‘Exquisite Gorge’
A River Mural
Page B1
HOOD RIVER, OREGON • Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
MIDWEEK EDITION $1.00
Vol. 114, No. 23
2 Sections, 20 Pages
www.hoodrivernews.com
Governors Brown, Inslee order restaurants closed
COVID-19 impacts
felt by businesses
and community
groups on both
sides of the river
By EMILY FITZGERALD
News staff writer
Both Oregon and Washington have
ordered all bars, restaurants, enter-
tainment and recreation facilities
to temporarily close as part of the
ongoing effort to fight the spread of
COVID-19. The bans do not include
grocery stores, pharmacies, retail
stores or workplaces, and establish-
ments are permitted to serve takeout
and delivery food.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee
announced the ban Sunday evening,
in addition to a ban on gatherings of ‘IT’S HARD on everyone,’ Anna Garcia of Hood River Taqueria said Monday
50 people or more, both to take effect afternoon, as she puts up a sign at the 13th Street restaurant.
Monday. No timeline was given for
how long the restrictions would be
in place.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown told
reporters Sunday night that she was
considering a similar temporary shut-
down, or other measures for restau-
rants and bars such as a curfew or
occupancy limit. Brown said Monday
morning that those were measures
she was not yet ready to impose;
but later that afternoon, Brown an-
nounced that a temporary shutdown,
as well as a ban on gatherings of 25
people or more, would take effect
Tuesday and be in effect for at least
four weeks.
In the same press conference, de-
livered in northeast Portland Monday
afternoon, Brown advised Oregonians
to avoid being around more than
10 people at a time and encouraged
businesses to minimize interpersonal
contact when serving customers, or
shut down completely.
Many local organizations and busi-
nesses have already canceled events
or closed their doors in order to pro-
actively combat the spread of COVID-
19 (see A5 for a complete list). Among
those is the Port of Hood River, which
announced Monday that they would
be closing their front office and would
be temporarily closing manned toll
booths on the Hood River-White
Salmon Interstate Bridge beginning
Wednesday, March 18. “This closure
is not mandatory, but rather a so-
cial-distancing measure,” said Port
officials in a press release.
The innermost lanes of the four-
lane toll plaza will be closed, and all
traffic will flow through the outermost
“BreezeBy” lanes, where the barrier
arm will be raised to let vehicles
through. Electronic tolling via the
Port’s “BreezeBy” electronic tolling
system will continue, but no cash
payments will be accepted.
“It’s a big fairness issue right now,”
said Port Communications and Spe-
cial Projects Manager Genevieve
See VIRUS, page A9
A community Coping With COVID virus
An invitation to
readers: Help keep
us better informed
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
It’s a little ... too quiet.
As communities respond to
COVID-19 and official and unofficial
closures and protocols, life has great-
ly changed in the past week in the
Gorge and every community around
the globe. It changed in the hours just
before presstime; please bear with us.
Baristas were serving up coffee,
cooks prepared meals, barkeeps
poured pints, and people gathered
in cafes and pubs to partake with
other people -- but that’s changed as
of Monday afternoon. Events such
as the winter bowling tournament at
Orchard Lanes and the monthly com-
munity run at Shortt Supply went on
as usual. Pastors gave their sermons
to people seated in socially distant
places in the pews.
“We’re all in this together — just a
CONTACT US
General information (attach your
photos, too) including “Coping with
COVID” go to hrnews@hoodrivernews.
com
Happening and Gatherings updates
go to Trisha Walker:
twalker@hoodrivernews.com
Government information goes to
Emily Fitzgerald:
efitzgerald@hoodrivernews.com
Sports notes go to Gabriel Bravo at
gbravo@hoodrivernews.com
Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea
EMPTY shelves do not define us. Bowling in groups does. Mike Weaver, left Don Ward, both of The Dalles, exchange elbow-bumps during Orchard Lanes tour-
nament action Saturday. See A9 for related coverage, and page A5 for a list of cancellations and closures — and hoodrivernews.com for updates.
little farther apart,” reads a placard on
the counter at Dog River Cafe.
Life does go on, though word of
changes in what’s happening and not
happening keep coming our way, and
we will track those at hoodrivernews.
com.
Meanwhile, the list of closures
seems to include everything, every-
where: Schools, government offices
(and their meetings), some churches,
more and more businesses, and virtu-
ally all public places — visitor center,
library, senior center, pool, and gal-
leries and museums.
“Our rituals and relationships are
in upheaval,” Riverside Pastor Vicky
Stifter said on Sunday.
Unfortunately, it’s true. Hood River
News wants to try to stem that. The
absence of activity and congregation
leaves the Hood River News literally
at a loss: With so much closed, can-
celed or postponed, there is a great
deal less for us to cover, in stories or
photos. True, we can do much on the
phone, and continue to use that chan-
nel. (Covering ... when you sneeze or
cough is important, but covering — as
in getting info into the paper — is also
important.)
line with this paper’s long-standing
practice of accepting a wide variety
of press releases, public notices,
meeting notices, social notes, club
and sports reports and the like, as
well as essays, op-ed pieces and, of
course, letters to the editor. Readers’
long-standing role as information
providers is what keeps us going.
