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Oregon Public Health Coalition: Principles and Measures

  • Writer: Lisa Reynolds, MD
    Lisa Reynolds, MD
  • Aug 2, 2020
  • 3 min read

Oregon Public Health Coalition: Principles and Measures Guiding Principles

  1. Government’s responsibility is the health and welfare of the public.

  2. A healthy public is required to have a healthy economy.

  3. The public must have access to care to stay healthy.

  4. Jobs and economic security must be protected for those impacted by COVID19 infection.


Statement of support: We support the Governor continuing to implement and enforce her plans for “Building a Safe and Strong Oregon,” and we call for stronger action on key measures.


Measures to protect the public’s health: Additionally, we commit to protecting the public’s health through transparent and accountable support for and funding of the following with an equity-focused lens, guided by our principles as above:

  1. Universal Masking

  2. Comprehensive Testing

  3. Robust Contact Tracing and Notification

  4. Quarantine Relief

  5. Local PPE capacity-building to stabilize our supply chain

1. Universal Masking: Data are mounting that cities/counties/states who have implemented and enforced mandatory masking policies are controlling the spread of COVID-19 much more effectively than those who have not (Lancet 6.1.2020; Health Affairs 6.16.2020). To maintain a healthy public and economy, we must protect our workers and our community and this requires universal masking. We support the Governor’s call for universal masking in indoor public spaces and outdoors and additionally ask that Oregon expand masking to include all workplaces where social distancing is not possible. Reports of workplace outbreaks (including the Oregon Employment Division) underscore the need to make this mandatory.

Furthermore, the state needs to support this mandate with a robust public health campaign as well as appropriate enforcement.

Valid “medical exceptions” for masking are extremely few in number and if people have such limitations, they should likely be sheltering in place during the pandemic.

Concerns regarding our Black and Brown neighbors being targeted for wearing a mask will drop significantly if universal masking is the norm.


2. Comprehensive Testing: Testing capacity, affordability and availability is inadequate at this time and has been since the beginning of the pandemic. We need testing supplies and machines, and workflows to implement widespread testing. OHA must clarify its policy to make clear that priority groups, including BIPOC, people living in congregate settings, workers in settings where there have been outbreaks such as food processors and farms, and people with positive contact, must receive testing on demand, even when asymptomatic. We need to proactively reach out to our communities of color who are being disproportionately impacted by COVID 19 with culturally-competent, accessible and affordable testing options.Testing capacity must include surveillance testing. Our current testing capacity is insufficient to reopen our schools and economy.


3. Tracing and Notification: Contact tracing is core to public health and must be driven by local, culturally-competent, community-based organizations (CBOs). The state needs to cascade resources and best-practices to counties and allow local governments to partner with CBOs expeditiously and robustly to achieve at least the numbers outlined in Governor Brown’s plan. Public health workers must identify and notify individuals who test positive for COVID-19, and then trace and notify individuals’ contacts to prevent further transmission of the virus. Individuals who test positive must isolate and contacts of these individuals must quarantine. To do this, there must be sufficient capacity for people to be contacted and educated in a culturally-competent and responsive way, including in their own language.


4. Isolation and Quarantine Relief: When an Oregonian develops signs or symptoms of COVID-19 infection, and/or have tested positive for COVID-19, they need fourteen days of paid isolation leave. Furthermore, contacts of COVID-19 patients need paid quarantine leave. This is crucial to stop the spread of COVID-19 and is necessary for a path to full economic reopening. When an Oregonian is cleared to return to work, they need to know their job is secure. In addition, individuals must be supported sufficiently to be successful in their efforts to isolate and quarantine as needed, including support with food, diapers, rent, and other essentials people need to survive while they are doing the right thing for the public’s health.


5. Local Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) capacity-building to stabilize our supply chain: Oregon is short on the PPE that keeps all Oregonians safe, especially front line workers and patients. The Federal Government is not able or willing to ensure stable access to PPE or COVID tests. Oregon must create sustainable, local supply chains through state-led incentives and entrepreneurial support become self-sufficient in regards to PPE. Oregon optimally will develop state-wide standards for PPE and be able to provide PPE appropriate for the community and for patient care.


We commit to leading this effort with courage and compassion, putting our most vulnerable Oregonians at the center of our policies. We shall be most successful in protecting the health of all if our efforts prioritize those most at risk.


Coalition Members

Oregon Nurses Association (ONA)

SEIU (Service Employees International Union)

PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste)

AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations)

AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees)

Oregon Law Center.





 
 
 

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This website is written by Lisa Reynolds, MD, Portland, Oregon Pediatrician on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic. Mom and daughter. Candidate for Oregon HD36.

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Lisa Reynolds, M.D., Announces COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery 

Legislative Framework

Proposed framework prioritizes health of all Oregonians, with phased restart of state’s economy

 

April 17, 2020 (Portland, OR) - Lisa Reynolds, M.D., a physician and candidate for Oregon House of Representatives-District 36 (NW/SW Portland), released a legislative framework called the Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act, with the goal of making this the first bill of the 2021-22 legislative session (HB-1). 

 

“In the next weeks and months ahead, I plan to work with state leaders, as well as community and business leaders, to help design Oregon's transition and recovery from the pandemic,” said Reynolds. “If we do this right, Oregon can come out better than ever. And of course, I will continue to reach out to Oregonians about what they need right now so we can help.” 

 

The Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act, a bold response to COVID-19’s unprecedented threat to Oregonians lives and livelihoods, consists of three major components:

 

  1. A large-scale and ongoing public health response that utilizes universal testing, contact tracing, and isolating the ill and the exposed.

