2B
|
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021
|
APPEAL TRIBUNE
Readers wonder whether to keep wearing mask
Dana Sparks Eugene Register-Guard | USA
TODAY NETWORK
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention released new mask
guidance earlier this month, followed
quickly by new rules from Gov. Kate
Brown, and then more detailed rules
from state officials – leaving Oregonians
flummoxed about when to cover and
when to breathe free. Here are some an-
swers to reader questions:
Question: Who is considered fully
vaccinated?
A: A person is considered fully vacci-
nated against the coronavirus two
weeks after getting the second Pfizer or
Moderna shot or two weeks after receiv-
ing the one-dose Johnson & Johnson
vaccine.
Q: Where do I still have to wear a
mask?
A: The Oregon Health Authority still
requires masks (with or without a vac-
cine) in:
h Health care settings.
h Adult jails and correctional facili-
ties.
h Shelters and transitional housing.
h K-12 schools.
h Planes, buses, trains and other
forms of transportation and transporta-
tion hubs, such as airports and bus sta-
tions.
People who are fully vaccinated are
not required to wear a mask indoors in
public settings where vaccination sta-
tus is checked.
However, the state requires busi-
nesses, employers and faith institutions
to continue requiring everyone to wear
masks unless they review each person’s
proof of vaccination.
Mask requirements no longer apply
to anyone outdoors, OHA said, but the
agency recommends people continue
Miller
Mike Murphy, owner of Pedego Electric Bikes Eugene, rolls out a rental bike at his
shop on East Fifth Avenue. CHRIS PIETSCH/EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD
wearing a mask in crowded areas and
large gatherings, such as sporting
events, and to maintain physical dis-
tance as much as possible.
Q: Can the state really authorize
verifying vaccination records?
A: Requiring people to disclose their
vaccination status does not violate
health privacy laws because there is the
option of leaving their mask on, said
Dean Sidelinger, the state epidemiolo-
gist.
“That is not a violation of HIPAA or
privacy since they’re voluntarily dis-
closing that information,” he said.
Q: How do you verify vaccination?
A: “Proof of vaccination status”
means documentation provided by a
tribal, federal, state or local government
or a health care provider.
The document must include an indi-
vidual’s name, date of birth, type of CO-
VID-19 vaccination given, dates given
and the name/location of the health
care provider or site where the vaccine
was administered, according to OHA.
Documentation may include, but is
not limited to, a physical copy or digital
picture of the vaccination record card.
Q: If a business doesn’t want to ver-
ify vaccination status, then what?
A: If a business is not capable of or
does not want to verify each individual’s
vaccination status, then it must require
masks or face coverings for anyone age 5
and older. Accommodations such as de-
livery or drive-up pickup can be offered
to individuals with disabilities.
Q: Are any businesses checking
vaccination status?
A: There have been no public reports
of national chains checking individual
customers’ vaccine status. Several, in-
cluding Fred Meyer, have said they will
comply with Oregon’s new rules by con-
tinuing to require masks for everyone.
Outside of Salem, Enchanted Forest
announced it would reopen and check
vaccine status – and then within hours
announced it would not reopen after re-
ceiving a barrage of social media criti-
cism.
Q: Do the mask rules have anything
to do with Marion County being ‘high
risk’?
A: No, the statewide risk level frame-
work, created to reduce transmission
and protect Oregonians from COVID-19
until vaccines can be widely distrib-
uted, sets rules on what activities are
permitted and gathering sizes.
Contact reporter Dana Sparks at
dsparks@registerguard.com or 541-338-
2243, and follow her on Twitter @da-
namsparks and Instagram @danas-
parksphoto.
three times, I’m buying a greenhouse.’
This week’s highlights
Continued from Page 1B
Northwest indigenous tribes, that
makes the illegal stocking of bass in
the Coquille, as well as other rivers a
desecration of sorts.
Just a thought.
Another random musing
Is it just me, or do you get the im-
pression that nurseries and garden
centers receive three deliveries of veg-
gie starts heading into growing sea-
son.
The first arrives for the grand open-
ings in early April to sucker new arriv-
als from warmer climes, and for long-
time Oregonians in the first flush of
spring fever.
Those are wiped out of nascent gar-
den plots and planter beds by the inev-
itable late frost.
The second is after overnight lows
hover in the mid- to high-40s.
Just before the spring rains that in-
spire a cicada-level invasion of long
dormant slugs.
You go out the morning after na-
ture’s free watering to find that the
pepper and vine plants such as zukes,
squash, etc. are now a clearcut forest
of inch-high stems.
And finally, with a picket line of slug
pellets protecting the third planting,
things finally take off.
Unless there’s a hailstorm.
There used to be a term for things
that you buy that have an expected li-
fespan, such as computers or appli-
ances. It’s called planned obsoles-
cence.
