WEEKEND EDITION
THE WEEK
IN PHOTOS
CLASS 2A BASKETBALL
TOURNAMENT CANCELLATION
HITS PENDLETON HARD
THE BACK PAGE, A10
SPORTS, B1
HIGHWAY 30 COULD BE
RENAMED TO HONOR
OREGON VETERANS
NORTHWEST, A2
MARCH 6-7, 2021
145th Year, No. 60
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
Brown orders schools to reopen by mid-April
Governor says
science is clear that
schools present low
risk of transmission
By JADE MCDOWELL AND
BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown announced on Friday, March
5, that she was directing all Oregon
schools to offer hybrid or full in-per-
son instruction to all elementary
students by March 29 and all sixth-
12th grade students by April 19.
She said the science is “very,
very clear” that with proper safety
measures in place, there is low
risk of COVID-19 transmission in
schools.
“Thanks to the smart choices
Oregonians have made, our
COVID-19 numbers have declined,”
Brown said in a statement. “All but
six counties now meet or exceed
Oregon’s advisory metrics for a
return to in-person, hybrid learning
for all K-12 grade levels. And, fi ve
of those counties meet the advisory
metrics for a return to elementary
school.”
School districts may still offer
comprehensive distance learning to
students who wish to remain fully
online, the news release stated,
and it will be an option for when
“community transmission rates of
COVID-19 warrant a transition, as
determined by state or local public
health directives.” Offering at least
some in-person instruction will
no longer be optional for districts
whose COVID-19 numbers meet
state guidelines for reopening,
however.
According to a letter Brown sent
to the directors of the Oregon Health
Authority and Oregon Depart-
ment of Education, a majority of
Oregon students have not returned
to the classroom yet. Brown put
the number of students getting at
least some in-person instruction at
160,105 students — less than 30% of
the state’s total student population,
according to ODE data.
“I am using this phased approach
because, as we have seen from
school districts that have returned to
in-person instruction successfully,
schools will return our youngest
learners to school fi rst, and apply the
lessons learned from that implemen-
tation process to reopening middle
and high school buildings,” Brown
wrote.
The announcement comes 10
weeks since Brown relaxed the
state’s role in school reopening
decisions. On Dec. 23, 2020, the
See Schools, Page A9
COVID-19 VACCINE
Typo
sparks
vaccine
confusion
Umatilla County to
receive fewer doses
than expected, again
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Last week,
Umatilla County health offi cials
received an email from the Oregon
Health Authority promising coun-
ties across Oregon a sharp uptick in
their weekly allocated COVID-19
vaccines — an increase from 700
doses to 2,400, including 1,600 more
fi rst doses of the Moderna vaccine.
With the new doses, Umatilla
County health officials hoped
to revise plans and speed up the
upcoming vaccination schedule
after shipments and events had been
delayed time and time again.
On Monday, March 1, however,
Joe Fiumara, the county’s public
health director, received some
unfortunate news: The increase was
a one-time shipment.
“Turns out it was a typo,”
Fiumara said of the email from the
state. “And 700 of those doses was a
one-time boost because our per-cap-
ita rates were low. We’re expecting
900 (first doses) next week, not
1,600.”
In the email, state officials
said nine counties would receive
a one-time increased shipment of
doses to improve their vaccina-
tion rates. However, according to
See Vaccine, Page A9
EO SPOTLIGHT
‘CRISIS LEVEL’
Pendleton housing hits
extreme seller’s market;
Hermiston invests in
infrastructure to spur
new housing projects
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON —
When the Umatilla
River f loods hit
Pe nd let on i n
2020, hundreds
of residents were
rendered temporarily homeless.
The Oregon Legislature
eventually stepped in to provide
millions of dollars worth of rapid
rehousing money to organiza-
tions like the Community Action
Program of East Central Oregon
to help displaced residents fi nd a
new place to live.
But the nonprofi t struggled to
fi nd homes for the fl ood survivors
in Pendleton’s existing housing
market, according to CAPECO
Chief Executive Offi cer Paula
Hall. There were few hous-
ing options on the market, and
even available homes were often
unaffordable for the displaced
residents, many of whom came
from Riverview Mobile Home
Estates. Kate Gonsalves, a
senior communications coordi-
nator with Oregon Housing &
Community Services, said the
rapid rehousing money was soon
repurposed for a different Pend-
leton housing project.
Pendleton and communi-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sale pending sign is bathed in light from the setting sun on Thursday, March 4, 2021, in Pendleton.
ties across Eastern Oregon have
been plagued with tight housing
markets for years, but people in
the local real estate industry are
saying the COVID-19 pandemic
has only increased the disparity
between supply and demand at
all levels of the market.
COVID-19 further
tightens the market
The real estate industry
measures the health of a hous-
ing market by looking at the
number of months it would take
to sell all properties currently
for sale at the average monthly
pace, according to Texas A&M
University.
Jef Farley, a longtime Pend-
leton real estate agent, said a
balanced market is fi ve months.
At the end of 2020, Pendleton
had less than a month’s worth of
stock.
While home buying has
been aided by low interest rates
on home loans, Farley said the
pandemic-induced rise in tele-
commuting has led to more
people interested in living in
Pendleton.
Pendleton has become an
extreme seller’s market.
“We are at a crisis level,”
Farley said.
Real estate agents aren’t the
only ones noticing this trend.
At the beginning of the
pandemic, Genna Banica, an
escrow manager with Pioneer
Title & Escrow in Pendleton,
said she initially worried that
work was going to slow down
as people looked to stay in their
current homes as the virus
spread.
“We didn’t know it was going
to be so busy,” she said.
Even as the coronavirus has
begun to recede in 2021, Banica
said coming into work early,
staying late and skipping lunches
is still the norm to deal with the
high volume of work. Banica
said she recently dealt with 24
requests for refinancing and
new home purchases over four
See Crisis, Page A9
Houses line the North Hill in
Pendleton on Friday, March 5, 2021.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian