Before I get into the latest news, I want to share a small but mighty moment of joy.

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Friends and Neighbors,

Before I get into the latest news, I want to share a small but mighty moment of joy. Last weekend I took my first group exercise class in over a year! The best part was I showed them verification of my vaccine, and could participate mask free! The return to normal life felt even closer, and being with my community, doing a hobby I love, and seeing everyone’s smiling faces felt like a small miracle.


** Reopening Updates
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Every day we are moving closer to opening up our economy and putting an end to this challenging chapter in our lives. Last week, Governor Brown announced that after reaching the 70% first-dose threshold, most state restrictions will be lifted, and we will move away from the state-led emergency response. Instead, Oregon will shift its focus towards giving resource support for local public health and health care providers.

This will be a big step in our recovery we will all celebrate, and it is made possible by safe and effective vaccines which are protecting us against COVID-19.
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As of 6/9/2021, 67.2% of the eligible population (18+ years) has received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. Click on the image to see the dashboard for the most up to date numbers.

Here are a few steps Oregon will take once we pass the 70% threshold:
* The Risk Level framework, including all county-based metrics and health and safety restrictions, will be lifted. This includes mask, physical distancing, and capacity limit requirements.
* The state will not require masks and face coverings for most settings, except when following federal guidance, like in airports, public transit, and health care settings.
* Vaccine verification will not be necessary.
* It will still be strongly recommended that unvaccinated individuals and other vulnerable individuals continue to wear masks.

Children younger than 12 are still not eligible to be vaccinated, so specific health and safety measures will remain in place for the students, teachers, providers, schools and child care programs to protect students from contracting and spreading dangerous variants of the coronavirus. Students will attend school full-time, five days per week, and K-12 guidance is currently being revised to support that effort.
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Click on the image to find your vaccine!


** Updated Resources & Guidance from OHA
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* NEW: New site-wide banner ([link removed]) showing how many more people need to get vaccinated for Oregon to reach 70% vaccinated statewide.
* UPDATED: Statewide Recommendations for Travel ([link removed])
* UPDATED: Investigative Guidelines ([link removed])
* UPDATED: Statewide Isolation and Quarantine Guidance ([link removed])


** Oregon State Hospital Board
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Speaker Kotek recently appointed me to the Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board. I am thankful for the appointment, eager to join the meetings next month, and ready to start problem solving for our state hospital’s long term problems. I'm hopeful we leave this session with large investments into our mental health care system including our State Hospital.

Over the last few months I’ve learned more about some of its challenges, especially chronic staff shortages and burnout, lack of community mental health access, and the long term --sometimes over a year-- boarding of patients in other hospitals, while they await a bed at the state hospital.

The first step to finding the best solutions is collecting the best information. We must figure out how to better understand and track OSH bed availability and staffing shortages if we are to address it. I plan to continue conversation on creating a bed availability and capacity dashboard which will include the number of staff and non staffed beds available, broken out by patient population, and number of beds needed to meet projected aid & assist population and the civil commitment waitlist, but are not available. Read more about the state hospital and the long standing problems I hope to address here ([link removed]) .


** House Special Committee on December 21, 2020
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The recently released, disturbing footage of Representative Mike Nearman coordinating the breach of the Oregon Capitol in December demonstrated even more clearly how unfit he is for public office, and the urgent need for him to resign. Speaker Kotek has appointed a bipartisan committee to take up the recommendation to expel Representative Mike Nearman from the House of Representatives due to his disorderly conduct and the endangerment of his colleagues that day.

The committee is meeting today at 3pm, making it another historic day in the Oregon Legislature. If the resolution passes, it will be the first time our state legislature has recommended the expulsion of a member. We are stopping all business of the legislature at 3 p.m. so we can watch the proceedings. You can find the link to watch it live or anytime afterwards here ([link removed]) .


