A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, FEbRuARy 20, 2021
County expects larger allocations of vaccines
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Clatsop County is expecting to
see an increase in its allocation of
coronavirus vaccines from the state.
The county’s vaccine task force
said the county should receive 1,000
first doses every week for the next
four weeks.
Seven hundred doses will be dis-
tributed to the county Public Health
Department each week, and the other
300 will be distributed evenly among
pharmacies at Safeway in Astoria and
Seaside and Costco in Warrenton.
The pharmacies will follow the
state’s phased priority vaccination
plan and function separately from the
task force.
The pharmacies expect to begin
administering the doses next week
by appointment. Visit the pharma-
cies’ websites to check eligibility
requirements and to register.
The vaccine task force is hold-
ing vaccination events weekly. The
county is still restricting vaccinations
to people 80 years old and older until
supplies allow them to open registra-
tion to people 75 and older.
The county is also completing
the vaccination of teachers and other
school personnel, as well as those
receiving second doses.
A vaccination event scheduled for
Thursday was canceled due to weath-
er-related disruptions in vaccine
delivery. People who were scheduled
for the event are being contacted to
reschedule.
The county continues to encour-
age people to fill out an online plan-
ning survey. The information will be
used to send updates and notify peo-
ple when they are eligible to register
for vaccination.
As of Friday, 6,091 doses have
been administered in the county,
including 3,934 first doses and 2,157
second doses.
Tourism: ‘I think the labor market just got harder’
Continued from Page A1
“I think we can say we
are ready for tourists,”
Reid said. “We know how
to operate our businesses
safely — and our clientele,
our visitors, know how to
visit safely.”
Flexibility
A number of businesses
told The Astorian they
weren’t only ready to wel-
come tourists back, they
need them to return. Last
year, several businesses
closed their doors perma-
nently; others are teetering
on the edge.
But businesses said they
also need flexibility in how
they accommodate visitors.
MacGregor’s, a restau-
rant and whiskey bar in
Cannon Beach, asked city
leaders to allow them to set
up outdoor seating in three
parking spots outside of the
business. With ever-chang-
ing capacity guidelines for
indoor seating and no park-
ing lot or deck available,
owners Holly and Chip
MacGregor faced significant
revenue shortfalls and few
options for boosting busi-
ness if they couldn’t also
provide outdoor seating.
Under
state
guide-
lines, restaurants in Clat-
sop County can only seat
up to 25% of their capac-
ity but also must maintain
distances between tables.
In smaller buildings, some
businesses may not even be
able to reach the 25% capac-
ity allowance.
The MacGregors feel the
city’s decision could have
come months earlier. Still,
they are glad to have a lit-
tle bit of insurance, though
Holly MacGregor feels the
benefits may be pretty equal
to the harm at this point.
She is concerned about
taking away parking options
from potential customers in
a city already infamous for
parking woes. Besides, she
noted, outdoor seating on
the coast often means con-
tending with the cold, the
wet and the wind. She will
need to have staff for the
extra tables and find tents
that don’t blow away.
Though the number of
reported coronavirus cases
is dropping and people are
receiving
vaccinations,
there is no way to predict
what the landscape will be
like in the spring or summer
— or what restrictions will
be in place.
In anticipation of contin-
ued restrictions, Sarah Lu
Heath, the executive direc-
tor of Astoria’s downtown
association, hopes to plan
other types of experiences
for visitors, perhaps out-
door exhibits or installations
instead of events.
Both Heath and Reid
know the tourist months this
year will continue to be very
different for visitors and vis-
ited alike.
“I don’t think anybody
has the illusion that they’re
going to come here and have
the same experience they
had pre-pandemic,” Reid
said.
While
many
tour-
ism-based businesses have
suffered, in many ways,
tourism never really left the
coast, noted Todd Montgom-
ery, who leads the hospital-
ity management program
at Oregon State Universi-
ty-Cascades in Bend.
Even as virus cases
soared across the state and
Doctor: ‘His patients
will really miss him’
Continued from Page A1
“The Cockcroft family
expresses deep gratitude to
Detective Ed Christian and the
team at King County search
and rescue for their heroic
efforts, as well as the team
of volunteers from surround-
ing counties. They endured
severe weather during the
search and always took time
to listen to the family.”
Cockcroft is the past pres-
ident of the Clatsop County
Medical Society and a former
chief of staff at Providence
Seaside.
