OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
East Oregonian
A7
Testing: ‘As with everybody, there is an ebb and flow’
Continued from Page A1
to meager resources, fund-
ing and systematic issues in
health care systems.
“By no means do we want
COVID to affect us in the
way it has greatly devastated
other tribes in this country,”
she said.
Since April 23, when Yel-
lowhawk began in-house
testing for COVID-19, offi-
cials have reported 176 pos-
itive cases out of 2,114 com-
pleted tests, according to
data from the health center.
One tribal member has died
carrying the virus.
“As with everybody,
there is an ebb and flow,”
Sampson-Samuels
said.
“But we’re still expecting
things to come up based on
Thanksgiving
gatherings
that may have occurred.”
The testing event came
in response to a slight surge
in coronavirus cases seen on
the reservation in mid-No-
vember, which raised con-
cerns among officials as to
whether to close Wildhorse.
Yellowhawk reported an all-
time high of 10 new cases
of COVID-19 in a day in
mid-November, according to
Sampson-Samuels.
The testing event was ini-
tially intended to solely tar-
get Wildhorse staff, but offi-
cials broadened their efforts
to the public when they real-
ized they had enough staff
Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center/Contributed photo
Cars pass through a drive-thru COVID-19 testing event organized by Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center at Wildhorse Resort & Casino on Dec. 3, 2020.
and resources to do so. Word
about the event spread, and
residents from as far as
Baker City and Boardman
arrived to see whether they
had contracted the virus,
Sampson-Samuels said.
“As people heard about
it, they wanted to come over
and get tested,” she said.
“And I think that’s a really
good indication that people
are wanting to know whether
they’re positive or negative.”
Despite efforts like the
testing event at Wildhorse,
Sampson-Samuels said the
health center is experiencing
challenges similar to Uma-
tilla County’s health depart-
ment where residents are
refusing to cooperate with
contact tracers, making it
likely COVID-19 cases are
going unreported.
Sampson-Samuels said it
is “extremely discouraging”
when community members
neglect the advice of public
health officials.
“We’ve got people we try
to contact who choose to not
answer the phone, choose
not to receive the informa-
tion we’re trying to give
them and want to continue
their lives normally, but are
blatantly putting the greater
population, their family,
friends at risk and continu-
ing the spread,” she said.
“And then we’re that much
further away from going
back to normal.”
Yellowhawk
currently
employs about 15 contact
tracers who are monitoring
about 100 people who either
are COVID positive or have
been in contact with some
who tested positive. Yellow-
hawk was monitoring 22
active cases of COVID-19 as
of Friday, Dec. 11, according
to Sampson-Samuels.
The high amount of
direct contacts on tribal land
is what makes efforts like
this testing event so import-
ant, Sampson-Samuels said.
The event was so efficient
that health officials are plan-
ning to hold a second one on
Thursday, Dec. 17, focusing
specifically on tribal resi-
dents. The Oregon Health
Authority is also planning to
hold a mass testing event for
county residents in Pendle-
ton on Dec. 30.
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press, File
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris holds hands with Pres-
ident-elect Joe Biden and her husband Doug Emhoff as
they celebrate Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.
Votes: Biden/Harris
win the expected
306 electoral votes
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Christmas lights adorn the house and yard of Craig Dircksen and Lori Smith on West Johns Avenue in Hermiston on Thursday,
Dec. 10, 2020.
Lights: $250 gift card for the best lights in county
Continued from Page A1
Smith, Dircksen’s girl-
friend, said even though
it’s a lot of work, the pay-
off is the happiness it brings
to people who come by and
watch the show. In past
years, they just let it spread
by word of mouth, but this
year they created a “Mira-
cle on Johns Avenue” Face-
book page, where they pro-
mote not only the light show,
but also encourage people to
pick up some movie theater
popcorn or takeout from a
local restaurant to eat in the
car while watching.
“It does require a lot
of work, but it’s definitely
something people need this
year, and so we wanted to do
a little extra to get the word
out,” Smith said.
She said her parents
used to set up a Christmas
light display in Stanfield
that required an electrician
to install an extra electri-
cal box and ran up the elec-
tricity bill significantly. The
new LED pixels that Smith
and Dircksen are using are
far more energy efficient,
however, and Smith said
people are always surprised
to hear that their electricity
bill only went up by “maybe
$30” last December.
Dircksen said he appreci-
ated how patient the neigh-
bors have been with the
extra traffic each night. He
said his favorite part is when
a vehicle rolls up with the
windows open and he can
hear laughs and squeals
from excited children inside.
Their home isn’t the only
Christmas lights display in
Umatilla County worth see-
ing. Hermiston’s Parks and
Recreation department has
been collecting submissions
of impressive Christmas
light displays in the county,
adding them to a public map
online at bit.ly/lightupthe-
town-umatillacounty that
now includes more than 40
displays. The department
plans to host a vote on the
best display, with a $250 gift
card for the winner.
