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145th Year, No. 19
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REGONIAN
NOVEMBER 28-29, 2020
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COVID-19
Community
Fellowship
Dinner serves
1,100 meals
Brown expands
restrictions on
21 counties
New four-level risk assessment
plan to be implemented after
current freeze ends
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — A small
army of volunteers descended
on Hermiston High School on
Thanksgiving Day to help serve
roughly 1,100 meals for the
annual Community Fellowship
Dinner.
Community Fellowship Din-
ner has been planning its holi-
day meals since at least August,
working to navigate the potenti-
ality of a shutdown on indoor din-
ing or other limits to gatherings.
“We planned for a shutdown,”
said Jan Cassens, the kitchen
manager and vice-chair of the
Community Fellowship Dinner.
In addition to navigating
restrictions on gatherings and
dine-in service, Community
Fellowship Dinner prepared for
a potential increase in demand
for food with fewer people trav-
eling and economic hardships
resulting from the COVID-19
pandemic.
“We increased by about a
third,” said Cassens. “Last year
we did 945 meals and this year
we planned for 1,500.”
With 1,500 meals comes a
hearty supply of food and vol-
unteerism. Cassens said she and
the kitchen crew began cooking
11 days before Thanksgiving and
prepared 68, 20- to 24-pound tur-
keys, 36 cases of mashed pota-
toes, 30 cases of corn and 1,500
dinner rolls, among numerous
other dishes.
“It’s rewarding in its own
way,” she said. “It’s rewarding
to be able to see so many people
working hard and to be able to
feed so many people.”
According to Cassens, most
of the unserved meals will be
donated to local charities.
Cassens, who has helped with
the dinner for the last 18 years,
said the kitchen team spent a lot
of time thinking about how to
package the meals so that people
wouldn’t run into issues reheat-
ing them.
“We wanted to put the gravy
in with the rest of the food, but
the containers for it weren’t
microwavable,” said Cassens.
“We put together a tray that peo-
ple could just microwave and a
See Dinner, Page A11
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
S
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
If the St. Anthony Hospital ICU reaches capacity, this bed and others in the day surgery area will be-
come available.
ON SHAKY GROUND
Off icials say there are ample beds, but the
recent COVID-19 surge has them worried
By ANTONIO SIERRA and
BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
U
MATILLA COUNTY
— If there’s been a bright
spot for Umatilla County
during the COVID-19
pandemic, it has been its
ability to keep the num-
ber of patients in hospital beds
low.
With hospitalizations for
COVID-19 rapidly growing
across the state, that trend may be
tested in the coming weeks.
Both of Umatilla County’s
hospitals — St. Anthony Hospital
in Pendleton and Good Shepherd
Medical Center in Hermiston —
avoided making Oregon Health
Authority’s list of hospitals with
10 COVID-19 patients or more
in its most recent report, but both
have 1-9 patients who have been
diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Emily Smith, St. Anthony’s
marketing director, wrote in an
email that the hospital’s 30 beds
were not yet at capacity, but the
facility had seen 4-7 COVID-19
inpatients per day since Nov. 15.
Messages seeking comment
from Good Shepherd President
Brian Sims and Communica-
tions Director Caitlin Cozad were
unreturned as of press time.
Hospitals across Oregon have
been stretched thin by the recent
surge in coronavirus cases. Since
Oct. 21, the number of Orego-
nians hospitalized with COVID-
19 has increased from 121 to 521,
according to an Oregonian/Ore-
gonLive database tracking pub-
lic health data throughout the
pandemic.
In the past local hospitals
have relied on transferring some
COVID-19 patients to hospi-
tals in Portland, Tri-Cities and
Walla Walla, Washington, for
better or more specifi c treat-
ment. But should those hospi-
tals become full with their own
patients, Smith said St. Anthony
is prepared to expand its transfer
radius to 300 miles.
Should St. Anthony encounter
patient capacity issues of its own,
Smith said the hospital would
suspend elective surgeries to
open more beds. Some hospitals
in Oregon are already doing this
as cases rise.
The specter of a strained hos-
pital system is also catching the
attention of top offi cials through-
out the county.
Umatilla County Public
ALEM — With COVID-19 infec-
tion rates rising rapidly in Oregon,
Gov. Kate Brown said on Wednes-
day, Nov. 25, that at least 21 coun-
ties will stay in a modifi ed version of
the two-week “freeze” through most of
December.
The limits on gatherings, busi-
nesses and services put in place Nov.
18 by executive order were set to end
on Dec. 3 in all but Multnomah County.
Instead, during a news conference on
Nov. 25, Brown announced a new four-
level risk assessment plan will be put
in place after the current freeze ends.
Umatilla County is on the list of 21
counties considered at “extreme risk”
for COVID-19. Morrow County is
listed as “moderate risk.”
Under the new system, which moves
away from the reopening phases, each
county will instead be rated at one
of four risk levels, and told what is
allowed and what is barred for the next
two weeks. The status will be reviewed
by the Oregon Health Department and
counties can move on or off the list.
Counties will move incrementally,
which means a county on the “Extreme
Risk” list would go through two-week
periods at “High Risk” and “Moderate
Risk” before reaching “Low Risk.”
Extreme risk restrictions
Gatherings with people outside of
your household will be limited to a
maximum of six people with a recom-
mended limit of two households.
Restaurants, bars, and other eat-
ing and drinking establishments will
be limited to a maximum of 50 people
for outdoor dining only, with only six
people per table. Takeout is strongly
encouraged.
See Shaky ground, Page A11
See Restrictions, Page A11
‘Our staff takes a lot of pride in their jobs’
Umatilla County
public health director
concerned cases may
be going unreported
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Coronavirus
cases are once again rising on
average in Umatilla County,
according to the county’s pub-
lic health director and epidemiolo-
gist, as reported infections, deaths
and hospitalizations reach record
heights elsewhere in Oregon.
Since mid-October, average
daily cases reported by health offi -
cials has increased from 13 cases
per day to its current rate of 33
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign along Interstate 84 near Pendleton advises drivers of COVID-19
precautions on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020.
cases per day, according to data
provided by the Umatilla County
Public Health Department.
Though case counts have only
reached about half of what was
reported in Umatilla County over
the summer, Joe Fiumara, the coun-
ty’s public health director, said he is
concerned that cases may be going
unreported as residents are declin-
ing to work with contact tracers to
track the spread of infection.
“We’re back to seeing more
folks who aren’t answering the
phone or are refusing to be inter-
viewed,” Fiumara said. “If every-
body answered their phone, we
probably wouldn’t be where we’re
at with this number of cases.”
As coronavirus cases surged to
record heights throughout Uma-
tilla County in July, 357 people
with confi rmed or presumed cases
of the virus were unable to be con-
tacted and interviewed by health
offi cials, according to Fiumara.
That’s nearly 25% of the county’s
See Unreported, Page A11
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