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September 9, 2021
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COVID-19
Gov: Schools
should curtail
activities to
stop spread
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Schools should
cancel or curtail some extracurric-
ular activities to help Oregon main-
tain what appears to be the begin-
ning of a decline from record high
numbers of COVID-19 infections,
Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday,
Sept. 7.
Multiple forecasts over the past
week showed a peak in the two-
month surge of infections driven by
the highly contagious delta variant.
Hospitals remain nearly full and
case reports are still 12 times what
they were in early July.
The fragile ebb in the worst of
the crisis will be challenged by the
fl ood of schoolchildren returning to
class.
“It is with mixed emotions that
we are welcoming our kids back
to school at this time,” said Brown
during the Sept. 7 press call.
Brown was joined by health and
education offi cials to announce
additional, voluntary eff orts to go
along with the mandatory vaccina-
tion of school employees and mask
mandates for students and staff .
The state will issue School
Health Advisories on a regular
basis. The fi rst one, announced
Sept. 7, asks schools to cancel or
curtail extracurricular activities
through a least Oct. 1.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Festival director Chris Jennings takes a break from preparing promotional material for the upcoming Eastern Oregon Film Festival at the HQ offi ce
in La Grande on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.
Taking precautions
Eastern Oregon Film Festival
organizers are taking provisions
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — As fall approaches,
so too does one of La Grande’s
growing arts traditions.
The 12th presentation of the
Eastern Oregon Film Festival is slated
for a hybrid presentation this year, with
in-person and virtual events scheduled for
Oct. 21-23. Prior to festival passes going
on sale, a virtual sneak peek fundraiser
will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
“We’re going to pull back a bit and be
safe about things,” Eastern Oregon Film
Festival Director Chris Jennings said.
A big alteration to this year’s fi lm fes-
tival will be the limited availability of
in-person passes for only offi cial EOFF
members and visiting artists. This deci-
sion comes in the wake of the surge in
COVID-19 cases and uncertainty of
venue availability.
Safety protocols
Back-to-school events should be
done online, if possible.
Schools should hold as much
activity outdoors as possible,
including school meals and physical
education classes.
“The safety protocols put in
place by your school not only make
it safer for everyone, but they also
help ensure that our kids actually
get to stay in school,” said Colt Gill,
Oregon Education Department
director.
While children can get ill
from COVID-19, they rarely get
severely sick, Gill said. But they
can bring the virus home with
them and spread it to at-risk people
See, COVID-19/Page A5
See, EOFF/Page A5
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Jesse Cimon, left, Ryan Edvalson, center, and Chris Jennings pause for a portrait Friday, April
23, 2021, at the performing arts venue HQ in La Grande. The Eastern Oregon Film Festival orga-
nizers are prepared to manage the 2021 festival in the safest way possible.
Hospital capacity being tested
Capacity reached several times at Wallowa
Memorial during August as COVID-19 cases rise
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Statewide,
hospitals have been near or even
at their capacity, with more than
1,100 people in Oregon hospital-
ized due to coronavirus and the
state exceeding 90% capacity.
Wallowa Memorial Hospital
has been in a similar situation.
Brooke Pace, WMH com-
munications director, said the
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SATURDAY
hospital has been at its patient
capacity several times.
She clarifi ed, though, that
that doesn’t necessarily mean all
25 beds at WMH are full. The
staffi ng availability also has to be
taken into account.
“We have reached capacity a
number of times since the begin-
ning of August,” she said. “That
doesn’t mean we’ve had 25
patients. It means we’ve gotten to
the point that we’re taking care
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of as many patients as we physi-
cally can.”
Stacey Karvoski, the hospi-
tal’s quality director, said the
acuity of the patients — how
much care they need — also is a
consideration.
“Hypothetically, we could
have seven patients in the hospital
and that is all we can take care of
if the acuity is high,” she said.
Pace said WMH has been
asked if they have the ability to
take on extra patients, but has
had to turn those requesting
hospitals down.
“We have not had the ability to
accept them,” she said.
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A MIXED BAG OF FOREST GROUSE
Pace said the hospital is
working with Wallowa County
Emergency Management to
request additional personnel
from the National Guard, antic-
ipating a need for extra help in
nursing, emergency medical ser-
vices and more.
Signifi cant increase
While the exact number of
coronavirus patients to enter
WMH in the past month wasn’t
available, Pace said several have
been through the hospital doors.
See, Capacity/Page A5
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Issue 106
3 sections, 36 pages
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