Beyond homemade light
displays, area residents can
also visit the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center’s
Festival of Lights at 1730
E. Airport Road in Herm-
iston. Guests can currently
walk through the display on
Fridays and Saturdays from
5-11 p.m. or drive through
on Thursdays and Sundays
from 5-10 p.m. Entrance is
by donation, to benefit the
Hermiston Rotary Club.
In Boardman, the SAGE
Center at 101 Olson Road
is hosting its annual musi-
cal light display every night
in December from 5-10 p.m.
Visitors can enjoy the dis-
play, set to music, in their
vehicles while tuned in to
106.1 FM.
Snow: Floods less likely with smooth transition to spring
Continued from Page A1
Canada, bringing arctic
air with it, Callihan said
the region could see more
snowstorms.
“It’s bound to happen at
some point,” he said, add-
ing that it will also depend
on whether an arctic sys-
tem would be able to pene-
trate the Oregon-Washing-
ton border.
The other factor in snow-
fall counts is what it will
look like once temperatures
rise in the spring.
The Pendleton area has
been battered for two con-
secutive years with consis-
tent flooding.
In 2019, the McKay Dam
was overwhelmed with rain
and snowmelt to the point
that runoff flooded McKay
Creek and some of the
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Snow blankets the Blue Mountains on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.
neighborhoods around it.
Flooding was even worse in
February when the Umatilla
River was inundated with
water, causing residential
displacement and significant
property damage in Pend-
leton, the Umatilla Indian
Reservation and the Echo
and Milton-Freewater areas.
Callihan said it’s difficult
to project potential flood-
ing conditions this far in
advance, but one thing that
portends well for the region
has been the relative stabil-
ity of weather conditions so
far this season.
Callihan said it’s a good
sign the region has eased
into winter conditions rather
than a sudden plummet. If
the area gradually transi-
tions to spring the same way
it is transitioning into win-
ter, Callihan said it could
make the cycles of snow and
rain that led to the flooding
less likely.
The area has a ways to go
before it exceeds historical
norms.
According to the U.S.
Department of Agricul-
ture’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service, the
Umatilla, Walla Walla and
Willow basins’ snow water
equivalent levels are 87% of
their normal levels.
Continued from Page A1
The Biden-Harris ticket
won 56.5%, and the Repub-
lican ticket of President
Donald Trump and Vice
President Mike Pence,
40.4%. Three minor-party
candidates won most of the
rest of the votes. Oregon
has voted for Democrats
for president since 1988.
Also taking part Dec.
14 were Michelle Teed,
the acting director of the
state Elections Division,
and Chief Justice Martha
Walters, who swore in the
seven electors.
The electors are: Carla
“KC” Hanson of Port-
land, Democratic Party
of Oregon chair; Pete Lee
of Portland, state party
vice chair; Larry Tay-
lor of Astoria, 1st District
committee chair; Nathan
Soltz of Medford, 2nd Dis-
trict chair; Leigha LaFleur
of Portland, 3rd District
chair; Laura Gillpatrick of
Eugene, 4th District chair,
and Sean Nikas of Salem,
5th District chair.
Before the official
vote, Hanson released this
statement:
“The 306 Electoral
College votes won by the
Biden/Harris ticket across
the country is a culmi-
nation of years of work
done by Democratic vol-
unteers, activists, orga-
nizers, staff, and regular
Oregonians and Ameri-
cans who responded to the
outcome of the 2016 elec-
tion with a determination
to end Trump’s dark vision
for our nation.
“Joe Biden received a
record 81 million votes —
winning decisive states by
tens of thousands of votes,
and the popular vote by a
historic 7 million votes.
Trump’s incessant whin-
ing and Republicans’ friv-
olous lawsuits cannot and
will not overturn the will
of voters.
“While I’m honored to
take part in today’s cere-
monies, the Electoral Col-
lege is a relic of a bygone
era, a reminder of our
nation’s racist beginnings,
and over 230 years later
remains a shameful ves-
tige of slavery within our
democracy. And as we’ve
been reminded multi-
ple times over the last 20
years, the Electoral Col-
lege can lead to undem-
ocratic results where the
candidate who receives the
most votes is not the candi-
date who ultimately wins.
“We look forward to the
day when the necessary
number of states join Ore-
gon in the National Popu-
lar Vote Interstate Com-
pact, allowing us to live
up to our democratic ide-
als and elect our president
and vice president by pop-
ular vote.
“Today, we’ve begun
the final chapter of the
2020 election. And while
it’s important to celebrate
our victories, we’re already
looking toward what we
must do to address the
challenges we face in the
days, months, and years
ahead. From COVID relief
and economic recovery, to
tackling the climate cri-
sis, to mending many of
the rifts that have emerged
in our democracy and
our communities, we are
stronger because we face
these challenges together.”
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.EastOregonian.com