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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2020)
ELECTRIC TRUCKS COULD POWER RURAL OREGON »PAGE A2 WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2020 147TH YEAR, NO. 140 $1.50 CORONAVIRUS Regatta canceled over virus A city tradition in August By NICOLE BALES The Astorian Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Clatsop County could soon lift restrictions on lodging over the coronavirus. County, cities move to lift lodging restrictions over virus Astoria, Warrenton, Gearhart in sync By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian The Astoria Regatta, the city’s oldest annual celebration , is cancel ed over the coronavirus. The Astoria Regatta Association decided to cancel the festival, sched- uled to begin on Aug. 5, following Gov. Kate Brown’s announcement earlier this month calling for all large events in Ore- gon to be canceled or signifi cantly modi- fi ed through September. The governor said festivals, live sport- ing events with audiences, concerts and conventions cannot take place until there is a reliable treatment for the virus or pre- vention like a vaccine. “We are incredibly disappointed that we will not be celebrating Regatta this year,” Erik Thorsen, the CEO of Colum- bia Memorial Hospital and the president of the Astoria Regatta Association, said in a statement. “Our newly selected Regatta Court, Regatta d ignitaries and all our volunteers were looking forward to creating a fan- tastic 2020 Regatta celebration.” The festival honors the region’s mar- itime culture and history and dates back to 1894. This is not the fi rst time the event has been cancel ed. Regatta was suspended during World War I, after the Astoria fi re of 1922 and again during World War II. See Regatta, Page A6 S hort-term lodging will resume at partial capacity across the North Coast starting June 5 under a plan released Friday by local leaders . Clatsop C ounty, Astoria and War- renton have restricted lodging since March to discourage an infl ux of vis- itors from potentially spreading the coronavirus and overwhelming local hospitals. Gearhart, which never declared an emergency over the pan- demic, falls under the county’s orders. See Lodging, Page A6 Astoria and other cities restricted visitors to hotels because of the coronavirus. Seaside lifts lodging restrictions Guests welcome after Memorial Day By R.J. MARX The Astorian SEASIDE — Following the lead of Cannon Beach, Seaside will rescind restrictions on hotels and short- term rentals after Memorial Day. “I feel that our hoteliers and vacation rental groups have really worked hard to self-regulate and prepare themselves for opening,” Mayor Jay Barber said. “This is a diffi cult decision to balance community health and economic health. My concern is for both. But ultimately I’m concerned if we don’t time the opening of the eco- nomic engines in our community, we’re not going to have much left as a tourist community.” See Seaside, Page A6 R.J. Marx/The Astorian County reports three new virus cases The Astorian Clatsop County reported Friday that two women and a man living in the north- ern part of the county tested positive for the coronavirus. The man is in his 40s, one of the women is in her 50s and the other woman is between 10 and 19 — the youngest per- son reported to test positive in the county so far. The new cases bring the total in the county to 45. Twenty-fi ve of those people have recovered, according to the county, while all of the others are convalescing at home. The Oregon Health Authority reported 3,864 cases and 147 deaths statewide from the virus as of Friday morning. The health authority tracked 1,329 test results in Clatsop County, including 44 of the positive cases. The county announced Friday that the Public Health Department lowered the age minimum for drive-thru community testing to 15 years old from 18. Airbnb to fi x error in Seaside virus relief Money was going to go to guests By NICOLE BALES The Astorian SEASIDE — When the City Council voted in April to return fi rst quarter lodging taxes to hotels and vacation rentals to help during the coronavirus pandemic , the city notifi ed Airbnb and other brokers to refund property owners. But Airbnb said they were going to give the tax money back to guests instead. The tax break was part of an economic relief package meant to help businesses and residents, not visitors . Josh Money and Andrew Hura, who own vacation rentals in Sea- side, began asking questions when they did not see a refund from Airbnb after a couple of weeks. In a message to Money in late April , Airbnb said the city requested that the tax money be refunded to guests and that is what the company was planning to do. Jon Rahl, the assistant city man- ager, said the city encouraged Airbnb and other brokers to return the tax money to property owners. “Ultimately, the city does not facilitate the contract between (an owner) and a third-party interme- diary like Airbnb — that’s between them,” he said. Rahl also said the city receives the tax money in one lump sum from Airbnb and has no way of knowing how much came from each host. Danny Miller/The Astorian See Airbnb, Page A6 Seaside provided lodging tax relief in response to the coronavirus.