the things I’ve been working on most recently, related to summer learning programs and industrial chicken operations being proposed for the state.

On the COVID front, you’ll see that the “cresting” of the current Omicron surge is continuing here in Oregon, pretty much as predicted in the OHSU forecast.  Infections have stopped rising, and the percentage of positive test results is starting to go down. Hospitalizations, especially serious cases requiring the ICU, remain stable, and the number of people requiring ventilators remains very small. 

However, many people are continuing to catch the virus, even though they fortunately are not becoming severely ill.  Right now half of our counties are at Medium Risk or High Risk (Jackson, Lane, and Douglas). More on that below.

You’ll find details on all of these developments in this newsletter, along with the links and graphs that will clarify the current status of the pandemic for you. 

Until the next newsletter, please stay healthy and safe.  And let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about anything in tonight’s newsletter.

Next Constituent Coffee July 9th

Yes, I know that Saturday, July 9th, is the SECOND Saturday in July, but we're breaking with tradition next month because of the July 4th weekend.  

So, July 9th will be our second in-person gathering, with coffee and cookies, back at the Hollywood Senior Center, 1820 NE 40^th Avenue (from 9 am to 10:30 am). 

For now, we'll continue to alternate between in-person and zoom.

Hope to see you then!

Summer Learning Programs Back on Track

I’ve written before about the big investment that the Legislature is again putting into summer programing for our children that will allow them to catch up on their learning while having fun with other kids. We were able to do it last summer with help from federal COVID funds, and we heard great things about the programing all over the state. We’ve been eager to replicate it (actually, improve it) this year.

We know that the pandemic has been especially hard for kids from low-income families and kids with disabilities. The request for proposals that went out in April let districts and organizations know that the programs most likely to be funded were those that focused on these kids.  Summer is always a time when kids from less-affluent families are at risk of falling farther behind with learning loss.  These summer programs, funded by the state in partnership with local school districts, have the potential to turn that around.

Of the $150 million that was allocated for summer programs, two-thirds are for programs being run through the schools and a third for programs run through various local community-based organizations. 

Unfortunately, the Oregon Department of Education hit a snag with that last group. It learned that a number of the smaller community-based organizations would likely be unable to get the necessary “Sex Abuse and Molestation” insurance that they would need to meet state requirements.  The Department of Administrative Services was unable to find insurers willing to provide the necessary coverage for them. I learned about the problem a few weeks ago, and the Education Committees were briefed on it during Legislative Days.

Up until the end of last week, it was looking as if only the larger organizations (e.g., YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs) would be able to do programs this summer, which was extremely frustrating and discouraging.  The Oregon Capital Chronicle has good reporting on the background to the problem here.

Fortunately, after word about the problem got out, a few insurers came forward and offered to provide coverage after all.  So, for now at least, we appear to be back on track.  Check out this follow-up from the Capital Chronicle.

Believe me, this has been a real roller-coaster, and I feel awful for those organizations that have been hoping to participate and struggling with these delays.  I hope they can still move forward and put together the programs ours kids need.  I’ll keep you informed.

Coming: Work Group on Industrial Chicken Operations in Oregon

During Legislative Days two legislative committees had hearings about extremely large chicken facilities being proposed for Linn and Marion Counties in the Willamette Valley: Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery and House Agriculture, Land Use, and Water. (You can watch the hearings and find materials on those websites.) The hearings were the result of a great deal of concern being expressed by local residents of those communities, who feel that these facilities—each of which will house millions of birds each year—will have catastrophic impacts on their local rural communities and local environments.

The first of these proposed operations has already received a provisional permit to begin construction. If the construction passes muster and it gets all its other state and county permits lined up, it can begin bringing birds in.  You can read about the permit and the controversy in this article from the Statesman-Journal.

I visited the sites for these proposed facilities a few weeks ago, along with a few other legislators and public officials.  I have to say that my initial impression was that this is a real misuse of prime farmland, and they appear to be taking advantage of provisions in our land-use and water laws that were never intended for this kind of operation.

I attended the Senate Natural Resources Committee to report on what I’d seen and offered to help convene a work group to try to better understand and potentially develop legislation to close some of the inadvertent loopholes that appear to exist.  That group is now being assembled and should begin meeting during the next month.  I’ll let you know more about it as it develops its work.

