OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022
As masks mandates lift, Oregon
parents say they trust local schools
La Nina expected to
stick through summer
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
By ANNA DEL SAVIO
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Most par-
ents in Oregon say educators
have been keeping their kids
safe during the COVID-19
pandemic as the state’s mask
mandate comes to an end.
While coronavirus out-
breaks in schools haven’t
been a recent problem, just
under half of parents said
outbreaks in schools in their
area had been a problem
in the month prior to com-
pleting an early February
survey. Meanwhile 64%
of Oregon parents thought
their area’s K-12 schools
were doing a good job
keeping students safe and
minimizing the spread of
COVID-19.
The Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center’s survey,
which was conducted before
state offi cials announced that
the mask mandate would
end no later than March 31,
found that 81% of Orego-
nians were at least some-
what concerned about
hospitals being too short-
staff ed to treat all patients.
Susannah Krug, who
has three school-age chil-
dren, said she was nervous
about the end of the mask
mandate.
“I’m glad about it
ending for children, since I
didn’t think it was fair they
were carrying the burden
of our failure to control the
spread,” Krug said.
But Krug, a North Plains
resident whose job involves
daily face-to-face interac-
tions with diff erent people,
said she’ll likely continue
wearing a mask.
Krug said her three chil-
dren — an elementary
schooler, middle schooler
and high schooler in Hills-
boro public schools — have
never loved wearing masks.
“But now that the pros-
pect is on the table that
they can take them off ,
possibly next week, they’re
not thrilled about that
idea,” Krug said. “(They)
just feel really cautious
about it.”
Both Krug and Aimee
Wood, a parent of two
Tigard-Tualatin School Dis-
trict students, said they had
told their kids that they
could decide whether to con-
tinue masking or not. But
Wood said she doubts her
family will continue wearing
masks — unless a new
variant comes or case num-
bers start to rise.
“They’ve been wearing
masks, which I supported
when the case numbers were
high, but based on where
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Wallow County Chieftain, File
Interim Principal Landon Braden hands a face mask to second-grader Skylynn Adams at Enterprise
Elementary School in September 2021.
“I’m glad about it ending for children,
since I didn’t think it was fair they were
carrying the burden of our failure to
control the spread.”
— Susannah Krug, who has three school-age children
the numbers are right now
in Oregon and our county,
I think it makes sense to
remove them,” Wood said.
Liberals were four times
more likely than conser-
vatives to say they were
“very concerned” with
hospitals in their region
not having enough beds
for everyone requiring
hospitalization.
As of Thursday, March
10, Northwest Oregon had
276 adult ICU beds occupied
and 46 beds open.
As of last week there
were 300 COVID-19
patients hospitalized across
Oregon, with 55 in ICUs.
Wood said she wasn’t at
all concerned with hospital
capacity as of early March,
but had been at previous
points over the past two
years, like last August and
September when the delta
variant was surging.
Bryan Hadley, a Med-
ford resident with only his
youngest child still in school,
said he was glad the mask
mandate was ending but
wished it had ended sooner.
“I feel it’s about time,”
Hadley said. “My per-
sonal opinions are that we
should have our own choice
whether to do it or not. If
people want to mask up,
that’s totally fi ne. And if
they don’t, that’s totally
fi ne.”
Hadley also has an older
child at home who is at high
risk for a more serious case
of COVID-19, so he said his
family has been cautious
about that and was previ-
ously more concerned about
hospital capacity.
Daily new COVID-19
cases and the test positivity
rate have dropped since Jan-
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research. To help obtain that,
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about-the-panel.
uary, the most recent surge,
with fewer than 500 cases
per day, as of the week of
March 11.
Those numbers repre-
sent a steep drop from the
fi rst weeks of 2022, when an
average of more than 7,700
cases were reported each
day.
SALEM — The reigning
La Nina has more staying
power than expected and
likely will stay through the
spring and into the summer,
infl uencing U.S. tempera-
tures and precipitation for
the upcoming months, the
National Weather Service’s
Climate Prediction Center
says.
The Pacifi c Ocean
cooled in early March,
strengthening a La Nina
that formed last summer
and had been expected to
fade in the spring. Com-
pared to a month ago,
chances are nearly double
that the La Nina will still
prevail in June, July and
August, according to the
climate center.
While a La Nina can
worsen drought in the
southern tier of the U.S.,
it’s linked to cool and wet
weather in the Northwest.
Washington State Clima-
tologist Nick Bond said the
continuing La Nina could
help the snowpack have a
spring resurgence. The state-
wide snowpack has been
dropping this month and
was down to 85% of average
on Friday, March 11.
“Our mountains should
do pretty well,” Bond said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised
that in a month people, not
necessarily in agriculture,
are grousing that the spring
is really cold and wet.”
In February, the climate
center gave the La Nina a
27% chance of persisting
through the summer. Now,
the center rates the chances
at 53%.
Bond said a La Nina has
more eff ect on Washington
winters than summers.
“By the time you get to
summer, there are some
impacts, but they are
weaker,” he said. “I’m not
sure it’s going to be that big
of a deal.”
In the short term, the
National Weather Service
predicted Friday that Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho
will be cooler and wetter
than average over the next
two weeks. Northern Cal-
ifornia’s weather will be
near normal, the service
predicted.
As expected during a La
Nina, Washington’s snow-
pack was strong early in
the winter and was 107%
of normal on Jan. 1. It
declined to 95% of normal
by March 1, according to
the Natural Resources Con-
servation Service.
The snowpack typically
peaks in April. It’s been
falling behind average all
month.
NRCS water supply
specialist Scott Pattee said
Friday that he’s not optimistic
the snowpack will recover
and get back to average.
“You can’t really rule any-
thing out, but I think the odds
are pretty slim,” he said.
Bond said that even if
La Nina drops snow at high
elevations, it may not pro-
vide much relief for low-
elevation parts of Central
and Eastern Washington
that remain in severe or
extreme drought.
“Some places that are
more in trouble now don’t
necessarily do as great
during La Nina,” he said.
Drought grips the entire
West. Some 50% of Wash-
ington is in drought, the
U.S. Drought Monitor
reported March 10. Eight
other Western states are
suff ering more.
Some 90% of Oregon
and 100% of California
are in a drought. Drought
covers 84% of Idaho.
The climate center will
issue a new seasonal outlook
for April, May and June on
March 17. The ocean-surface
temperatures that trigger
a La Nina — or its oppo-
site, an El Nino — drive the
three-month forecasts.
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