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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2020)
A6 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2020 Masks: ‘We are a small town and I know the people who respond’ Continued from Page A1 Clatsop County Emer- gency Management sends resource requests to the state and receives allocations of personal protective equip- ment, which is distributed to emergency responders, non- affi liated clinics, care facil- ities and government agen- cies. The allocation to each county depends on several factors, including population and the number of COVID- 19 cases . “We have very little,” said Tiffany Brown, the coun- ty’s emergency manage- ment director. “We’re in the process of working up a pri- oritization system because we have so little supplies against the requests that we’re receiving that we have to come up with a method for distribution.” Brown is accepting dona- tions of homemade masks and said a number of agen- cies are eager to use them. Bennett and Elder were the fi rst to donate home- made masks to the county. Elder said knowing there is a central point of contact that can distribute supplies to local agencies is what moti- vates her to continue making more. “With cabin fever affect- ing so many people, if people can sew and have any access to materials, this is probably one of the best things people at home can do besides stay home,” Elder said . Kathy Fauver created a Facebook group called Clat- sop County Face Mask Mak- ers. She said the group has grown quickly in the past week and that she is now coordinating volunteers in addition to sewing. Fauver owns a customs alteration business, Fit- ted Stitches LLC, out of her home in Knappa. She said she specializes in bridal alter- ations, but since weddings are on hold, she wanted to use her skills to benefi t the community. “The reason I put it together is because it just Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Teresa Bennett tries on a tie- string face mask. The women designed two types of masks — one with adjustable strings and another with elastic loops. seemed so much more sensi- ble to just pull our resources together in an organized, more effi cient manner and sewing and distributing the masks one agency at a time so that everyone gets served equally rather than willy nilly passing them out,” she said. “And I really wanted to have some protocol so the effort we put into it was appropriate for who we were sending it to.” Fauver said some peo- ple in the group just cut fab- ric, while others only deliver. She is also looking at getting bulk material from her regu- lar suppliers. She is offering mask sew- ing kits to help people get started. Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts is also giving away free kits to make face masks. Shannon Symonds , of Seaside, reached out to Fau- ver to bridge their efforts across the c ounty. She and others in Seaside have started to organize and make masks for local nurses, fi refi ghters, police and care facilities who have requested them. “We are a small town and I know the people who respond. When I go to the emergency room, I know the nurses. These are my friends and family,” Symonds said. Technology People have also uti- lized technology to provide a platform to help . Pandemic of Love is a website that allows peo- ple in need to connect with patrons. It was started by a Florida woman and has quickly expanded to cities throughout the country and internationally. Tammy Heintz, of Asto- ria, decided to start Pan- demic of Love in Astoria and said several people have already been connected. “A lot of the people ask- ing for assistance have never had to ask for assis- tance, so it’s really challeng- ing,” Heintz said. She said many people need help buying groceries or prescriptions. “We don’t go out to eat right now, so if somebody was used to going out to eat once a week, instead take that money and help some- body else buy food for their family,” Heintz said. “This is more of a move- ment of acts of kindness and connections believing our community can come together to help each other because we are all in this together right now.” Amber Fowler, of Can- non Beach, has a similar sentiment. Fowler spent two decades in the San Fran- cisco Bay Area working in the technology industry. As a newcomer to the North C oast, she said she wanted to fi nd a way to bridge her- self and her values to the community. Fowler created a web- site called Coast Mutual Aid, which is inspired by a model in the Bay Area. Like Heintz, Fowler has already seen connections made. She also looks at it as a way for tourists and locals to continue supporting their favorite businesses and ser- vice industry workers. “I care very much about people helping people and I care about tools that are not too scary or intimidating for people to use,” Fowler said. Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo Cruise ships docked at the port in Miami on Tuesday. Cruise ships must stay at sea with sick onboard By FREIDA FRISARO and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Coast Guard has directed all cruise ships to prepare to treat any sick passengers and crew on board while being seques- tered “indefi nitely” off- shore during the coronavi- rus pandemic. The new rules require daily updates on each ship’s coronavirus caseload for vessels in U.S. waters, and come with a stiff warning: Any foreign-fl agged vessels “that loiter beyond U.S. ter- ritorial seas” should try fi rst to medically evacuate the very sick to those countries instead. Many s outh Florida cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas, where hos- pital capacity is limited and people are still recovering from last year’s devastating Hurricane Dorian. The rules, which apply to any vessel carrying more than 50 people, were issued in a Sunday safety bulle- tin signed by Coast Guard Rear Admiral E.C. Jones, whose district includes Flor- ida, Georgia, South Carolina and Puerto Rico. Dozens of cruise ships are either lined up at the Port of Miami and Port Ever- glades or waiting offshore due to the coronavirus pan- demic. Most have only crew aboard, but Carnival Corp., which owns