In the meantime, on Friday a group of opponents of the first permit have filed a petition for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Quality to reconsider the permit.  You can read coverage of the petition here.

Signing Up for Gun Violence Prevention

Within the last 24 hours a deal appears to have been reached in the U.S. Senate to move a modest package of gun-violence-reduction efforts.  The package is long overdue, and for parts of the country will make a difference. States like Oregon, however, can and should do better to promote responsible gun ownership.

Let me take the opportunity again to remind you of the signature-gathering that is occurring to get an important initiative onto the ballot.  It’s Initiative Petition 17—The Reduction of Gun Violence Act, an effort organized by a coalition of faith leaders. It would do two important things: limit the ammunition capacity of firearms magazines and require a permit to purchase a firearm. Both of these strategies have been shown to be very effective in limiting gun violence.

Here’s info about the initiative and the effort behind it, lifteveryvoiceoregon.com

As a result of the recent, tragic instances of gun violence, the effort has been gaining steam day by day.  What seemed like a long shot now seems within reach--if the effort continues to build.

Thanks to changes recently made by the Legislature, you can now download, print out, sign, and mail in a petition directly from your home.  Here’s how. https://www.lifteveryvoiceoregon.com/sign-from-home

Getting this passed will send a clear message to the Legislature that Oregonians want real change right away and will also send a strong signal to the nation as a whole. However, this is not a well-funded campaign, and getting a measure onto the ballot is not easy. Please do what you can to help, starting with your own signature.

ON THE COVID FRONT

Weekly Report:

Here is week-over-week information that I’ve compiled from the daily reports for the past week.  At the end of the newsletter you’ll also find graphs that I’ve put together showing the daily counts and trends for the last two weeks.

Overall, we’re seeing a stabilization or slowdown in the rates of increase.

• The big week-over-week increases in positive test results that we were seeing are continuing to slow down. OHA reported 10,982 new cases of COVID-19 during the week of June 3-9 (vs. 10,260 the week before), a 7-day average of 1,569 per day (vs 1,466 the previous week). The number of new cases is again likely an undercount, as many people are using home tests to determine their infection status but are not reporting those results.
• On Thursday there were 312 COVID-19-related hospitalizations, a slight increase from 307 last Thursday. However, week over week we are seeing a decrease in hospitalization, confirming the OHSU forecast that we have reached a crest in new hospitalizations. Again, many of these hospitalizations are not in and of themselves due to COVID—they include those who tested positive after having been admitted for other reasons.  
• The number of COVID patients in Oregon’s ICUs is now 31, essentially unchanged from last week’s 31. These are of course the individuals with the most serious cases, which again appear to have crested in Oregon.
• There were 43 reported COVID-19-related deaths during the last week, vs. 34 last week. Some of these were actually deaths that occurred earlier but were reported last week.
• Average test positivity for the last week was 12.3%, a small decrease from the previous week’s 12.9%. Again, this number skews high because it likely reflects a higher proportion of people showing COVID symptoms (and thus going in for a test, rather than self-testing).

Weekly County Report: Three Counties Now at High Risk, Eighteen at Medium Risk

OHA is no longer providing a weekly county report each Monday, but there are still ways to track this data.  According to the CDC Daily Counter (updated each Thursday), three southern Oregon counties (Lane, Douglas, and Jackson) are now at High COVID risk.  18 Oregon counties have reported infection rates that place them in the Medium Risk category:  Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Grant, Hood River, Josephine, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Washington, and Wheeler.  The remaining 15 Oregon counties remain at Low Risk.

Again, we must remember that these are only the tests results that have been reported.  With the prevalence of home tests, there are certainly many more positive cases out there that have not been reported.

Here’s what the CDC recommends for this category:  Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. Get tested if you have symptoms. Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19. Wear a mask on public transportation. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others. If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions.

We can also track the test positivity rates for each county and the state as a whole at this dashboard. The test positivity rates reported this week show continued increases.

Among the reported cases, the statewide infection rate has declined from 15.0% last week to 12.3% this week.

At 14.0%, Multnomah County is now showing declining percentages, down substantially from last week’s 16.6%. 

