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,
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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