THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
2021: YEAR in REVIEW
THE OBSERVER — C3
Continued from Page C2
certainly an undercount because
only a small percentage of cases
were sequenced to confi rm if
they were delta. Carrie Brogoitti,
Public Health administrator at
the Center for Human Devel-
opment, La Grande, reported
Union County at the time was
sequencing just 3-5% of positive
cases.
Dr. Bill Messer, an associate
professor in the department of
microbiology and immunology
and the division of infectious
diseases at Oregon Health & Sci-
ence University, at the time said
the state was two weeks behind
in its sequencing.
Health care experts urged
people to get vaccinated to stave
off a spike of delta infections that
again would tax hospitals.
CORONAVIRUS
SURGES IN SUMMER
LA GRANDE — A fi fth
wave of the virus surged in the
summer, leading to more strain
on hospitals and forcing events
to again shut down or change
their usual operations.
“The highly contagious delta
variant has increased tenfold in
the past two weeks in Oregon,
and it is now estimated to be
associated with 80% of the new
cases in Oregon,” said Dr. Dean
Sidelinger, the state’s top epide-
miologist, on July 27.
The result was an explosion
of cases, and Union County was
not immune.
By late July, the county
reported an average of nine
cases every day, more than three
times higher than the case rate in
early July. The county reported
19 cases on July 26, the highest
one-day count since January. By
Aug. 5, the county averaged 13.2
cases per day.
For several months before, the
25 beds at Grande Ronde Hos-
pital, La Grande, were plenty
for the county’s low COVID-19
rates. But the spike stretched the
hospital’s resources thin, and
as the county’s only hospital,
GRH took on the responsibility
of caring for COVID-19 patients
brought in from smaller hospi-
tals in Eastern Oregon, such as
Enterprise’s Wallowa Memorial
Hospital.
Of the 25 intensive care
unit beds across six counties in
Eastern Oregon, only three were
available on Aug. 6, according to
the Oregon Health Authority.
Along with this, four
COVID-related deaths were
reported on Aug. 4, raising
Union County’s pandemic death
total to 28.
According to Union County
Commissioner Matt Scarfo,
county and health offi cials
met on Aug. 4 to discuss the
possibility of bringing back
COVID-19 restrictions, but no
changes were made.
“If anybody wants to wear
masks, that is their right to do
so,” he said.
A summer wore on and Union
and Wallowa counties experi-
enced record high COVID-19
cases in August, many late-
summer and early-fall events
were canceled or modifi ed.
HQ on Depot Street put its
open mic nights and concerts on
COVID TOP STORIES
features polished engraved let-
tering, was purchased from La
Grande’s Memorial Monuments.
Kevin Loveland, the owner of
Loveland Funeral Chapel, said
granite memorials are known for
holding up well.
“When they are polished they
will last for hundreds of years,”
said Loveland, who offi ciated
as a volunteer at the August
service.
“It was truly amazing. People
were in tears and giving each
other hugs,” Loveland said of the
service.
The bench cost more than
$2,500 and was purchased with
donated funds, many of which
were contributed by local busi-
nesses and the families of loved
ones the August service was for.
The program at the ser-
vice listed the names of 31
people whose families and
friends requested be honored
at the memorial event. Others
in the Elgin area or with roots
in the community, who had
died in 2020 and in the fi rst
eight months of 2021, were also
honored.
y COVID:
Dick Mason/The Observer
The Elgin memorial bench, installed in December 2021, sits between the Elgin Museum and the Elgin Opera House and
honors those who died over the past two years.
hold. The Celebrate La Grande
End of Summer Block Party on
Sept. 9 was transformed into a
drive-thru food off ering at the
Union County Fairgrounds.
Event organizers in Wallowa
County, which had 180 positive
cases in August, canceled Ore-
gon’s Alpenfest, the Juniper Jam
Music Festival and Hells Canyon
Mule Days. The annual Wal-
lowa Valley Festival of the Arts,
the largest fi ne art exhibition in
Eastern Oregon, limited patrons
and required masks and social
distancing.
NATIONAL GUARD
ACTIVATED AT SEVERAL
AREA HOSPITALS
LA GRANDE — National
Guard members arrived at many
Eastern Oregon hospitals as the
COVID-19 pandemic reached its
apex in cases caused by the viru-
lent delta variant.
By mid-September, four of
the six Northeastern Oregon
counties had National Guard
members present at their hospi-
tals. It was a welcome reprieve
for the many hospital workers
who were facing labor shortages
on top of grueling hours brought
on by the ongoing pandemic,
in which waves of cases broke
against the willpower of the now
battle-hardened nurses, doctors
and hospital staff that had been
fi ghting the virus for nearly 18
months.
Many of the National Guard
members called in to serve did
so in ancillary and tertiary roles
— cleaning up ward rooms and
preparing meals were among
some of the duties.
To be sure, the respite
aff orded to the hospitals was
more than welcomed. Labor
shortages meant that many
chores around the wards were
left unattended while necessary
tasks might have had overquali-
fi ed personnel manning the sta-
tions, such as a nurse doing door
screening for COVID-19.
