THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021 146th Year, No. 9 WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021 INSIDE NOVEMB ER MUSIC RETURNS TO THE STAGE AT EOU 3–10, 2021 WWW.G OEASTE $1.50 RNOREG ON.COM Music returns to McKen Theatre zie PA GE 8 Explore Read First Frid art shows ay ‘Eminent Oregonians ’ PAGE PAGE 4 Alex Wittwer/ The Jillian Newman Observer , right, r 6 Listen Tunesm Night ith PAGE 16 Local vaccine providers strained after Bi-Mart closes pharmacies By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian Amanda Waterland with St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton, hands out winter gear Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, to people at the Salvation Army in Pendleton. FIGHTING THE CHILL St. Anthony off ers up cold weather supplies By BEN LONERGAN East Oregonian PENDLETON — Hats, tents, sleep- ing bags and other outerwear lined a table Wednesday, Nov. 3, at the Salvation Army in Pendleton as the St. Anthony Hospital Community Health Outreach program distributed winter gear and fl u shots to the lunch hour crowd. “We want to help out with preven- tative care — like fl u shots,” Amanda Waterland said. Waterland, a community health worker for St. Anthony Hospital, and Jennifer Peterson, a registered nurse, staff ed Wednesday’s event handing out outerwear, hygiene supplies, tents and sleeping bags. The event, which was the fi nal of the year, served as a last chance to distribute warm gear ahead of the cold season. Since the spring, the hospital outreach program has spent the last Thursday of each month off ering COVID-19 shots, fl u shots, medical education and other items to those attending the Salvation Army’s free lunch program. Peterson said this week’s event came after high interest at last week’s event caused them to run out of sleeping bags and tents. They distributed roughly 30 sleeping bags and tents last week and wanted an additional opportunity to distribute more supplies before ending the service for the year. UMATILLA COUNTY — Bi-Mart closing its pharmacies is aff ecting more than just local prescriptions. According to offi cials from Umatilla County Public Health, the outfl ow of patients from Bi-Mart to other local pharmacies has hurt their ability to administer one of their key services during the pandemic: the COVID-19 vaccine. Public Health Yellowhawk Director Joe Fiu ma r a said to hold Bi-Mart pharma- vaccination cies weren’t just drive next r el i a ble va c c i- nators, but also week for 5-12 good partners that year olds would work the department to off er off-site vaccination clinics.When Bi-Mart decided to shutter all of its pharmacies in the area, the chain put pressure on other local phar- macies just as the state is rolling out booster shots for adults and vaccines for children as young as 5. Fiumara said he heard reports Safeway temporarily stopped off ering vaccines in Pend- leton as it dealt with an infl ux of new patients from Bi-Mart. He added it seems like the store has since resumed vaccine surfaces. See Strain, Page A8 Committee sends Sams nomination to full U.S. Senate By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian See Supplies, Page A8 Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian Jennifer Peterson, left, and Amanda Waterland staff a mobile outreach clinic Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, that St. Anthony Hos- pital runs at the Salvation Army in Pendleton. WASHINGTON — Chuck Sams is entering the fi nal stages of the confi rmation process with strong momentum. On Tuesday, Nov. 2, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources unanimously voted to approve Sams’ nomi- nation to the National Park Service on a voice vote. Given that senators from both parties voiced support for Sams and no one on the committee voted against sending his nomination to the full Senate, the commit- Sams tee vote bodes well for Sams, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. As Sams’ home state senator, Ron Wyden, Democrat, continued to encourage his colleagues to support the former tribal administrator and nonprofi t executive. “This is an American who we’re going to be proud of in terms of (his) service (to) parks,” he said. See Sams, Page A8 Booster shots spur COVID-19 vaccine uptick Umatilla County reported 2,000-plus COVID-19 immunizations last week — most were boosters By BRYCE DOLE East Oregonian PENDLETON — Umatilla Coun- ty’s reported COVID-19 vaccinations more than tripled last week now that residents can receive booster shots, according to data from the county health department. A series of well-attended clin- ics over the weekend spurred the sky-high immunization numbers. In all, more than 2,000 people received shots last week, said Joe Fiumara, the county’s public health director. “This did exceed expectations,” he said. The health department held clinics Friday, Oct. 29, and Satur- day, Oct. 30, in Pendleton and Milton-Freewater. The Pendle- ton clinics saw 452 people receive boosters on the fi rst day and 359 the second. But only 10 people received fi rst or second doses on Oct. 29. (The health department did not yet have data for Oct. 30.) The Milton-Freewater clinics saw 152 people vaccinated on Oct. 29 and 127 people on Oct. 30. The health department did not yet have data showing how many people received boosters, but Fiumara said he expected trends to be similar to Pendleton’s clinic. “We knew there was going to be some demand, but it won’t have an impact on the pandemic,” Fiumara said. The week of Oct. 17, the county reported just 626 immunizations total. Before last week, health offi cials had estimated they would deliver just 200 booster doses daily. Seeing the high demand for boosters “felt like February,” Fiumara said, when vaccine eligibility had expanded and the county at times didn’t have enough doses to go around. But Fiumara noted it will be more important for unvaccinated people to receive their fi rst doses than for hundreds of people to receive boost- ers. That’s because the virus spreads predominantly among the unvacci- nated, he said. See Shots, Page A8 UMATILLA COUNTY’S COVID-19 STATS AS OF TUESDAY, NOV. 2 • The disease claimed two more lives, increasing the county’s death toll to 155. • COVID-19 has led to the deaths of nearly 30 county resi- dents since the beginning of September. • Cases in the county are declining. The county last week reported 182 cases. During the week ending Oct. 1, the county reported 510 cases. • The county’s total number of cases stands at 14,727.