For Oregon gardeners, the operative
phrase is ‘fool me once, shame on you;
fool me twice, shame on me; fool me
Item 1: Anticipation is growing, ac-
cording to charter operators, for the
hatchery coho salmon season that
opens June 12 off the central Oregon
coast with an earlier opener and larger
number of salmon in the allowed total
catch than recent years For salmon
seasons online: 2021_Ocean_Sport_
Salmon_1_page.pdf (state.or.us)
Reservations:
Depoe Bay Dockside Charters: (541)
765-2545. Website: www.docksidede-
poebay.com
Tradewinds Charters: (800) 445-
8730. Website: www.tradewindschar-
ters.com
Newport
Newport Marina Store & Charters:
(541)
867-4470.
Website:
www.nmscharters.com
Newport Tradewinds: (541) 265-
2101. Website: www.newporttrade-
winds.com
Yaquina Bay Charters: (541) 265-
6800. Website: www.yaquinabaychar-
ters.com
Item 2: Trout stocking is moving to
higher-elevation lakes and ponds with
the warming weather in the Willam-
ette Valley.
Check out faves such as Detroit,
Foster and Green Peter reservoirs, es-
pecially to bat cleanup on trout that
were delivered during the run-up to
the Memorial Day weekend. Latest in-
formation is online at: Fishing | Oregon
Department of Fish & Wildlife
(myodfw.com)
Quote of the week: Re: long-wind-
ed anglers and hunters: “I like a good
story well told. That is the reason I am
sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
Mark Twain
HenryMillerSJ@gmail.com.
Simple Cremation $795
Simple Direct Burial $995
Church Funeral $2965
SALEM
275 Lancaster Drive SE
Salem, OR 97317
(503) 581-6265
TUALATIN
8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd
Tualatin, OR 97062
(503) 885-7800
PORTLAND
832 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 97232
(503) 783-3393
TIGARD
12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy
Tigard, OR 97223
(503) 783-6869
EASTSIDE
1433 SE 122nd Ave
Portland, OR 97233
(503) 783-6865
MILWAUKIE
16475 SE McLoughlin Blvd
Milwaukie, OR 97267
(503) 653-7076
“Easy Online Arrangements”
OR-GCI0571428-02
www.CrownCremationBurial.com
Detroit Mayor Jim Trett shows the temporary membrane water filtration system
in Detroit, Oregon on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Detroit drinking
water has returned,
seven months later
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Detroit is a city defined by water.
Water from the North Santiam River,
surrounding streams and Detroit Lake
have been key to the city’s development
and economy.
But for 7 1/2 months following the
wildfires, Detroit was without drinking
water.
Over the past few years, Detroit had
focused on replacing the city’s water
distribution system, some of which was
part of the original town and moved
with the city in 1952.
It was so plagued with problems, in-
cluding leaks, that the city was losing
more than a million gallons of treated
water each month.
Between 2019 and the summer of
2020, the distribution pipes were re-
placed in a $3.2 million project funded
by a grant from Business Oregon and
raising water rates to $60 from $45 per
month for customers.
“That was in and it was just complet-
ed,” Mayor Jim Trett said. “The compa-
ny that did it had to repave some streets,
which they were getting ready to do the
week after the fire hit.”
When the Lionshead Fire ripped
through the city on Sept. 8, it destroyed
the water filtration facility and the res-
ervoir. And it impacted the water quality
of Breitenbush River and Mackey Creek,
the two sources of the city’s drinking
water.
When people were allowed to return
to Detroit, Marion County supplied wa-
ter on a temporary basis for the city’s re-
maining few residents.
Needing a temporary solution, the
city purchased a membrane water filtra-
tion system from Westec, but it still re-
quired months of site work to place and
house the new pump so it won’t freeze.
To pay for it, the city was given a $1
million grant from USDA, and got a
grant for a temporary 200,000-gallon
reservoir.
But once the temporary system was
installed in March, it took weeks of test-
ing for contaminants to determine if it
was safe.
Some were found, and sections of
pipe had to be replaced.
“For me, mine was intact so they just
turned it on and said run your water for
15 minutes,” said Trett, one of the few
homeowners whose house wasn’t de-
stroyed by the fire. “I am still thinking I
am going to have it tested just to be
sure.”
Finally, in late April, drinkable water
was returned to homes in Detroit.
“I got water. Thank you, Jim,” said
Dave Walery as he cleared brush from
his Detroit property.
But there’s still a problem.
The capacity of the water filtration
system is less than it has been.
Until the permanent solutions, in-
cluding a larger membrane water filtra-
tion system and water reservoir – which
will be paid for by FEMA – are installed
in a year and a half to two years, Detroit
is asking residents and visitors to con-
serve.
“Right now we’re fine,” Trett said. “As
more people come back, that’s going to
create a problem in terms of sustaining
what’s there. We’re asking people to
conserve.”
Trett said the city is asking residents
not to water their lawns and plants dur-
ing the summer months. He said that
will remain the case until the new water
filtration system is in place in 2022 or
2023.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for
the Statesman Journal. Contact him at
bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com
or
Twitter.com/bpoehler