  2. The moonshot goal of achieving widespread (“herd”) immunity (80-90 percent) to COVID-19 through demonstrated antibodies and/or vaccination. This is a prerequisite to full economic and societal opening.

  3. Post-pandemic massive investment to modernize Oregon’s healthcare system, schools and infrastructure through the sale of Oregon COVID Bonds.

 

Oregon COVID Bonds would allow Oregonians, as well as others around the country and the world, to invest in Oregon. “This will allow the state to build a healthcare system that improves the health of every Oregonian, to complete long-neglected infrastructure projects and to modernize our schools,” stated Reynolds.  

 

“I want everyone to understand that the 2021-22 legislative session must be focused entirely on pandemic response and recovery,” said Reynolds. “I believe we can rebuild Oregon and make us stronger and more equitable in the process.” This legislative framework also accounts for a lack of federal leadership, positioning Oregon as a national leader.

 

The latest numbers in Oregon show that the state is predicted to peak on April 26. As a result of Governor Brown’s Stay Home Order, Oregon’s hospital systems have sufficient capacity to care for those sickest with COVID-19. Reynolds says that eventually, the cumulative number of new illnesses and deaths will plateau. Oregon will then enter a period of transition, and once sufficient herd immunity is achieved, we can move into post-pandemic recovery.

 

“As a physician, I have prepared my entire career for this moment,” says Reynolds. “We cannot rely on the status quo or politics as usual. We need leaders with medical expertise who can work across the aisle and bring fresh perspectives at this critical time in our history. We need courageous and bold action to make sure that Oregon comes out of this crisis stronger and more equitable than before.” 

 

Reynolds, who was recently endorsed by the Portland Tribune “[for] her invaluable insight for these troubling times”, also says that, “every state policy and every state agency will need to prioritize spending and services through the lens of the pandemic.” 

 

Read the full legislative framework here. Visit Reynolds’ COVID-19 website at oregoncoronavirusupdate.com or her campaign website LisaForOregon.com. Follow Dr. Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (@lisafororegon).

 

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Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act Legislative Framework

 

Following is a legislative framework for a successful and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic called the Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act (HB-1). This legislative framework was drafted by Lisa Reynolds, M.D., candidate for Oregon State House of Representatives-District 36. Dr. Reynolds, who will solicit feedback from voters about what the Oregon State Legislature needs to focus on in the upcoming 2021-2022 legislative session. 

 

Dr. Reynolds will also work with state leaders, as well as community and business leaders, to identify the most impactful and cost-effective steps to get Oregonians back on solid ground. The Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act is a bold response to COVID-19’s unprecedented threat to Oregonians’ lives and livelihood. The framework consists of three major components:

 

  1. A large-scale and ongoing public health response that utilizes universal testing, tracing of all contacts, and isolating the ill and the exposed. Extensive, if not universal, testing, both for the presence of the virus, that is, contagiousness, and presence of antibody, or immunity, is necessary before any significant reopening of the economy. Testing must be followed up with tracing of the contacts of all COVID-19 cases, and isolation for those infected or exposed.

  2. The moonshot goal of achieving widespread (“herd”) immunity (80-90%) to COVID-19 through demonstrated antibodies and/or vaccination. This is a prerequisite to full economic and societal opening. True economic reopening requires widespread immunity, either through previous COVID-19 illness or through widespread vaccination.

  3. Post-pandemic massive investment to modernize Oregon’s healthcare system, schools, and infrastructure through the sale of Oregon COVID Bonds.

 

Any full scale ‘re-opening’ in the near future would risk Oregonians’ lives. Rather, restrictions must be lifted methodically and incrementally. The state needs to start planning for a massive vaccine campaign as soon as the vaccine is available. Oregon should be the first state with demonstrated ‘herd immunity’ so that Oregonians can resume safe interactions with friends, family, and neighbors. 

 

HB1: The Oregon Pandemic Recovery Act of 2021-2022 Outline

 

Intra-Pandemic: Stay Home, Save Lives

  • Goals

    • Primary Goal: Save as many lives as possible

    • Secondary Goal

      • Educate and feed children

      • Protect the vulnerable from economic damage

  • Strategic Initiatives

    • Test/trace/isolate - build a public health workforce 

    • Tech for schools - provide robust learning for every Oregon student

    • Table - feed the hungry, allocate unemployment benefits, provide rent relief and continue to ban evictions

 

Transition: reopening (gradual and partial)

  • Goals

    • Primary Goal: Save as many lives as possible

    • Secondary Goal:

      • Safe return to economic life (incremental, methodical)

      • Safe return to school 

  • Strategic Initiatives

    • Universal testing/tracing/isolation - database

    • Statewide Alert system for Oregonians for disease hot spots

    • Build a vaccine fund - and a system to vaccinate all Oregonians

 

Post-Pandemic (herd immunity; post-vaccine) - a stronger, more equitable Oregon

  • Goals

    • Economic recovery 

    • Prepare Oregon for its greatest decade of economic growth

    • Improved lives for all Oregonians

  • Strategic Initiatives

    • Oregon COVID Bonds - to raise and invest $4B/year for 5 years

      • Basics

        • Modernize public health and healthcare systems

        • 21st-century schools from PreK-post secondary

        • Build Infrastructure - bridges, public transport, bike lanes

        • Build Housing - affordable & supportive housing

      • Boosts: Climate action

        • Give preference and priority for projects that reduce carbon, increase climate resiliency, and increase economic opportunity equitably. 

 

The proposed funding would be through COVID-19 Bonds. This approach would allow Oregonians, as well as others around the country and the world, to invest in Oregon. This will allow the state to build a healthcare system that improves the health of every Oregonian, to complete long-neglected infrastructure projects and to modernize our schools. 

 

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