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East Oregonian
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Lasater has been at the fore-
front of COVID-19 vaccination
efforts in some of Umatilla Coun-
ty’s smallest towns — Helix,
Weston and Athena. Collectively,
those three communities have a
vaccination rate of just more than
50%, according to county health
data.
Lasater estimates she has
vaccinated nearly 300 people.
That’s nearly 30% of all vaccines
delivered in those three commu-
nities, according to county health
data.
A registered nurse at East
Umatilla Fire and Rescue and
former employee of the Umatilla
County Public Health Depart-
ment, Lasater volunteered to
bring vaccines to the towns
in northeast Umatilla County,
taking the reins from the health
department in May. Working
in ambulance services, she has
witnessed patients fall victim
to COVID-19, which motivated
her to help bring vaccines to her
community.
“When I transport a patient to
the ER,” she said, “and (health
care workers) are stressed and
full to the brim with patients and
they can’t hardly breathe because
they have so many things going
on, it makes me want to do more
prehospital to help reduce the
number of patients that are hospi-
talized. And there’s ways we can
do that.”
Lasater has traveled to
people’s homes for appointments,
providing immunizations and
vaccine information. She’s spear-
headed clinics at elementary
schools, local pools and commu-
nity halls, at times working alone
or on her days off. Sometimes,
few people show up. Lately, the
turnout has improved.
“She’s made so many sacri-
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While children can get ill
from COVID-19, they rarely get
severely sick, Gill said. But they
can bring the infections home
with them and spread it to at-risk
people such as the elderly and
immunocompromised.
Brown confirmed her order for
mandatory vaccinations, saying
that staff who are not fully vacci-
nated cannot have contact with
students or other school employ-
ees.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state’s
epidemiologist, said the Oregon
Health Authority was look-
ing into an 8.8% increase in the
number of new COVID-19 infec-
tions in Marion County.
The uptick comes as the
Oregon State Fair in Salem has
just concluded. Brown had ordered
that crowded outdoor events have
mandatory masking rules, but tele-
vision reports from the fair showed
the majority of those inside were
not wearing masks.
The rules are also in place
for the Pendleton Round-Up,
which begins Saturday, Sept. 11
in Umatilla County. Brown said
she hope fair organizers would
follow state rules and venues that
violated the rule could face state
sanctions.
She said she hoped attendees
Redistricting:
Continued from Page A1
“It’s sort of like a balloon,” he
said. “If you compress one part of it,
it pops out some place else.”
Originally elected to House
District 59 in 2000, Smith is now
participating in his third redis-
tricting cycle. From his home in
Heppner, Smith not only has repre-
sented constituents in Umatilla and
Morrow counties, but also Gilliam,
Sherman, Grant, Union Wallowa,
Baker, Crook and Jefferson coun-
ties, depending on which district he
was drawn into.
Smith warned that redistricting
was among the most political topics
in Salem and whatever was on the
table now likely was to change
before it was done.
“What the public is seeing today
is not what it’s going to see tomor-
row,” he said.
Current boundaries
Since 2011, Pendleton and Herm-
iston have been in different Oregon
House districts.
District 57 covers the northwest
portion of the county, including
Hermiston, Umatilla and Stan-
field, extending far enough west to
cover Milton-Freewater. The rest of
District 57 is based west of Umatilla
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Registered nurse and firefighter Rachelle Lasater draws up a dose of
the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021, at
the East Umatilla County Ambulance Area Health District in Athena.
fices with so many clinics,” said
East Umatilla Fire and Rescue
Chief Dave Baty, adding that
Lasater often will set aside six
hours in a day for vaccinations.
“When others on our crew
see that she’s setting up another
clinic, they’re checking their
schedule to see if they can help
out,” Baty said. “She’s the head
of the spear, and there’s a lot of
people following her. Sometimes
you have to break the trail, and
after that, they’ll follow.”
She’s also seen the vaccine
become more and more polit-
icized in the communities she
serves. And she said state and
federal efforts to improve vacci-
nation rates, like incentives and
mandates, could be driving more
people in rural communities
away from getting the jab.
