6A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, apRil 11, 2020
STATE
Oregon attorney general: Watch out for coronavirus scams
By Dick Hughes
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Scammers, fraud-
sters and price gougers are
preying on Oregonians, capital-
izing on their concerns about
coronavirus.
“There are no known cures or
vaccines — yet — for COVID-
19. So anyone trying to sell you
one is lying,” Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum said. “And as
for any money that you may even-
tually get from the federal gov-
ernment, and we hope you will,
please be careful because scam-
mers are already scheming on
how to intercept all or some of
that money.”
Rosenblum and Gov. Kate
Brown spoke during a confer-
ence call this week with Oregon
members of AARP, which had
received more than 500 calls on
its price-gouging hotline.
“Exploiting the public’s fear
for profit will not be tolerated,”
Rosenblum said.
Brown this week extended
her executive order declaring an
abnormal market disruption due
CONTACT THE
DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE
• To sign up for scam alerts: Ore-
gonConsumer.gov
• To report coronavirus con-
sumer scams and price gouging:
503-378-8442
• To report bias incidents,
including ones related to the
pandemic, and hate crimes:
1-844-924-BIAS
to COVID-19. The order autho-
rizes legal action against whole-
salers and merchants who provide
“essential consumer goods or
services for an amount that rep-
resents an unconscionably exces-
sive price,” such as at least 15%
above the normal price.
Rosenblum said the only other
time she could recall the regu-
lation being invoked was during
Salem’s water crisis two years
ago, when some sellers jacked up
prices for bottled water.
Responding to the cur-
rent price gouging, the Oregon
Department of Justice has sent
more than 20 cease-and-desist
TIPS FOR CONSUMERS
• Federal and state agencies offer these tips:
• Don’t respond to texts, emails or calls about checks from the government.
• Hang up on robocalls. Never give out Social Security, Medicare, bank or
credit card numbers or other personal information to such callers.
• Ignore online, door-to-door and other offers for COVID-19 vaccinations, cures
and home test kits. None exist.
• Be cautious of emails claiming to be from the Oregon Health Authority, CDC
or World Health Organization. To get the latest information, go to such websites
as healthoregon.org/coronavirus, coronavirus.gov and usa.gov/coronavirus.
And don’t click on links from sources you don’t know.
• Don’t give in to pressure from supposed coronavirus charities. Don’t donate
in cash, by gift card or by wiring money.
• Watch out for online job postings and emails promising you easy money for
little to no effort. Disregard emails, private messages and phone calls from
individuals whom you don’t know but who claim to be overseas and in need of
your financial support. These scams aim to steal your money or use your finan-
cial accounts to launder their illicit funds.
• Don’t fall for scammers who pose as workplace inspectors or other gov-
ernment employees and demand immediate payment of supposed “fines.”
Real government employees carry credentials and never ask for on-the-spot
payments.
• Sources: Federal Trade Commission, FBI, Oregon Department of Revenue,
Oregon Department of Justice, Oregon Department of Consumer and Business
Services and other agencies.
letters to businesses, ordering
them to reduce their prices on
toilet paper, hand sanitizer, face
masks or other essentials. Rosen-
blum said most businesses com-
plied after learning price gouging
was illegal.
Other current scams involve
the stimulus payments headed
to Americans as part of the fed-
eral government’s coronavirus
response. Distribution through
direct deposit or mailed checks
could begin next week.
The official term is “economic
impact payment,” but state and
federal tax officials warn scam-
mers will emphasize such words
as “stimulus check” or “stimulus
payment.”
Rosenblum noted Orego-
nians do not need to pay anything
upfront or give personal infor-
mation to receive the payments,
despite what scammers might
claim.
“The government’s not going
to contact you to ask you for your
Social Security number or your
bank account or your credit card
number to confirm your identity.
So people who ask for this type of
information are scammers,” she
said.
Most government commu-
nications with Oregonians are
through mail, although even
some of those could be fake
demands for money. Rosenblum
urged people to take control by
looking up the phone numbers
or websites of government agen-
cies and contacting them directly
when in doubt or suspicious of a
scam.