** American Rescue Plan Act Funding for House District 37
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Last week, I announced my local funding proposals for House District 37. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), part of the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus. As a nurse practitioner and as your representative, I witnessed how COVID and its economic fallout devastated our communities in so many ways. This ARPA funding is an opportunity to give our local businesses the foundation they need to recover and grow. But economic recovery is not enough to combat the damage caused by these crises, which is why I’m also proposing funds for resources to support our communities’ mental health and food security needs as we heal and overcome the fallout we have experienced this past year. My four proposals are:
* $500,000 to Washington County, specifically a $410,000 grant for the Tualatin/Durham/River Grove Business Resiliency Center to support professional staffing, a legal clinic, business certifications, marketing & consulting, job training, and business grants; and a $90,000 grant to help extend the Tualatin Shuttle and make improvements to transit services along the I-205 corridor
* $500,000 to the West Linn Small Business Recovery Center for direct business recovery grants, and employee and outreach support.
* $500,000 to the Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools for Packed with Pride, which delivers food boxes to thousands of students and families each week, and for afterschool support for high schoolers.
* $500,000 to nonprofit organizations, Tualatin Together and the Borland Clinic, which will work in coordination to provide mental health and addiction prevention resources for families


** Saturday, June 12th: Joint Town Hall
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On Saturday at 9am, please join my colleagues, Rep Salinas (HD 38) and Senator Wagner (SD 40), and me for a joint town hall to discuss our local ARPA grant proposals, the upcoming redistricting process, and answer your questions. You can read more about our local investments in this article ([link removed]) , and register and pre-submit your questions here ([link removed]) . I hope to see you there!

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Click on the image to register


** Words Have Power
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On the Oregon House floor, some of my colleagues invoked Nazi Germany in discussing optional vaccine verification tools for businesses and employers and Gov. Kate Brown's mask rules.

Comparing public health protections meant to slow the spread of a virus that has already taken more than 590,000 American lives to the atrocities of the Holocaust is deeply insulting. Such a comparison betrays a dangerous ignorance of history. It trivializes the atrocities and generational trauma perpetrated by a fascist, criminal government and it distorts and confuses public health efforts that could save lives. It is an insult to decency and human life.

Words have power. A long, documented history of anti-Semitic propaganda consistently precedes anti-Semitic action.

I have experienced first-hand what happens when we normalize this sort of language: It emboldens more virulent anti-Semites to act out. Earlier this year, an anti-Semitic attack targeted me directly. Posters were placed around my community, crudely attacking my fight for gun safety. I was described as a "gun grabbing Jew." Next to the words was an edited photo of me, complete with a yellow Star of David pinned to my chest — the same yellow star my family members were forced to wear during Nazi occupation and in death camps. Having been the subject of this explicit Nazi imagery mere weeks ago, hearing my colleagues compare positive public health measures to that level of violence and evil is appalling.

Then, Clackamas Commissioner Mark Shull called vaccine verification "Jim Crow 2.0." This statement and comparisons to a "police state" is an affront, particularly to our Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. This language ignores the realities of systemic oppression, driven by Jim Crow laws, exclusion acts, mass incarceration, voter disenfranchisement, disinvestment, health disparities, gentrification, redlining, and police violence.

I will spell out explicitly the difference between a private business requiring vaccine verification during a deadly pandemic and racial segregation: these communities cannot avoid the systemic generational discrimination they have experienced; it is a discrimination based on the nature of who they are. In contrast, not one American will be forced to receive an unwanted vaccine or wear a mask.

Words have power. Words have consequences. Communities of color face higher infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths, all while vaccination rates remain the lowest. A choice that leads to more COVID-19 spread, like prematurely abandoning public health guidelines, harms these communities the most.

The Holocaust and Jim Crow are not memes or buzzwords to be appropriated for political rhetoric. They were horrific, real experiences for millions of people, experiences some of us still must relive and face every single day. I would like to believe the people using this rhetoric do not intend to harm anyone, but it is not about the intention; it is about the impact. I urge my colleagues and fellow elected officials to reflect on the impact of their words on their colleagues, constituents, staff and on the people who look to them for leadership.

Please email me (mailto:[email protected]) if you have specific concerns. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.

Covid-19 Resources:
Oregon Information and Resources ([link removed])
Oregon Health Authority Updates ([link removed])
Federal Government Response ([link removed])
Senator Merkley’s Response Page ([link removed])
SEIU Worker Resource Page ([link removed])
Oregon Unemployment ([link removed])

Thank you for reading and stay safe.

Sincerely,
Rachel Prusak

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