“If I could have them rewind,
and if my voice meant anything
to anyone in the upper parts of
the state, I would say, ‘Don’t
do that,’” she said. “If you want
more people to get the vaccine,
don’t coerce them with money
and stuff, because that makes
stuff seem suspicious. I think
that’s what’s happening around
here. People are unsure.”
COV I D -19 vacci nat ion
rates in Umatilla County have
increased gradually over the
last month, but remain sixth
lowest in the state at just under
50%. Meanwhile, the county
has reported record-breaking
COVID-19 case counts, hospi-
talizations and deaths during the
past month amid the delta crisis
that has rocked Oregon’s health
care system.
“It’s not as intimate when
Portland tells Pendleton or
Athena this is how you have to
do things,” she said of vaccines,
adding, “I think it’s more inti-
mate in these rural communities.
They trust who they trust because
that’s how it is out here. People
just know what they know and
trust who they’ve been going to.
And if some bigger person comes
in and says, ‘No, that’s not right,
you have to do it this way,’ It’s
hard for people to let go of that.”
Lasater also was reluctant
to get the shot, but decided she
will wear masks and be aware of
social distancing and other ways
to prevent getting or spreading
the virus.
“Let ‘er Buck,’ Brown said,
using the Round-Up’s signature
saying.
Brown has attended the
Round-Up in prior years and even
rode a horse in the parade. She did
not go to the state fair and will
not be in Pendleton next week out
of concern for “public spread” of
the virus.
lead forecaster, in a statement
accompanying the Sept. 2 report.
The OHSU model showed
that with current mask usage and
other safeguards, cases would
drop back to pre-surge levels of
under 200 hospitalizations by the
last two weeks in October.
If the trendline continued, the
number of hospitalizations state-
wide could be under a dozen by
mid-December.
The next OHSU forecast is due
Sept. 9.
Top of the spike
Trending down
Major public health forecasts
indicated for the first time last
week that the top of the spike may
have been reached.
The growth in infections may
have peaked as early as Aug. 25 in
Oregon, according to the widely
followed COVID-19 monitoring
and forecasting of The Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation
at the University of Washington.
The Oregon Health & Science
University forecast last week that
hospitalizations for COVID-19
was expected to peak at an esti-
mated 1,208 patients on Sept.
6. The latest OHA report, from
Sept. 7, showed 1,140 COVID-19
patients in hospitals, down from
1,172 reported on Sept. 3.
“We’re in a dire state, but I
am seeing some signs that this
is going to level out in the next
week,” said Dr. Peter Graven, the
The World Health Organiza-
tion said last week that the delta
variant wave worldwide had
started to fall, with the United
States somewhat behind Europe
and other regions.
The trends won’t be known
for sure until additional reports
over the next week show the drop
continuing.
Sidelinger said an increase
in voluntary mask-wearing and
other efforts to slow transmis-
sion of COVID-19 could shorten
the timeline for getting to a lower
level.
On the flip side, if people drop
safeguards too early, it could push
the recovery into November and
closer to impacting the winter
holidays.
The COVID-19 pandemic is
far from over, with the possibility
of new variants as long as large
County, encompassing Morrow,
Gilliam and Sherman counties
plus a small, sparsely populated
sliver of Wasco County east of
The Dalles. District 58 covers the
rest of Umatilla County, includ-
ing Pendleton, Echo and Athena
before extending east, covering
the entirety of Union and Wallowa
counties.
Prior to the 2011 round of redis-
tricting, District 58 was a much
more compact district comprised of
Pendleton and Hermiston and some
of the surrounding area. District 57
formed a u-shape around it, starting
in Morrow County, dipping below
Pendleton and Hermiston to cover
southern Umatilla County before
moving north again to include
Milton-Freewater and east to cover
Union and Wallowa Counties.
Senate District 29 is a combina-
tion of House districts 57 and 58,
meaning the senate seat is roughly
within the footprint of Northeast-
ern Oregon.
Plan A
Under House Plan A, a slight
shift in the Umatilla County bound-
ary would change some communi-
ties’ representation.
The plan splits the districts
along Highway 11, from Pendleton
to Milton-Freewater. That means,
Athena, Helix and Adams would
move from District 58 to District
Thursday, September 9, 2021
wanted to do what she could
to protect her loved ones from
a disease that as of Thursday,
Sept. 7 killed 118 Umatilla
County residents. She said she
believes the vaccine is effec-
tive and that, if there was better
vaccine education, more people
may change their minds.