Oregon rural hospitals losing huge revenues, laying off workers
By Andrew Selsky
The Associated Press
SALEM — Rural commu-
nity hospitals in Oregon have
seen huge drops in revenue with
elective procedures banned due
to the coronavirus outbreak and
are having to lay off workers to
survive, even as many beds sit
empty.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on
March 17 ordered that all elective
and non-urgent medical proce-
dures be canceled or rescheduled
until June 15 or beyond in order
to preserve masks and other pro-
tective equipment for the state’s
COVID-19 response.
Added to that, there are fewer
visits to emergency rooms, with
some people doing virtual visits
with a medical professional,
fearing an ER visit could expose
them to coronavirus.
Becky Hultberg, CEO of
Oregon Association Of Hospitals
And Health Systems, says con-
sequently, hospitals have experi-
enced an unprecedented decline
in revenues of 40% to 60% in one
month.
“Staffing is one of the hospi-
tal’s most significant costs. So as
revenue declines, some hospitals
have been forced to furlough or
lay off staff,” Hultberg said in a
telephone interview.
She did not have statewide
numbers on jobs lost, either per-
manently or temporarily.
But claims for unemploy-
ment insurance reflect the scope
of the problem. In only one week
in late March, the state employ-
ment department received 7,600
initial claims for unemployment
insurance from workers in health
care and social assistance fields,
up from 396 two weeks before.
Of all job sectors, only workers
in accommodation-food services
filed more claims.
Local news reports show that,
from the wide open spaces of
Eastern Oregon to the rugged
coast, rural hospitals are feeling
the pinch and are taking drastic
measures.
In Oregon’s remote southwest
corner along the Pacific Ocean,
the Curry Health Network has laid
off, furloughed or cut back the
hours of 192 employees. That’s
more than half of the staff who
work in the network’s hospital in
Gold Beach and several medical
clinics. The management team
also took a 20% reduction in pay.
“We are not alone in this,”
Curry Health Network Chief
Executive Officer Ginny Williams
told the board of directors. “It’s
impacting all hospitals in rural
places.”
Sara Dickerson, a family nurse
practitioner, was laid off from the
Curry Health Network as of April
7.
“What is most upsetting to me
was the treatment of my medical
assistant, who was terminated
on March 31,” Dickerson told the
Curry Coastal Pilot newspaper.
She said the assistant now has no
medical insurance this month.
The Oregon Association of
Hospitals and Health Systems on
Tuesday asked Brown, a Dem-
ocrat, for $200 million in new
state funding to be allocated
directly to hospitals “to address
initial urgent needs of hospitals
so they can continue providing
services.”
The state is expected to have a
lot less money to spend because
the newly unemployed are no
longer paying income taxes. Hult-
berg said her group recognizes
that significant budget challenges
lie ahead, but added: “People
count on hospitals in a crisis.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, a
Republican representing a wide
swath of Eastern and Central
Oregon, has urged that rural hos-
pitals be prioritized for money
coming from a funding increase
that Congress recently passed.
“Our rural community hos-
pitals are struggling financially
right now in large part because
the governor shut down any elec-
tive procedures,” Walden said.
Oregon is not expected to see
a big spike in COVID-19 cases as
long as people keep staying home
and maintaining social distancing
when out on urgent errands, state
health office Dean Sidelinger says.
“We know it comes at a huge
sacrifice,” Sidelinger said. “People
have lost their jobs. Our small and
large businesses are suffering.”
At the peak of the outbreak,
expected around April 22 in
Oregon according to a projection
by the Institute for Health Metrics
and Evaluation, there will be more
than enough hospital beds and
ICU beds available.
But the hospitals association is
not advocating that restrictions on
elective procedures be relaxed.
“I would rather be having the
conversation today about hospital
sustainability than the conversa-
tion about mortuary capacity,”
Hultberg said. “It is too early to
talk about changing course.”
Wanting to learn more about the
Payroll Protection Plan and
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programs?
Join our ZOOM call on
Monday, April 13, 2020 at 6 pm
Call in number: 1-669-900-6833
Meeting ID: 688-747-456
Meeting Password: 981118