nine cruise lines with a total of 105 ships, notifi ed the SEC Tuesday that it has more than 6,000 passengers still at sea. Federal, state and local offi cials have been negotiat- ing over whether Carnival’s Holland America cruise ships, the Zaandam and Rot- terdam, would be allowed to dock at Port Everglades this week. But the compa- ny’s Coral Princess is com- ing, too, with what that ship’s medical center called a higher than normal num- ber of people with fl u-like symptoms. Carnival said the last three of the 40 ships that were at sea when it paused its cruises last month are expected to arrive at port by week’s end. In addition to the ships arriving in Fort Lauderdale, other ships are approaching Civitavecchia, Italy, and Southampton, England, spokesman Roger Frizzell said. Two of four deaths on the Zaandam were blamed on COVID-19 and nine people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the com- pany said. At least 190 more reported symptoms. More than 300 Americans are on Zaandam and Rotterdam. Gov. Ron DeSantis said he expected a resolution Wednesday after speak- ing with President Donald Trump. The governor said Florida’s health care sys- tem is stretched too thin to take on the ships’ coronavi- rus caseload, but he said he would accept the 49 Florida residents on board. “My concern is sim- ply that we have worked so hard to make sure we have adequate hospital beds,” he said. Trump had expressed sympathy toward the pas- sengers on Tuesday. “They’re dying on the ship,” Trump said. “I’m going to do what’s right. Not only for us, but for humanity.” Passengers expressed their frustrations to The Associated Press on Wednesday. Andrea Anderson and her husband Rob coughed their way through a video chat from the Zandaam. Asked what she would say to Flor- ida’s governor, Anderson said, “How would he feel if his mother was on this ship? Would he still be saying, ‘no they can’t dock?’” Delivery: Fort George Brewery has been working on a new pickup service Continued from Page A1 many ways after we make it through all of this stuff. And maybe delivery ser- vices will be a part of that.” The North Coast has so far lacked the consis- tent demand for dedicated delivery services such as Uber Eats and Postmates , leaving a void in to-go options during the shut- down. Local cab driv- ers offer food and grocery delivery, but say business has dwindled . Travis Weichal, who runs Royal Cab, said he has halved the number of drivers, who are going on shorter shifts. Most of his business is coming from medical appointments and employees deemed essen- tial needing a ride to work, Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Ellen Rey seals the lid of a crowler at Buoy Beer Co. he said. LaNay Walker, who operates Moms Cab in Astoria, said she has gone from between 25 and 35 runs a day down to about fi ve. Since the government restrictions , she’s received only a couple of requests for grocery or food deliv- ery. The drop in tourism already has her worried about how to keep her busi- ness afl oat. “The summer money is what gets you through the winter,” she said. “So I may not be making any money now, but it’s going to be worse come winter.” One of the more cre- ative local businesses has been Buoy Beer Co., which laid off most of its staff but joined many other busi- nesses in offering pickup orders of food and beer. The pickup service eventu- ally shut down because of large groups of people con- tinuing to come in. The hiatus gave Buoy time to plan a better sys- tem, said Jessyka Dart-Mc- Lean, the brewery’s mar- keting manager. “We have a lot of draft beer that now has nowhere to go,” Dart-McLean said. “All the restaurants that we usually sell draft beers to, and the bars, are not order- ing anymore. Our distribu- tors have stopped ordering all draft beer. And we don’t have any way to sell it in the restaurant.” Buoy emerged last week with a new delivery busi- ness where customers order 32-ounce crowler cans of beer online by 9 a.m. for same-day delivery in Asto- ria. In the fi rst three days, Buoy delivered 260 crowl- ers. The brewery sold around 100 in less than two hours after a sales represen- tative took some to Port- land. Now Buoy is running out of crowlers to fi ll. “All the breweries are trying to do this, and so they have a pretty big lead time,” she said. “They’re trying to produce more crowlers right now, but I think almost every brewery in the United States right now has a crowler order in — or at least the ones that have crowler machines.” Dart-McLean said Buoy has reached out to Fort George Brewery looking for crowlers. Fort George had been selling to-go food and crowlers out of its Duane Street entrance but felt it had to close because the service was entic- ing tourists, said co-owner Chris Nemlowill. Brian Bovenizer, Fort George’s marketing direc- tor, said the brewery has been working on a new pickup service . “We think we have a zero-contact method that should allow people to get draft beer in crowlers and continue to support” Fort George, he said. Helping Hands: ‘We’re on the front line’ Continued from Page A1 she said. They also antici- pate about 1,000 people will need rental assistance for the month of April alone. Helping Hands runs 11 facilities with more than 220 beds in Clatsop, Tillamook, Lincoln and Yamhill coun- ties. Evans said the orga- nization does not receive consistent fi nancial support from Clatsop County like they do from other counties. “If we thought homeless- ness was a problem before this occurred, what we have coming down the road … the services in our commu- nity are going to be more important than they ever were before,” Evans said. “The impact of this is going to be bigger than we’ve ever seen before.” “Every agency in this community is so important, Spring Special! Mention this ad and receive Septic Pumping Service for only $375! NAWT Certified Septic Inspection • Septic Tank Pumping A division of Colin Murphey/The Astorian Helping Hands has a shelter in Uniontown. and every agency is strug- gling to provide services to people,” he said. “We under- stand completely because we’re on the front line of this thing.” 415 Gateway Ave. • Astoria • Office 503.325.5180