An invitation
But this is the time to take it up a
Some of what you read in this edi- notch or two, since meetings, games,
tion might be unavailable or outdat- concerts, lectures and the whole
ed, as closures and other decisions range of community gatherings are
have come to us very rapidly. With simply not happening. We can’t as
all this shifting, known and yet-to-be easily come to you, so feel free to
known, we issue the following invi- come to us. Contact info is on A1.
We’ve tried to update and make note
tation:
of the COVID-caused changes, but
Contact us with what you know.
We rely now, more than ever, on we won’t be able to catch everything.
what our readers send us, on the tips “Call first” to make sure an event is
and news of note that form this vi- still going.
That way, you will know for sure,
brant community.
True, this invitation is right in and it’s a way for folks organizing
these events to get feedback and stay
connected.
‘Coping with COVID’
We are open to just about anything
(staff discretion to publish, and right-
to-edit, still prevail) but, as we see, it
your input will come in three main
forms:
■ First, keep letting us know about
events, or results or details of events
that have happened.
■ Second, tell us about canceled
events, meetings or other gatherings,
and what would have been discussed
and, broader still, what your organiza-
tion is doing long-term, be it ongoing
projects or things happening this
spring or in the summer.
We know groups look ahead — they
have to. Now is the time to tip us off to
See COPING, page A9
‘Superhero Fun Run’ supports local student Kyle McCarthy
INSIDE
Classifieds
Entertainment
Gatherings
Greater Gorge
Happenings
Kaleidoscope
Legal Notices
out help, something he now cannot
do alone. The device is activated by
vibration: A tap on the leg to start or
stop, utilizing a watch.
“It reminds me of a handheld vacu-
um,” she said. “It hooks onto a cross-
bar underneath his chair, and you can
clip it on and off. It combines a man-
ual chair and a power chair into one
and will make it easier to get around.”
The attachment costs $6,000 —
$500 more than his wheelchair. To
this end, Wy’east is sponsoring the
Return of the Superhero Fun Run for
Kyle, a 5K and 10K walk/run, on Sat-
urday, May 16 beginning at 9:30 a.m.
at the Odell middle school. Preregis-
tration at tinyurl.com/superherokyle
is $20, and day-of registration is $25.
“Post-surgery is a great time to get
See KYLE, page A9
BRIEF, HEALTHY REMINDERS ABOUT COVID-19 PREVENTION
B6
A3
B4
A2
B3
B1
B5
Obituaries
Opinion
Sports
Yesteryears
A6
A4
A7
B2
“We hope you will honor Min’s
heroism in a manner that protects
the most vulnerable ...” — Page B2
From Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg,
County Health Officer: Anyone
who has minor symptoms or ill-
ness, or who has had contact with
ill people, should stay home ... Get
rest and fluids, eat healthy, use
over the counter medications,
and limit contact with household
members ... Always wash your
hands and don’t touch face ...
If you are concerned about an
illness, please call your primary
care provider; do not come to the
Health Department ... Except for
high risk patients, testing is at the
discretion of your primary care
provider ... Health Department will
assist providers in case of posi-
tive cases ... To date, we have no
positive cases in our county but
likely the virus is circulating.
3
Kyle McCarthy, 13, and his family
are looking to upgrade his wheels.
The Wy’east Middle School seventh
grader is the beneficiary of funds
raised from a planned Superhero Fun
Run organized by the PE department;
a similar fun run was held in 2016,
organized by Mid Valley staff to help
purchase an ultra-light wheelchair as
recommended by his physical thera-
py team.
The run, originally scheduled for
April 4, has since been rescheduled
for May 16 due to concerns about
Photo by Trisha Walker COVID-19.
When Kyle was 8, he contracted
KYLE MCCARTHY has been wheelchair-bound since contracting EVD-68 in el-
EVD-68 — enterovirus — a rare virus
ementary school. His mother, Debbie, says the family hopes to purchase a new that left him dependent on both a
SmartDrive attachment for his wheelchair that will allow Kyle to go between wheelchair and ventilator.
manual and electric settings with a tap of his finger.
“It was a cold,” said his mother,
Debbie McCarthy. “He got it from
a cold. Even to this day, they don’t
know how to fix it or how he got it.
If you’re going to get it, you’re going
to get it.”
The last four years have seen Kyle
regain respiratory independence; he
no longer requires a ventilator. Two
months ago, he underwent a nine-
hour full spinal fusion surgery and is
now in his third month of a six-month
recovery period.
“They went from T3 to L6 and gave
him 80 percent correction,” McCarthy
said. He is not allowed to do anything
more physically demanding than arm
push.
His family is looking to purchase
a SmartDrive Max Mobility 2 attach-
ment for his wheelchair. Similar to
an electric bike, it will allow him to
go long distances and up hills with-
05105 97630
News staff writer
7
By TRISHA WALKER