“It’s hard for people to know
how to trust what they’re hearing,
reading or seeing without taking
time to look into it themselves,”
Lasater said. She always points
people toward reputable health
sources such as the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
for information, and away from
Facebook, a platform ripe with
misinformation.
“I’m not sure a lot of people
are willing or comfortable to do
that,” she said. “Research is a lot
of work and I don’t think people
have that time.”
That’s why she’s passionate
about informing her community,
she says.
An example of localized
efforts working, she says, is
Helix. With less than 200 resi-
dents, the community has the
highest percentage of residents
vaccinated in the county, exceed-
ing 70%, according to county
data.
Lasater, along with local
health care workers and local
community groups, led two
vaccine efforts at the Helix
pool. Groups that participated in
these efforts were the first to be
rewarded in the county’s vaccine
incentive program, which funds
groups when the ZIP code
encompassing the town reaches
the 60% vaccine threshold.
“I feel that, being more
personable as a health district,
getting our faces out there and
talking to people, has helped
us direct people to resources,”
Lasater said. “I think it’s helped
them to trust us more, and when
we’re doing clinics, they feel
numbers of people worldwide
remain unvaccinated.
Once it infects someone, the
virus can mutate within its host,
and release a variant of the origi-
nal infection.
“This is a crisis that is largely
being driven by people who have
not yet been vaccinated,” said
Sidelinger.
As of Sept. 7, there have been
221.5 million cases and over
4.58 million deaths worldwide,
according to the Johns Hopkins
Coronavirus Resource Center.
Just over 5.37 million people
worldwide are expected to die
of COVID-19 by Dec. 1, accord-
ing to a the Institute for Health
Metrics and Evaluation.
The United States last week
passed 40 million reported cases
and deaths are at 649,271, accord-
ing to Johns Hopkins. IHMA
projects 751,417 deaths by Dec. 1.
Johns Hopkins said its survey
of state and local health agencies
showed that 44,558 vaccine doses
were administered nationwide
Monday. More than 176 million
people are fully vaccinated, about
51% of the U.S. population.
The New York Times reported
Sept. 7 that the current spike has
peaked in the United States.
The average daily new cases of
131,135 is down 12% from from
two weeks ago. The analysis
showed that Oregon had dropped
33% over the same period.
57. The boundary moves east before
hitting the Oregon-Washington
border, moving Milton-Freewa-
ter from 57 to 58. The rest of the
communities in Umatilla County
would retain their districts.
The rest of District 58 would be
confined to Union and Wallowa
counties, but District 57 would see
its geographic footprint expand
substantially under the plan. The
new District 57 would gain Wheeler
and Grant counties in addition to
a larger portion of Wasco County,
although the cities it covers would
remain the same.
Senate District 19 still would
combine districts 57 and 59, mean-
ing it, too, will gain Grant and
Wheeler counties. Sen. Bill Hansell
said Senate Plan A was negotiated
by both sides of the aisle in the
Senate, and while he’s confident it
would pass the Senate, he’s less sure
about its prospects in the House or
the governor’s desk.
Hansell said the lines also may
change after receiving public testi-
mony. He noted he recently learned
that Grant and Harney counties
often share resources and services,
and may want to share legislative
districts.
Plan B
House Plan B would lead to less
changes in Umatilla County, but
more dramatic changes would be
Sheriffs:
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“Business and property owners have
a right to set ground rules for how people
behave in their businesses,” Morrow
County Sheriff Ken Matlack said. “When
a person becomes disruptive because of this
issue, in that situation, it’s not really a mask
mandate. It becomes an issue of trespassing
or harassment, and we would get involved
in those situations as a matter of law.”
The first sheriff to pen a letter opposing
the new mask mandate was Union County
Sheriff Cody Bowen, who took office at the
beginning of 2021.
“I believe that as Americans, we have
a right to choose,” Bowen
said in a previous inter-
view. “This isn’t a law, and
it hasn’t been voted on by
the people.”
