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About The Redmond spokesman. (Redmond, Crook County, Or.) 1910-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2022)
P2 The SpokeSman • WedneSday, January 26, 2022 COVID-19 pandemic Foster care group receives $25k grant From a press release Every Child Central Ore- gon recently received a $25,000 grant from the Oregon Com- munity Foundation to support its continued volunteer engage- ment and expansion efforts. Every Child Central Oregon provides low-barrier opportu- nities for community individ- uals, groups and organizations to help foster children. Through the utilization of volunteers, ECCO is better able to engage the community to show support, recognition and value to those affected by fos- ter care in Central Oregon. In December of last year, ECCO volunteers recorded 640 hours of work. Oregon Community Foun- dation puts donated money to work in Oregon — more than $100 million in grants and scholarships support Or- egonians annually. For nearly 45 years, OCF grantmaking, research, advocacy and com- munity-advised solutions have helped individuals, families, businesses and organizations create charitable funds to im- prove lives for Oregonians. Every Child Central Ore- gon serves Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson counties, and The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The group finds safe, nurturing homes where chil- dren can flourish during their time in care. For details, visit www.every- childcentraloregon.org. Bulletin file photo Nurses in the St. Charles Bend intensive care unit treat a COVID-19 patient in May. PET OF THE WEEK State hits roughest stretch of omicron wave BY GARY A. WARNER oregon Capital Bureau The hypercontagious omi- cron variant of COVID-19 continues to sweep across Oregon even as it sharply de- clines in parts of the nation hit earlier in the wave of in- fections. Oregon is coming into the two-week peak of hospital- izations and absenteeism that will hobble medical staff, po- lice, fire departments, schools, businesses and transport. Hospitals will face a major in- flux of new patients before the wave’s number of severe cases peaks early next month. “If people can stick with it for another couple of weeks, it will help to ensure timely care for everyone who needs a hospital bed,” Peter Graven, director of the Oregon Health & Science University Office of Advanced Analytics, said Friday. The Oregon Health Au- thority issued its weekend report on Monday, which covers COVID-19 reports Friday through Sunday. It showed 19,400 new cases and 17 deaths statewide over the three days. As of Sunday night, there were 1,045 COVID-19 pos- itive patients in the state’s hospitals, down from the 1,091 reported on Thursday. COVID-19 cases accounted for 161 patients in intensive care unit beds on Sunday, up 17 from Thursday. The pos- itive test rate remained at a highly elevated 22.9% The positive test rate needs to be under 5% to control spread, OHA has said. Daily numbers fluctuate, but are forecast to rise this week to a peak level of 1,533 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Feb. 1, accord- ing to Graven. The ray of hope is that Ore- gon is at the end of the nation- wide wave, and evidence from around the country indicates omicron levels drop rapidly after cresting. While by far the most contagious version of COVID-19 seen since the vi- rus was first reported in China on Dec. 31, 2019, it was less virulent in individual cases of those who had been vacci- nated and received a booster shot recommended late last year. The World Health Organi- zation said Monday that it had enough solid data to believe there was “plausible hope for stabilization” of the omicron CROSSWORD variant. An east-to-west spread across the United States showed a wave-like rise and fall. Omicron-driven infec- tions and hospitalizations were reported Monday as rapidly dropping in areas of the nation where the variant first hit. An ongoing New York Times survey of state and lo- cal health agencies showed the rate of infection had dropped 66% in New York compared to two weeks ago. Florida has seen cases decline 36%. Hospitalizations over the same period have slowed as well. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospi- tals nationwide was 157,429 on Jan. 22, according to the New York Times survey. That was up a relatively slow 18% from two weeks earlier. Like infections, there were wide re- gional differences, with Mary- land reporting a drop of 17%, while New York was down 3%. Omicron was rising fastest in states in the West and Midwest that had seen relatively slower rates of growth. Idaho, which had been at or near the bottom of new infection reports, was up 174% the past two weeks. Oregon was up 71%. Montana had the highest rate of new hospitalizations, up 93% over the past two weeks. Idaho was up 67%, just ahead of Oregon at 65%. The New York Times sur- vey showed the five Oregon counties with the highest rate of infections per 100,000 peo- ple were Jefferson, Deschutes, Umatilla, Crook and Morrow counties. The five counties with the highest per-capita hospitalizations were Jack- son, Josephine, Lake, Jefferson and Baker counties.The Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this month that initial stud- ies showed omicron was 90% less likely to cause death in all those infected than the delta variant. Unvaccinated people were four times more likely to become infected with the omicron variant than vacci- nated people. The infection rate for vaccinated people has risen with omicron com- pared to earlier waves, but the outcomes of infections have been starkly different. Un- vaccinated people who were infected were 10 times more likely to die than vaccinated people. e Submitted photo Meet Apollo. Apollo came to BrightSide as a stray so we are slowly learning everything about him. So far, we know that Apollo is a big sweetheart who can be easily excitable. He’s a very affectionate and lov- ing dog who is looking for his forever home. If you would like to meet Apollo please come to Bright- Side. gwarner@eomediagroup.com SUDOKU WEATHER Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9, with no repeats. FORECAST Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday monday Tuesday LAST WEEK HIGH LOW 53 54 54 54 55 49 46 23 26 30 32 36 30 30 HIGH LOW Sunny Sunny partly Cloudy partly Cloudy partly Cloudy Few Showers am Snow Showers PRECIP monday, Jan. 17 50 28 .02 Tuesday, Jan. 18 50 24 0 Wednesday, Jan. 19 47 23 0 Thursday, Jan. 20 58 35 .01 Friday, Jan. 21 50 22 0 Saturday, Jan. 22 55 23 0 Sunday, Jan. 23 53 24 0 precipitation to date this year: .72 inches * = daily record national Weather Service broadcasts are on 162.50 mhz. Answers on Page 5 Mailing Address: p.o. 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