A6
STATE
East Oregonian
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Oregon expecting State makes in-person instruction easier
New guidance
$38 million in
lowers COVID-19
bar for schools
federal stimulus
vaccine funds
By ELIZABETH MILLER
Oregon Public Broadcasting
By JES BURNS
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon
is expecting to receive
a large chunk of federal
stimulus money this week
to help pay for its COVID-
19 vaccination program.
Congress approved
$3 billion for states to
use for vaccine activities
under the supplemental
pandemic stimulus bill
that went into law in late
December. Oregon’s share
of those funds is $38.1
million, although only a
portion of that is expected
to be distributed this week.
“Particularly now, it
is crucial that states and
communities have the
resources they need to
conduct testing, and to
distribute and administer
safe, high-quality COVID-
19 vaccines safely and
equitably,” CDC Director
Robert Redfi eld said in a
statement by the agency.
The money can be used
to promote and track as
well as to distribute and
administer the vaccines.
T he lat ter is where
Oregon’s vaccination
program has bogged down.
The state has struggled
to vaccinate large numbers
of people, although by late
last week it was able to
hit the 12,000 doses-per-
day vaccination target
put forth by Gov. Kate
Brown. Oregon Health
Authority Chief Medi-
cal Offi cer Dana Hargu-
nani cited challenges with
vaccine distribution as
well as navigating sched-
uling, physical distancing
at vaccination sites and
the observation period
required immediately after
the vaccine is adminis-
tered.
OHA Director Patrick
Allen told OPB’s “Think
Out Loud” on Jan. 15 that
the federal money would
go towards staffing and
backfi lling positions that
have been reassigned to the
vaccination effort.
“Much of that money
gets shared with local
public health and commu-
n it y-based orga n i za-
tions and others to do that
work,” he said. “Hospitals
have been doing a lot of
work on their own dimes
that we’ll need to be able
to pay for.”
OHA will also use the
money on public outreach
promoting the vaccine.
As of Jan. 15, OHA
reported 15,789 Orego-
nians have been fully
vaccinated (receiving both
necessary doses for maxi-
mum protection) with
another nearly 139,000
people having received
the fi rst dose. But plans to
expand the pool of Orego-
nians eligible for vacci-
nation have been stymied
by recent revelations that
states would not receive
an expected increase in
vaccine shipments from
the national stockpile
— because there is no
national stockpile. Oregon
was expecting 200,000
additional doses of the
COVID-19 vaccine.
Allen said the supply of
vaccines from the federal
government is now the
biggest limiting factor to
Oregon’s vaccination push.
The stimulus bill also
provides $243 million to
Oregon for COVID-19
testing, contact tracing,
surveillance and contain-
ment efforts.
SA LEM — School
districts around the state had
been waiting on the Tuesday,
Jan. 19, update to Oregon’s
“Ready Schools, Safe Learn-
ers” guidance.
The new guidance lowers
the bar for districts to bring
students back to the class-
room for in-person instruc-
tion.
Health and safety proto-
cols, like wearing face
masks and learning in
cohorts, remain required by
the Oregon Department of
Education. But metrics for
reopening remain advisory.
That continues Gov. Kate
Brown’s move last month
to leave fi nal decisions on
reopening schools to local
districts.
“We all know that in-per-
son instruction provides
our children and families
with access to an equitable
education,” said ODE Direc-
tor Colt Gill in a release
announcing the updated
guidance.
“Schools are a center
of services to students and
families, offering nutritious
meals, access to social-emo-
tional and mental health
supports, as well as physical
health services. This guid-
ance provides new resources
to mitigate the spread of
COVID-19 and better meet
students’ needs in this time.”
The state’s new guid-
ance says districts should
still consider community
case counts before reopen-
ing — but lowers the bar for
COVID-19 case rates recom-
mended for hybrid learn-
ing, especially for Oregon’s
youngest students.
Now, schools are advised
to begin reopening for
“elementary on-site and
hybrid transition” when
county case counts per
100,000 are 350 or below.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Sunridge Middle School teacher Katie Bodewig leads a math lesson from her classroom in
Pendleton on Sept. 9, 2020.
The previous metrics set the
metrics for a transition to
“limited in-person instruc-
tion” at 200 or below. County
test positivity requirements
have changed too.
These updated advisory
metrics align to recommen-
dations from the Harvard
Global Health Institute,
according to the Oregon
Depar tment of Educa-
tion. These relaxed metrics
allow in-person elemen-
tary instruction with higher
COVID-19 case rates than
previous metrics.
ODE said the changes
align with recommendations
from the Harvard Global
Health Institute.
According to weekly
metrics reported by the
Oregon Health Author-
ity, these metrics allow for
reopening in several Oregon
counties, including Mult-
nomah County.
Portland Public Schools,
the largest district in Mult-
nomah County and Oregon,
previously announced a
plan to offer limited in-per-
son instruction for some
students.
The new g uidelines
received a “mixed” recep-
tion from ED 300, a parents’
group that’s been pushing
the state to adopt less rigid
guidelines and to allow
more local control in school
reopening decisions.
On one hand, the group
said, “Parents are encour-
aged by the revisions that
permit the state’s youngest
learners to return to in-per-
son learning in both hybrid
and full-time models,” in
a statement provided by
co-founder Rene Gonzalez.
But the approach to older
students has the parent
group arguing that the last
10 months out of school
has already harmed the
academic development and
mental health of thousands
of students.
“We continue to be very
concerned that the state
of Oregon is writing off a
generation of middle-school-
ers and high-schoolers
particularly in larger coun-
ties,” Gonzalez said, refer-
ring to the higher case
counts and greater diffi-
culty of reopening in more
populous counties. Gonza-
lez and others in the parents’
group are advocating for not
just a resumption of instruc-
tion for older students, but
a return of sports, activities
and academic counseling.
For schools that choose
to reopen for hybrid learn-
ing despite high case counts,
they must offer access to
on-site COVID testing for
symptomatic students and
staff, plus those with known
exposure to COVID-19.
ODE recommends a
14-day window before
retur ning to in-person
instruction.
“ T h is w ill suppor t
district planning, family
communication, and a
more gradual—rather than
rushed— opening,” accord-
ing to the guidance.
In a message to fami-
lies on Jan. 19, Beaverton
School District asked for
time in allowing staff to
consider ODE’s guidance.
They also addressed frus-
trations from parents seeing
other school districts — both
around the state and nation-
ally — reopen. In addition,
district offi cials cited a lack
of liability protection around
reopening.
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