Weekly County Report: Three Counties Now at High Risk, Eighteen at Medium Risk

OHA is no longer providing a weekly county report each Monday, but there are still ways to track this data.  According to the CDC Daily Counter (updated each Thursday), three southern Oregon counties (Lane, Douglas, and Jackson) are now at High COVID risk.  18 Oregon counties have reported infection rates that place them in the Medium Risk category:  Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Grant, Hood River, Josephine, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Washington, and Wheeler.  The remaining 15 Oregon counties remain at Low Risk.

Again, we must remember that these are only the tests results that have been reported.  With the prevalence of home tests, there are certainly many more positive cases out there that have not been reported.

Here’s what the CDC recommends for this category:  Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. Get tested if you have symptoms. Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19. Wear a mask on public transportation. You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others. If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions.

We can also track the test positivity rates for each county and the state as a whole at this dashboard. The test positivity rates reported this week show continued increases.

Among the reported cases, the statewide infection rate has declined from 15.0% last week to 12.3% this week.

At 14.0%, Multnomah County is now showing declining percentages, down substantially from last week’s 16.6%. The Portland Tri-County average is now  (down from last week’s 16.5%). 

This Week’s Wastewater Monitoring Report Shows Decrease in Number of Cities with Steady COVID Increases

With testing reports giving us just a fraction of infections out there, wastewater monitoring has become a more reliable indicator of the amount of virus in cities around the state.  That report is updated each week.

This week’s report shows us that the following 9 cities (down from 13 last week) are showing sustained increases:  Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, Medford, Newberg, Salem, Silverton, Stayton, St. Helens, and North Bend.

Additional COVID Updates and Links

• The FDA has found that the Moderna vaccine for children under the age of six is safe and effective. The agency will begin considering approval next week.
• And, anticipating approval, the White House is preparing for distribution of the new vaccine.
• The FDA’s advisory panel is recommending auhtorization of the Novovax vaccine. This is a more traditional protein-based vaccine as opposed to the newer RNA-based technology that has been the focus of anti-vaccination organizing. We’ll see if approval will make a difference in the acceptance rate for those hesitant to try the newer technology.
• Here's more on that.from the Washington Post.
• And a Johns Hopkins MD researcher wonders, is the Novovax vaccine worth the hype?(Hint: the answer is yes.)
• Though its advisory panel recommended approval of the Novovax vaccine, the FDA is likely to delay its approval until manufacturing issues are resolved.
• Preliminary data from Moderna show that its new bivalent vaccine (covering multiple COVID strains) provides better protection against Omicron than the current vaccines.
• Here’s some extensive backstory on what we know about Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
• The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has done an extensive study of the effect of mask-wearing in community settings.  It shows notable reductions in transmission.
• In the last year we’ve seen a reversal in the racial gap in death rates for COVID: White Americans are now more likely to die of COVID than are black and Latinx Americans.  It’s once again all about the vaccines (and admirable public health efforts).
• Airline officials have been pressing the White House for an end to the testing requirements for those trying to fly into the U.S.  We learned a few days ago that they were successful.

• A recent poll shows that most Americans want to see the federal government continue to pay for COVID testing, vaccinations, and care for the uninsured.
• In the face of Congressional unwillingness to allocate more money for COVID action, the White House finds itself forced to shift $10 billion away from testing in order to continue support for vaccines.
• Scientific American has a new article showing the (very significant) difference in COVID death rates for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.
• The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports on a study showing the importance of indoor air quality for combatting transmission of COVID.
• A physician group is raising clinician awareness of  potential cardiovascular complications for people with Long COVID.
• The Atlantic looks at what is unique about the current surge.
• And here’s a similar piece from OPB looking at the current wave in Oregon.
• The Statesman-Journal reports on the fall in COVID cases in Polk and Marion Counties.
• A piece in the New York Times wonders why some family members get COVID and others don't.
• How Long COVID could change the way we think about disability. change the way we think about disability.
• The Capital Chronicle reports on the connection between COVID and a higher risk of mental health disorders.
• We are seeing positive results for people with heart disease from COVID boosters.

Here again are some COVID resources that you will find useful:

• Here is the OHA’s coronavirus page, with links to a number of resources. 

• Here’s a daily data tracker from the CDC.

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.

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.

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