Bowen’s letter urged
residents to “stand up”
Bowen
against the rules passed
down amid the worst surge
of COVID-19 infections in Eastern Oregon
and across the state, owing largely to the
delta variant and far surpassing previous
infection rates, according to Oregon Health
Authority data.
Chorus against masking up grows
Bowen told The Observer on Sept. 1, that
when the mask mandate arrived in Union
County, he had felt a personal responsibil-
ity to respond against it — for himself and
for the majority of Union County residents
— so he penned the letter addressing the
governor and sent it via registered mail to
her office.
“We haven’t really had a voice in this.
It’s not really our fight, if you will. And then
when it became the homefront of our chil-
dren, and my own child in school having
to wear masks, it put that fight right in my
living room,” Bowen said. “I wanted to
stand up and be a voice and let folks know
that I supported the majority of Union
County residents — the strong majority of
Union County residents — that it should be
an individual’s choice and we shouldn’t be
masking our children.”
Soon after, nearly a dozen sheriffs
across the state — including those in Doug-
las, Lake, Malheur, Columbia and Tilla-
mook counties — joined in a cacophony
of open letters stating their offices would
not enforce mask mandates even though
no government agency asked them to do so.
“I’ve not had any
contacts with the gover-
nor’s office asking us to do
anything. We’ve not had
any requests or demands,”
Matlack said.
Matlack emphasized
Matlack
he is asking his officers to
mask up and sanitize while
at work and properly adhere to guidelines
set by the OHA. Across the nation, COVID-
19 was the cause of more than half of all
officer line-of-duty related deaths in 2020,
according to a study by National Law
Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
“It’s actually a civil issue and we play
no role in enforcing civil penalties,” Grant
County Sheriff Todd McKinley said. That’s
an OHA rule, so OSHA has the ability to
enforce the OHA mask rule. It’s not our
role.”
McKinley further said the belief that
sheriffs offices would be responsible for
enforcement of mask mandates is a “misno-
mer.”
“What’s great about this country is
everybody gets a chance to make a choice,
so make your choice,” he said. “If you’re
sick, stay home. Don’t make others be
exposed. If you’re sick just stay home until
you’re better. It’s a health issue, treat it as
such.”
planned elsewhere.
House District 58 would be
renamed District 59, but besides
adding Milton-Freewater from
District 57, it would represent the
same communities it did under the
current map. Like Plan A, District
57 would add Wheeler County.
But instead of also adding Grant
County, the district would expand
further west to take in the eastern
portion of The Dalles.
Senate Plan B is far more radi-
cal, splitting Umatilla County into
two different senate districts. The
Senate split would follow the same
lines as the House, but instead of
aligning eastern Umatilla County
with the rest of Northeastern
Oregon, the area would join a
sprawling Senate District 20 that
contains Union, Wallowa, Baker,
Grant, Malheur and Lake coun-
ties. Western Umatilla County and
Morrow County still would be in
District 29, but they would be joined
by Gilliam, Sherman, Wheeler and
Jefferson counties, the entirety of
Wasco County, plus a section of
Hood River County that includes
the city of Hood River and a north-
ern slice of Deschutes County that
includes Sisters.
Hansell said the House GOP
proposed Senate Plan B and would
lead to him being drawn into the
same district as Vale Republican
Lynn Findley in the Senate. If this
map were to pass, Hansell said he
would be allowed to serve out the
rest of his term through 2024 but
would have to move if he wanted
to run for reelection to District 29.
Plan C
House Plan C would mostly
maintain the status quo on the
Umatilla County split with the
exception of Milton-Freewater. A
small part of the north side of the
city would stay in District 57 while
the rest would be moved to District
58.
The rest of District 58 would
look the same as it does now while
District 57 would expand like it
does in the other plans. Under Plan
C, District 57 would gain Wheeler
County and most of Wasco County
except the northwest corner where
The Dalles and Mosier are located.
The District would also stretch into
Jefferson County and very small
sections of Clackamas and Marion
counties so that the district encom-
passes the Warm Springs Reserva-
tion.
Senate District 29 would remain
intact in Senate Plan C and would
follow District 57’s expansion west,
adding Wheeler County, a larger
section of Wasco County and the
entirety of the Warm Springs Reser-
vation.