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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2021)
OREGON A10 — THE OBSERVER Judges, court staff among most vaccinated of all state workers By AIMEE GREEN The Oregonian State reports 67% of all Oregonians — including kids — have been vaccinated Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon’s rebound from the delta variant spike in COVID-19 has slowed, with hospital- izations remaining high through February, a new state forecast reported Thursday, Nov. 11. The number of people in Oregon hospitalized with COVID-19 will stay above 400 statewide through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, according to the forecast from Oregon Health & Science Univer- sity, Portland. Dr. Peter Graven, director of the OHSU Offi ce of Advanced Analytics, said due to the availability of vaccines, Oregon won’t experience the kind of surge in infections that swept the state last winter. “At this time a year ago, we were going straight up,” Graven said. The Oregon Health Authority reported Nov. 10 that 67% of all Orego- nians — including children — have been vaccinated. Among adults, 72% are vaccinated. The health authority reports that only Gilliam, Grant, Malheur and Lake counties have less than half of adults vaccinated. Seven counties have vaccinated more than two-thirds of all resi- dents, including children — Lincoln, Multnomah, Benton, Hood River, Wash- ington, Deschutes and Lane counties. OHSU forecasts that hospitalizations will dip under 200 per day by the beginning of February. That is two months longer than OHSU forecast last month and a month longer than forecast just last week. The Oregon Health Authority reported Nov. 10 that 509 Oregonians remained hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s less than half the number at the peak of the latest spike, when 1,178 were hospitalized on Sept. 1. The agency did not release updated statistics on Nov. 11 due to its offi ces being closed for Veterans Day. The virus continues to be the major reason for patients to be in inten- sive care units. COVID-19 patients make up 22% of those currently in the state’s intensive care units, up from 18% last week, OHSU reported. Environmentalists say feds aren’t protecting fi sh Group decries alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act By ALEX BAUMHARDT Oregon Capital Chronicle “eff orts to keep our courts open and safe” and thanked employees for complying with it. Of note, 256 of 258 state court judges are fully vaccinated, with just two unvaccinated but still on the job because they received religious or med- ical exceptions. Among court employees, 1,441 of 1,581— amounting to 91% — are fully vaccinated, with 108 of them receiving exceptions. Another 18 employees are awaiting approval of their exception requests. As of last week, the judi- cial department had denied one request for an excep- tion so far. 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TRY THE ME2175 OPEN 111 Elm Street La Grande, OR 97850 541-605-2109 BAKER CITY 2021 Washington Ave. Baker City, OR 97814 541-239-3782 ENTERPRISE 113-1/2 Front E. Main St. Enterprise, OR 97828 541-239-3877 IT ED WARR A It’s incredibly discreet. Mention Code: Mention Code: 20JunSink 21NovSink LA GRANDE LIM PORTLAND — The fi rst time Nina Bell heard that the Columbia River was getting warmer was in the early 1990s. Scientists advising the state Department of Envi- ronmental Quality warned that the river in some places was becoming a danger to migrating fi sh, she said. “They called it out, said the temperatures were jeop- ardizing the fi sh – jeopar- dizing as in their continued existence – then turned around and told agencies to come up with a plan, which itself is just the same thing they criticized,” she said. Today, Bell is exec- utive director of North- west Environmental Advo- cates, and her organization is suing the National Marine Fisheries Service over what it believes is too many plans. The suit, fi led Nov. 2 in U.S. Dis- trict Court, aims to inval- idate a 2015 opinion the agency issued on the safe heat threshold for fi sh in the Columbia and Willa- mette rivers, and claims the federal agency failed to act pragmatically to save threatened and endangered fi sh by reducing water tem- peratures in the two rivers during the last 30 years. They want the national fi sheries agency to revise the study to impose tougher standards, and make the federal Environmental Pro- tection Agency and Oregon Department of Environ- mental Quality take direct action. Offi cials from the fi sh- eries service said the agency doesn’t comment on active litigation. It is the fourth time since 2001 that Bell’s organi- zation has sued a federal agency over rising tem- peratures in Oregon rivers, claiming those agencies are violating the Endan- gered Species Act by not mandating other environ- mental agencies take action to moderate river water temperatures. Instead of pressing for action, federal offi cials only ask for more plans, according to the lawsuit. “None requires that direct action be taken that may impact baseline river conditions to potentially reduce jeopardy to these species,” the complaint contends. In its 2015 study, the fi sheries service found that cold-water refuges needed to be protected in parts of the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Such spots provide endangered salmon and steelhead that are migrating a place to go when river temperatures exceed 68 degrees. Heat can allow damaging diseases to promulgate in fi sh and can cause stress that inhibits growth and spawning, according to that study. Court of Appeals, Oregon Supreme Court and Oregon Judicial Department employees and elected and pro-tem judges in Oregon’s circuit courts. But it doesn’t apply to many courthouse regu- lars, including prosecu- tors, defense attorneys and deputies moving detained defendants to and from courtrooms. In Walters’ order, she required state courts employees and judges to get at least partially vacci- nated by Oct. 1 and fully vaccinated no later than Nov. 5. In an email sent to state court employees, she said her vaccination order was part of the department’s TY COVID-19 recovery slows, but no sign of a new spike SALEM — More than 92% of some 1,800 state court employees and judges across Oregon are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 now that a mandate handed down by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters took full eff ect Nov. 5. That represents an increase of about 6 per- centage points since Wal- ters issued her order in mid-September — and ele- vates the state court system to one of the most vacci- nated big departments in the state. State courts produced a higher vaccination rate than Oregon’s executive branch, which stood at only 85% as of two days after its vaccination man- date took eff ect. Gov. Kate Brown’s executive-branch order applies to more than 40,000 state employees, but not the judicial branch, which required its own directive from Walters. The state courts’ rate also is notably higher than individual executive branch agencies employing more than 1,000 workers — including, as of Oct. 20, the Department of Correc- tions at 75%, the Depart- ment of Transportation at 81%, the Department of Human Services at 86%, and the Department of Jus- tice at 89%. The state courts’ vac- cination rate, too, exceeds the reported rate of every category of health care worker, with the excep- tion of Oregon dentists, with 94% fully vaccinated, according to state data through Nov. 1. In comparison, 72% of adult Oregonians statewide are fully vaccinated. Walters’ mandate applies to the Oregon N Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File Shannon White, regional testing liaison for Grande Ronde Hospital, gives directions to Doug Ross for a self-administered COVID-19 test in the Bi-Mart parking lot in La Grande on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. The number of people in Oregon hospitalized with COVID-19 will stay above 400 statewide through the holidays, according to the forecast from Oregon Health & Science University. By GARY A. WARNER SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021 Save up to 30% off our full line of open fit technology. 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