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The Latest
Good day to our valued subscriber Lory Graham of Union
The COVID-19 vaccine experience
COVID-19
cases
decline in
local area
Father, daughter
share their response
to injections
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Steven
Busch wasn’t concerned about
getting the Moderna COVID-19
vaccine.
Neither was his daughter,
Amy Busch, who is a public
relations and development
director for the Wallowa
The disease, however,
claims another life in
Union County
By PHIL WRIGHT
Valley Center for Wellness.
Both said they trusted the
science that led to the develop-
ment of the vaccine — Steven
Busch so much so that he was
among some 3,000 individuals
in San Diego who took part in
the trials for the vaccine last
summer.
Amy, meanwhile, recently
received her second shot of the
vaccine, given she is a member
of the health care fi eld who
qualifi ed to get vaccinated
under Phase 1A in Oregon.
“The real reason I did it (is
because) the only way we are
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
COVID-19 cases in Union
County eased down since Feb.
5, according to data from the
Oregon Health Authority. But
since then the disease claimed its
19th victim in the county.
Union County’s total number
of cases of COVID-19 — the dis-
ease causes by the novel coro-
navirus — stood at 1,249 as of
Monday, Feb. 15, according to
Oregon Health Authority. The
OHA also reported the coun-
ty’s most recent fatality was a
77-year-old woman who tested
positive on Jan. 22 and died on
Feb. 7 at Grande Ronde Hospital,
La Grande.
The county had fi ve new cases
of COVID-19 on Monday. The
county, however, has not had a
day of double-digit cases since
Friday, Feb. 5, when there were
12. From Feb. 6-15, according to
the OHA data, the county has had
a total of 37 new cases, or about
four a day, including three on
Feb. 12, fi ve on Feb. 13 and one
Sunday, Feb. 14.
The decline follows the state-
wide trend of decreasing num-
bers. The Oregon Health
Authority on Sunday reported
184 new cases statewide, bringing
Oregon’s total number of reported
cases to 150,464.
The OHA on Sunday and
Monday also reported zero new
COVID-19 related deaths in
Oregon. The state’s death toll
remains at 2,137.
Wallowa County last week
saw its highest one-day spike
in new COVID-19 cases with
nine on Tuesday, Feb. 9, which
increased the county’s total to
127. The county since then has
added six more, bringing its total
to 133. There have been 56 new
cases of COVID-19 in the county
— including a fourth fatality —
since the start of 2021, and 31 of
those cases occurred since Feb. 1.
OHA also reported adding
6,693 new COVID-19 vaccina-
tions to the state immunization
registry. Of this total, 3,650 doses
were administered Feb.14 and
3,043 were administered on pre-
vious days but were entered into
the vaccine registry on Feb. 14.
Cumulative daily totals can
take several days to fi nalize
See, Cases/Page 5A
going to get out of this pan-
demic is we need people to be
vaccinated,” Steven Busch, 68,
said of why he took part in the
trial.
Being part of a trial for
a drug in its early stages of
testing could be nerve racking
for some, but wasn’t for Steven
Busch.
“I had no fear,” he said. “I
wasn’t worried about it. That’s
why I wanted to do it.”
He learned of San Diego
being selected as a trial city last
July, and immediately reached
out to regional health offi cials,
offering to take part.
“They needed 3,000 people
in the city of San Diego of
diverse background (and) ages,”
said Busch, who added he also
has mild hypertension and
believed he would be a good
candidate. “I didn’t hear back
for three weeks. They prob-
ably (got) inundated. I got
called about the third week of
August. I went in the following
week thinking it was the pre-
screening, (but) once they see
you they pretty much want you.”
See, Vaccine/Page 5A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A forklift driver removes pallets of food Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, from a semitrailer that delivered almost 38,000 pounds of goods to the
Northeast Oregon Regional Food Bank in La Grande.
Big boost for food bank
Almost 38,000 pounds of food arrived Thursday, Feb. 11
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The inven-
tory list is one Audrey Smith
may want to frame.
Smith is the manager of the
Northeast Oregon Regional
Food Bank, and the docu-
ment details the contents of a
shipment of hope — almost
19 tons of food the organiza-
tion received Thursday, Feb.
11, from The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“If I had a dream of the
perfect delivery pulling up,
this would be it,” Smith said
Thursday as she looked at pal-
lets of food a semitrailer deliv-
ered from Salt Lake City, Utah.
The semi had 37,889 pounds
of food, including peanut butter,
packages of instant mashed
potatoes and boxes of macaroni
and cheese.
Smith explained she was
happy to see many of these items
partly because they are ones
often asked for but the Oregon
Food Bank — which serves the
Northeast Oregon Regional Food
Bank — has not provided.
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Alex Wittwer/The Observer
George Chadwick (left) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints and Northeast Oregon Regional Food Bank manager Audrey
Smith look over the inventory list of the food shipment the church
delivered Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.
She noted it has been sev-
eral months since the Oregon
Food Bank sent canned fruit
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and boxes of macaroni and
cheese. And she said this is the
fi rst time she recalls ever having
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
30 LOW
37/13
Cloudy
Morning fl urries
anything close to this much jam
available.
“I have never received pallets
of jam before,” Smith said.
The amount of peanut butter
also is substantial, welcome
news because the Oregon Food
Bank has been cutting back pro-
viding the popular staple.
“There is a peanut butter
shortage,” Smith said.
The LDS Church shipped
the food from its Bishops Cen-
tral Storehouse in Salt Lake
City. Volunteers and church-ser-
vice missionaries staff the
storehouses.
And the church produced
much of the food. This included
the many pallets of peanut
butter, which came from a can-
nery the church owns and oper-
ates in Houston, Texas, said
George Chadwick of La Grande.
Chadwick is the local leader of
the LDS Church in Northeast
Oregon.
Chadwick began working on
arranging a donation from the
church to the Northeast Oregon
See, Food/Page 5A
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Issue 20
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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