OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, April 8, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Staff at a COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic at the Sage Center
in Boardman administer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on
Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
Vaccine:
Continued from Page A1
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
A biker roars onto the tarmac at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport during the 2019 “Ride with the Raiders” event that
was part of Pendleton Bike Week.
Bike: This is not the end of Bike Week
Continued from Page A1
Chute Out III flat track race
have been postponed until
(the) third week of July
2022,” the website states.
In an interview, bike
week owner Stuart Rice
said the reasoning behind
the decision was simple.
“Too many restrictions,
not enough freedoms,” he
said.
Rice said he was among
the event organizers that
met with Gov. Kate Brown’s
office recently, but he said
the staffers they spoke to
seemed more concerned
with another wave of
COVID-19 that could hit the
state in the coming months.
He said some of the concepts
that were discussed, like a
50% cap on audiences,
wouldn’t be feasible for
something like the bike
week concert.
Founded in 2015, Pend-
leton Bike Week, along
with Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest, was among
a slate of new events that
were supposed to help drive
tourism in Pendleton in the
months leading up to the
Round-Up.
A multi-day event that
featured multiple rides,
a classic rock concert, a
vendor area and more, Pend-
leton Bike Week had some
success in its early years.
As interest in bike week
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
A young “Biker in Training” stands with his dad during speeches at the Pendleton Conven-
tion Center preceding the “Ride with the Raiders” event that was part of the 2019 Pendle-
ton Bike Week.
began to f lag, Rice, the
owner of the Midway Bar
& Grill in Hermiston, took
over the event with the idea
of revamping it. Among his
ideas was moving the hub
of the rally from the Pend-
leton Convention Center
to the Round-Up Grounds
and making the event more
affordable.
But Rice has never had
a chance to put his ideas
into action. Organizers had
to cancel the 2020 event
because of COVID-19 and
are now doing it again in
2021.
As it stands now, Pendle-
ton tourism season offers a
checkered calendar.
Some events, like the
Jackalope Jamboree and the
Pendleton Cattle Barons, are
already committed to reviv-
ing their events with added
safety precautions.
Whisky Fest still has its
July 10 concert date on the
schedule, but organizers
are still waiting for more
certainty from the gover-
nor’s office before they can
feel confident in that date.
And Pendleton’s ulti-
mate event, the Round-Up,
is projecting confidence
in holding a full event in
September, although the
details of how they will
operate are still under wraps.
Despite a two-year gap,
Rice said Pendleton Bike
Week will not end perma-
nently because of the
pandemic.
The hope is that organiz-
ers can put on a full event in
2022 with the goal of putting
on a rally free of COVID
restrictions.
“We want to put on an
event that we can be proud
of,” he said.
Risk: Diligence is still needed to curb the surge
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reports some of the lowest
COVID-19 case counts since
the pandemic began. Only
25 cases were reported in
Umatilla County last week,
which is the lowest total
since last spring, according
to Joe Fiumara, the county’s
public health director.
“If you’d asked me a week
ago if we were going to be
here, I don’t think it would
have been this soon,” he said.
“We had really low (cases)
last week, and that’s what
allowed us to come in under”
moderate risk.
Fiumara said that a
number of things could be
contributing to the rela-
tively low case count,
including mask wearing,
social distancing and a
lack of community spread.
However, he added that it’s
also possible the county has
reached a level of immunity
because so many people
have contracted the virus.
Statewide surge
brings concerns
In the past two weeks,
average daily cases have
reached the highest total
statewide in seven weeks
and have increased by 54%.
Active hospitalizations have
grown 53% in that same
time frame. On Monday,
April 5, the state reported
177 active hospitalizations
— the highest total since
February.
“We are at a critical
moment in this pandemic
as we face more contagious
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A billboard along Southgate in Pendleton advises drivers of the Umatilla County’s high
coronavirus risk level on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The county will move to moderate risk
level, effective Friday, April 9, 2021.
variants of COVID-19
taking hold in our communi-
ties,” Gov. Kate Brown said
in a press release on April 6.
With cases surging state-
wide, there remains concern
among county health offi-
cials that relaxing restric-
tions could spur a case spike,
bringing the county right
back where it was before.
“It’s a reminder that,
while we’re heading in the
right direction right now, it
can turn quickly,” Fiumara
said. “People need to keep
with it so that we don’t end
up in that mode that we’ve
been before, moving back-
wards. We’ve been down
that road before and we’re
trying to avoid it.”
Murdock noted that keep-
ing local case counts down
and bringing the vaccine
to county residents will
be essential to ensure that
major events like the Pend-
leton Round-Up can be held
this summer.
“I’m horrified at the
prospect that we won’t be
in a position to have those
events,” he said, adding the
events will bring much-
needed economic relief to
the county after a year of
struggle. “We can’t go two
years without having them.”
The difference between
officials’ latest concerns
from the previous months
of the pandemic, however,
is the presence of vaccines.
With eligibility expanding
to all Oregonians on April
19, and new shipments
coming to the county each
week, Fiumara said he is
optimistic that vaccinations
can help keep Umatilla
County on track.
“Every time the rates
have dropped and things
have relaxed there wasn’t
a vaccine also being given
that provided more long-
term protection and ability
for people to continue taking
action on this,” he said.
“And we do have that now.
And we’re getting more and
more of it.”