“That helps us be able to
deploy our clinical people
back to clinical work,” said
Priscilla Lynn, president and
chief nursing offi cer at Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center in
Baker City.
As the omicron variant is
poised to become the domi-
nant strain in the United States,
it could be possible that the
National Guard is called in once
more to assist the ailing hos-
pitals in their fi ght against the
pandemic.
SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES
LA GRANDE — Throughout
2021 the COVID-19 pandemic
had an impact on everyday life,
from protective face masks to
the way we gather. Another
major change was the supply
chain shortage, as grocery
stores, the housing market,
food banks and more felt the
repercussions.
Customers witnessed empty
shelves at grocery stores and
reduced hours at local restau-
rants as workers elected to stay
home. The supply chain backup
had individuals concerned over
sporadic shortages, from turkey
on Thanksgiving to everyday
household items.
The shortage of lumber and
infl ation played a large role in
the housing market, with the
inventory of real estate at all-
time lows and the demand and
prices of houses near an all-time
high. In La Grande, Federal
Reserve Economic Data showed
that in June, houses stayed on
the market for an average of 36.5
days. While that average was
up to 53 days in October, the
city still is in a seller’s market as
2021 concludes.
“I don’t know if it’s all neces-
sarily from COVID, but inven-
tory has defi nitely been more
scarce. It’s been much harder for
buyers in the last year, year-and-
a-half,” said Anna Goodman,
principal broker at Eagle Cap
Realty in La Grande. “At some
point it’s going to level out, but
the supply shortage is playing a
big role.”
The supply chain woes even
reached local schools, impacting
students’ lunches. Those issues
prompted state leaders with the
Oregon Department of Educa-
tion to issue temporary waivers
for schools for nutritional
requirements.
Offi cials grappled with bro-
kering deals with new suppliers
to get food to the students. And,
with supplies short on hand,
school cooks had to improvise to
get food out to hungry students.
During fi re season, a jet fuel
shortage raised concern over
possible danger in the case of
a large wildfi re. Airport offi -
cials lacked the necessary fuel as
demand saw a major increase in
the wildfi re season.
“We haven’t run into that
before,” said Jessica Gardetto, a
National Interagency Fire Center
spokesperson in Boise and a
former wildland fi refi ghter. “It’s
a scary thought, with all the
shortages going on.”
SAYING GOODBYE
TO THOSE LOST
ELGIN — The downtown
decor of Elgin has a new addi-
tion that may prove to be as
timeless as the memories of
those it honors. In December,
a granite bench was installed
on Main Street between the
Elgin Opera House and the
Elgin Museum, dedicated to the
memory of those who died in the
Elgin area in 2020 and 2021.
The installation of the bench
followed a service that took
place in August honoring the
approximately 75 people in the
Elgin area who died the past
two years. The service was con-
ducted to give people a chance
to honor family and friends for
whom services were not con-
ducted because of the COVID-19
pandemic, which has pre-
vented many large gatherings,
according to Lauri Ferring,
pastor of the Elgin Harvesters
Nazarene Church, who helped
lead the project.
“They were not allowed the
service their family and friends
clearly needed. We wanted
everyone to have a chance to say
goodbye,” she said.
The granite bench, which
IN-PERSON EVENTS
RETURN IN THE WINTER
LA GRANDE — Toward
the end of 2021, several hol-
iday events took place that were
missed in 2020. From Halloween
trick-or-treating and Thanks-
giving food banks to holiday
fundraisers, Union County saw a
large return of in-person events
in 2021.
Guests packed the Blue
Mountain Conference Center
on Dec. 3 to bid on a variety of
decorated Christmas trees and
items to raise money for the
Soroptimist International of La
Grande, a nonprofi t that works
to improve the lives of women
and girls through social and eco-
nomic change. The Festival of
Trees also featured a Family Fun
Day on Dec. 4, which included
photos with Santa Claus and a
number of activities for children.
The Soroptimists were one of
many groups to adjust to a new
hybrid format, leaning on virtual
participation last year — partic-
ipants could reserve a table for
in-person attendance or bid on
items online. The 2021 Eastern
Oregon Film Festival in October
also used a hybrid model,
hosting in-person showings for
festival members while airing
movies online.
“For us to be able to manage
the festival this year, we have to
limit that all-access festival pass
to just our members,” Eastern
Oregon Film Festival Director
Chris Jennings said. “Because
we’ve had such a large response
in artists who are coming, we
need to make sure we can serve
up the festival in person to vis-
iting artists and major members
as well as having everything else
available online virtually.”
Holiday parades lifted
spirits across Union County.
La Grande’s parade and tree
lighting returned on Dec. 3 as a
crowd came out to watch locals
march down Adams Avenue
to ring in the holiday season.
The event was canceled in 2020
due to the pandemic. This year
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus were
embraced by a large gathering at
Max Square as the community
lit the tree.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Happy
New Year!
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