He attended the Univer-
sity of California, Santa Cruz
before earning his medical
degree from the University
of California, Irvine. He com-
pleted an internship in Fresno,
California, and a family prac-
tice residency at San Pedro
Peninsula Hospital before
moving to Seaside.
Dr. Dominique Greco, the
medical director for primary
care at Providence North
Coast Clinic, said, “There are
no words to express our deep
sorrow. Only that he is loved
and will be terribly missed.”
Colleagues, patients and
friends have shared memories
and tributes online at Forever
Missed, including Dr. Sharyl
Magnuson Boyle, who joined
the clinic in 2019.
“Practicing with Ben, I got
to know his style, and grew to
really respect his way of prac-
tice,” Magnuson Boyle said.
“When he decided to go half
time, I took on several of his
patients. With these patients,
my respect for Ben grew. He
practiced at a level one rarely
sees outside of an academic
setting.
“Diagnosing and manag-
ing complicated and rare con-
ditions seemed to be no prob-
lem for Ben, just taken in
stride. He was a gem. I don’t
think that the practice really
realized the quality of physi-
cian they had in Dr. Cockcroft
because he was a pretty hum-
ble guy. Sharing patients with
Ben, I do know his quality,
and I regret not having had the
opportunity to let him know
how much I respected his tal-
ents and abilities.
“We always think there
will be time to thank a col-
league, to recognize him, to
let him know how he is valued
— and then there is no more
time. I hope his family will
know from me that he was an
exceptional physician. He had
rare skills and insights. His
patients will really miss him.
I will miss him.”
Janis Cerelli, a longtime
patient of Cockcroft’s, said
she affectionately called him
“Dr. Bambino” since meeting
him more than 20 years ago.
“My grandmother was in
the hospital at Seaside and he
walked in and he said ‘Hi’ to
my grandmother and went to
the bed next door and drew
the curtain,” Cerelli said.
“And I said in Italian to my
grandmother, ‘Who is that?’
And she said in Italian, ‘He’s
a doctor.’
“ ... I said, in Italian, ‘But
nana, he has a face like a
baby.’ So then he opened up
the curtain and delightedly
said, ‘Hi, I’m Dr. Bambino.’
“I mean, he’s just a sweet-
heart, and he was just a great
guy,” Cerelli said. “I have
deep affection for him and
I’m so sorry for him and his
family.”
Dennis Smith, the owner
of Seaside Surf Shop, said
Cockcroft was a friend and
his doctor for 25 years.
“You can’t be a surfer in
this community and not know
the Cockcrofts,” he said. “It’s
going to be hard for a lot of
people.
“He lived right there,”
Smith said, referring to Sun-
set Boulevard in the Cove,
known as the hub of Seaside’s
surf scene. “He was at the
epicenter every day. He saw
the comings and goings and
everybody knew him.”
He said Cockcroft helped
clear rocks and sand out of
a little trail that goes down
to the beach after big winter
storms to make it more acces-
sible for older surfers and oth-
ers who had difficulty getting
over the rocks. Smith said it is
a big job every year.
“It goes back to his deep
love for the beach and this lit-
tle pocket of the community,”
he said.
McNickle: Second high-
profile departure in county’s
Public Health Department
Continued from Page A1
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
TOP: Astoria Brewing Co. opened the back deck for outdoor seating. ABOVE: A view of
Seaside during government restrictions last April.
public health officials urged
people to limit unnecessary
travel, visitors continued to
flock to the coast on sunny
days well into the fall and
winter months. The coast
provided attractive options
for outdoor recreation as,
increasingly, everything else
was closed.
The Oregon Coast Visi-
tors Association saw fewer
national and international
travelers, but more Orego-
nians who came to the coast
for overnight stays or on
daytrips.
Visitation was not evenly
distributed. Instead, it
seemed “patchy and some-
what unpredictable,” said
Marcus Hinz, the execu-
tive director of the visitors
association.
In September, Seaside
saw an increase in quar-
terly lodging tax revenue
collected over the prior
year. Meanwhile, Astoria
reported a decrease of about
12% from July through
December compared to the
same period in 2019.
Last year’s visits came
with challenges, too — chal-
lenges that will likely persist
as industry leaders predict
pent-up demand for travel
and recreation will result in
a busy summer this year.
Last year, state parks on
the coast saw huge numbers
of people arrive. They often
left behind piles of trash on
beaches and trails.
The visitors association
also saw an increase in the
number of people seeking
out licenses and permits for
hunting, fishing and camp-
ing for the first time. To
Hinz, that indicated that “we
need to try harder than ever
to insert messages about eti-
quette and expectations into
any communications they
receive.”
Instead of the inspira-
tional marketing of the past,
Hinz said the visitors associ-
ation is focused on empha-
sizing instructional mes-
saging about how to visit
responsibly.
“We know visitors are
coming and all we can really
do is manage the situation,”
he said.
Challenge
For businesses, one chal-
lenge with the return of tour-
ism will be the ability to
remain adaptable.
Montgomery believes
times of disruption can open
the door to great opportuni-
ties, but many tourism-based
businesses on the coast are
still recovering from signif-
icant setbacks.
The businesses that sur-
vived into 2021 have already
had to adapt — many times
over. Restaurants turned to
takeout. Hotels, bars and
restaurants adopted tech-
nology to streamline their
processes and reduce labor
costs. Then they had to stay
agile, pivoting quickly with
shifting rules and guidelines.
They will need to con-
tinue to be nimble, Mont-
gomery said.
He is struck by how
differently people have
responded to the pandemic.
Some longed for indoor din-
ing and when it was offered
again, they dove back in
without hesitation. For other
people, indoor dining con-
tinues to feel too risky.
Businesses will need
to accommodate this frag-
mented customer base, per-
haps for a long time to
come, Montgomery said.
Then there is the labor
pool to consider.
Preliminary
research
conducted through Oregon
State shows a high num-
ber of workers in the hos-
pitality and travel sectors
are not seeking out jobs
in those industries. They
were discouraged by how
their employers responded
to the coronavirus and, in
some cases, failed to protect
workers.
These sectors struggled
with a labor shortage even
before the pandemic.
Now, Montgomery said,
“I think the labor market just
got harder.”
County Public Health and
Social Services. He will start
on March 15, according to
the newspaper.
McNickle could not be
reached for comment.
County leaders said the
news of McNickle’s depar-
ture came as a surprise.
“I just learned of Mike’s
plans to relocate today,”
County
Manager
Don
Bohn said in a text mes-
sage Wednesday night. “He
has been in charge of county
COVID response. The county
will be evaluating options
for interim leadership until
a recruitment process can be
completed.”
McNickle was hired as
the county’s environmen-
tal health supervisor in 2014.
He was named public health
director in September 2016.
He has been an advocate for a
county needle exchange pro-
gram to reduce the spread of
disease among drug users, a
tobacco retail license to help
ensure tobacco products are
not sold to people under 21
and a new household haz-
ardous waste facility near the
Astoria Transfer Station.
During the pandemic,
McNickle emerged as the
focal point of the coun-
ty’s response to the virus. In
June, he tested positive for
COVID-19, describing it as
“a teachable moment because
it shows that anybody can get
COVID.”
He has taken a less visi-
ble public role over the past
few months. The county has
recorded 768 virus cases
since last March, with more
than 500 since November.
McNickle is the second
high-profile departure in
the county’s Public Health
Department.
Ellen Heinitz, a naturo-
pathic doctor who served
as the county’s community
health project manager and
was actively involved in pan-
demic response, resigned in
January for a yearlong med-
ical service trip to Guatemala.
Mark Kujala, the chairman
of the county Board of Com-
missioners, said Bohn has
assumed more responsibil-
ity over the county’s response
to the pandemic, along with
other staffers in the Public
Health Department.
“People will pull together
and get the job done,” he said.
“And, at the same time, we’ll
be out looking to recruit a
new public health director.”
Kujala said county lead-
ers meet regularly on the
pandemic.
“For any public health
department across the coun-
try, this has been a year like
no other,” he said. “And I
think we’ve seen a lot of
fatigue and stress within a lot
of departments all across the
country.
“It’s just such an unprece-
dented time that I’m not sur-
prised that people feel like
they need a change of scen-
ery or need a break.”
The Daily World reported
that McNickle was selected
as the top candidate for the
Grays Harbor County job
among about a dozen appli-
cants at a special county com-
mission meeting Feb. 11.
The newspaper reported he
accepted the county’s offer
on Tuesday.
Kujala, who said he was
“shocked” when he first heard
about McNickle’s departure,
said he appreciates McNick-
le’s service to the county and
wishes him the best in Grays
Harbor County.