6, that all Oregonians over the
age of 16 would be eligible to
get a COVID-19 vaccine as of
April 19 — two weeks earlier
than the state’s previous plan.
The change comes as
new variants of the virus are
spreading across the state,
prompting what Brown
has called “a race between
vaccine distribution and the
rapid spread of COVID-19
variants.”
“Today, Oregon will pass
the threshold of 2 million
vaccine doses administered,”
Brown said on April 6. “And
yet, in communities across
Oregon, COVID-19 is spread-
ing at concerning rates.”
Lindsay said although the
county has reported fewer
cases lately, surges in Morrow
County in the past have typi-
cally been delayed by a few
weeks.
“I can see the ball rolling
at us, and this is our oppor-
tunity,” she said. “We’ve got
some great help. We’ve got
federal and state help. And
as a small county that’s so
important. And if we can’t
get people to realize (the
vaccine is) safe and come get
it, then we’re back to high
and extreme and shutdowns”
more quickly.
County officials are now
reaching out to local media
outlets to bring more people
to the clinic, Lindsay said.
Health officials have also
been focusing outreach efforts
at the Hispanic community
— who have been hit hard-
est by the pandemic — by
using Spanish radio stations
and social media platforms
to inform them of the clinics,
Lindsay said.
The county has also been
reaching out to local food
processing facilities and agri-
cultural workplaces, where
Action:
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resources for the project.
The film focuses on the
lives of four characters —
Craig-Allen’s character,
Anna, a Native American girl
in the foster care system and
her new foster mother, Lucy,
and Dekin’s character, Boyd,
a white boy with low intellect
but a positive attitude and his
new foster mother, Peg. The
four go out into the wilds of
Idaho for a weekend of hiking
and horseback riding. In the
process they each face their
own senses of longing for love
and meaningful relationships.
The movie isn’t necessar-
ily about the foster system or
being Native American, but
those themes play into the
story.
Director Jonny Lewis,
playing with contrasts besides
the two teen characters’
personalities, cast Craig-Al-
len, of Umatilla and Nez
Perce heritage, to pair up with
Carney, who is white.
“We don’t usually see
Native Americans in film or
TV unless it’s about a Native
American story. But why not
just show a Native as a regu-
lar person like everyone else,”
Lewis said.
Craig-Allen said she and
Lewis have been doing back-
ground work on what it’s like
to be a foster child.
“I have seen my friends
and other people around me
in foster care and their expe-
rience,” she said,.
In addition to her own
interactions, Craig-Allen
said the director, Lewis,
has done what she called
“deep research” into the
infection has been known
to spread rapidly, to encour-
age workers there to get the
shot. Lindsay said getting
the single-shot Johnson &
Johnson vaccine is especially
important for workers who
cannot take time off from
work.
“That’s who we wanted
to get to with the one-shot
opportunity,” she said.
The county is one of the
few in Oregon that have
received large shipments
of the Johnson & Johnson
vaccines due to the compa-
ny’s recent distribution issues,
Lindsay said. She added that
the “one dose option may see
some delays over the next few
weeks to a month.”
This month’s clinics are
being run by county health
officials, the Oregon Health
Authority and the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency. The federal agency
has provided support in the
form of staffing and facili-
ties to prepare vaccines at the
clinic.
The Morrow County clin-
ics are one of three that are
receiving assistance from
FEMA nationwide, and the
only one happening on the
West Coast, Lindsay said.
Anybody over the age of
18 is eligible to receive a free
shot at the clinics, Lindsay
said, and appointments are not
required. She described oper-
ations as “quick and easy and
we have had minimal lines.”
The first effort in Board-
man concluded on April 6 at
the SAGE Center.
The second effort will be
held at AC Houghton Elemen-
tary School in Irrigon on
Friday, April 9, from 1-7 p.m.
and Saturday, April 10, from
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The third will be at the
Morrow County Fairgrounds
in Heppner on Monday, April
12, from 1-7 p.m. and Tues-
day, April 13, from 7 a.m. to
1 p.m.
foster care system.
“Dekin’s and my charac-
ters are two examples of kids
in foster care,” she said.
The film is not about
what’s wrong with the foster
system, or the troubles of
Native Americans, Lewis
said.
“We all know what’s
wrong with this world, but I
wanted people to feel a little
better about life after watch-
ing our movie. I confess, it’s
a feel-good movie,” he said.
Comedy, like life, Lewis
said, is all about making
mistakes.
“But if you truly care
about the people you’re with,
forgiveness and understand-
ing poke their noses through
from time to time,” he said.
Lewis, who hails from
Michigan, has made a couple
dozen short films, but this
is his first full-length film.
Besides help from the Allens,
he is working with Jeanette
Yoffe, a former foster care
social worker, who has been
advising on the film.
Yoffe, a former foster
child, will be playing a social
worker in the film.
Though Lewis is bringing
a small but professional crew,
he invited locals to help with
the production, like 15-year-
old First Nations girl Kiya
Bruno, to work as part of the
crew.
“Kiya auditioned for the
role of Anna, and didn’t get
the part, but she mentioned
that when she’s on a film set,
she’s always checking out the
camera angles,” he said. “That
told me she’s sharp enough to
help out on our crew, so she’s
going to be our script super-
visor. That’s a big responsi-
bility, so of course we’ll help
her with it.”