OREGON
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Pierce
says 2022
promising
for GOP
Gubernatorial
candidate sees
‘pathway to victory’
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Bud
Pierce fi gures 2022 is the best
time in the past four decades
for a Repub-
lican to run
for Oregon
governor in
the general
election.
And he’d
like to be that
Pierce
Republican.
Pierce,
one of a dozen Republicans
seeking his party’s nomination
in the May 17 primary, visited
Baker City on Wednesday,
Jan. 12. He hosted a meet-and-
greet that evening at the Baker
County Events Center. It was
his third campaign event of the
day, following appearances in
Ontario and John Day.
An airplane made the
hectic day possible, said
Pierce, an oncologist who
started the day at his home in
Salem.
Pierce knows firsthand
how challenging it is for a
Republican seeking to become
Oregon governor. He was the
party’s nominee in the 2016
election, losing to incumbent
Kate Brown, who had almost
51% of the vote compared with
Pierce’s 43.5%.
Pierce, 65, was the latest in
a series of eight Republicans
who tried to break a string of
Democratic victories dating
to 1986.
Vic Atiyeh, who was
elected to his second four-year
term in 1982, is the last Repub-
lican to hold that offi ce.
Brown can’t run this year
due to the state’s term limits
law.
The absence of an incum-
bent is one of the factors Pierce
believes makes 2022 such an
auspicious year for Republi-
cans.
“Incumbency is worth a
lot,” he said during an inter-
view with the Baker City
Herald the afternoon of Jan.
12.
Another difference this
year is who’s likely to be on
the general election ballot.
Betsy Johnson, a former
Democratic state legislator,
resigned her position last fall
to run for governor, but as an
independent, not a Democrat.
Several prominent Demo-
crats, including House
Speaker Tina Kotek, who is
resigning from the Legisla-
ture Jan. 21, and Tobias Read,
Oregon state treasurer, are
seeking their party’s nomina-
tion.
Pierce said he believes with
two Democrats on the general
election ballot — Johnson
and the party’s nominee —
votes from Democrats, who
outnumber registered Repub-
licans by about 34%, could
be divided enough to give the
Republican candidate “a path-
way to victory.”
Pierce acknowledged that
Johnson, who is generally
considered more moderate
than the leading Democratic
candidates, could also attract
Republican votes.
But overall, Pierce believes
a general election with both
Johnson and a Democratic
nominee on the ballot benefi ts
the Republican candidate.
“Republican voters tend
to back the Republican candi-
date,” he said.
Pierce said he also has
noticed during his campaign-
ing that, unlike in 2016,
Oregon voters don’t seem
satisfi ed with the current polit-
ical leadership.
He describes this is a
“roiled electorate.”
Pierce said he senses
that many voters, including
Democrats, in eff ect want to
“punish” the party in charge,
and in Oregon that’s been the
Democratic Party for many
years, with its supermajorities
in the Legislature.
“People rightfully feel that
their government isn’t respon-
sive to them,” he said.
East Oregonian
A9
Oregon gasps as it nears pinnacle of omicron
1,200 National
Guard members to
help to hospitals
with non-medical
support duties
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon on
Thursday, Jan. 13, had the
unhappy distinction of
having the fastest rising rate
of new COVID-19 infec-
tions of all 50 states, new
data showed.
The sixth and biggest
wave of the two-year
COVID-19 pandemic has at
least two more weeks to go
before infections crest.
“The omicron variant
continues to tighten its grip
on Oregon,” said Pat Allen,
director of the Oregon
Health Authority, during a
press call Jan. 13.
Oregon posted a worst-
in-the-nation 486% rise
in infections over the past
two weeks, an analysis of
national and state health
records by the New York
Times reported Thursday.
Oregon reported 47,272
new COVID -19 cases
during the week of Jan. 6.
That’s three times higher
than the previous pandemic
record and six times higher
than just two weeks ago,
Allen said.
Allen and offi cials from
state health, education,
social services and other
agencies said the worst was
still to come.
Oregon reported 777
patients who tested positive
for COVID-19 were in state
hospitals Thursday, up 21
from the day before. Oregon
has less than 6% of its inten-
sive care unit beds available.
Colt Gill, director of
the Oregon Department of
Education, said keeping
children in school remains
the state’s top goal. It also
would like to have extracur-
ricular activities like sports
whenever possible.
But Gill said local
school offi cials will be the
best barometer on how
much pressure is weighing
on maintaining classroom
instruction.
“The current situation is
pushing a stressed system to
its limits,” Gill said.
Whether that was attain-
able was up to each district
and health authorities. If too
many teachers get ill or too
many students are absent
because of positive tests,
some districts may consider
going back to a short period
of distance learning.
The Oregon Health
Aut hor it y said 1,20 0
National Guard members
would be sent to hospitals
around the state to aid with
non-medical support duties.
The agency hopes to hire
600 out-of-state contract
nurses to fi ll gaps at hospi-
tals strapped by staff illness
or fatigue.
Oregon still hopes to get
six million COVID-19 “fast
test” test kits. Each comes
with two tests that can show
a positive or negative result
in 15 minutes.
No matter how many
arrive, the mass contagion
of omicron will outstrip
supply.
“We are prioritizing the
six million we’ve purchased
for organizations serv-
ing people who are most
exposed or most vulnera-
ble to COVID-19, or people
who have less access to a
test,” Allen said.
The U.S. Centers for
Disea se Cont rol a nd
Prevention is asking people
who either have no symp-
toms or are experienc-
ing mild illness to act as if
they are infected and stay
isolated for fi ve days. That
would leave the tests avail-
able for acute cases or front-
line workers.
Eff orts paying off
Despite its top spot in
growth of new infections,
Oregon ranks just 24th for
the rise in the hospitaliza-
tion rate for COVID-19,
with a rise of just 62%.
“Those numbers tell me
that masks work,” Allen
said. “We’re able to mini-
mize our negative outcomes
because we have a relatively
high vaccination rate, a rela-
tively high booster rate and
one of the highest rates for
mask usage in the country.”
The Institute for Health
Metrics & Evaluation, a
top pandemic forecasting
group at the University of
Washington, says public
health agencies are fi nding
less than 20% of actual new
cases.
The institute’s primary
forecast says the omicron
wave al ready pea ked
nationwide, with its model
projected 6.2 million cases
per day on Jan. 6. The count
of cases reported by author-
ities on Jan. 13 was just
under 800,000.
IHME projects hospital-
izations nationwide will top
out on Jan. 25 at 273,000.
The reported level on Jan.
13 was 145,505.
A new forecast Oregon
Health & Science Univer-
sity released late Jan. 13
showed the omicron wave
was shaping public behav-
ior, with the percentage
of people who were wear-
ing masks going up, while
social gatherings, going to
restaurants, indoor events
and travel were declining.
The OHSU report said it
believed reported hospital-
izations in Oregon would
hit a peak at 1,650 on Jan.
26, one day earlier than
last week. Hospitalizations
would fall to below 100 by
March 13.
But OHSU presented
two alternative timelines
depending on how well the
public sticks to its current
patterns of lowered risk-tak-
ing
The most optimistic
version would have the wave
crest earlier and lower, with
1,159 hospitalizations on
about Jan. 23, with hospital
daily counts falling under
100 just before Feb. 27.
But if the public loses its
fear of omicron and grows
fatigued by steps necessary
to keep contagion lower, the
peak could hit 2,133 daily
hospitalizations on Jan. 28
and not dip below 100 until
March 6.
Flipping expectations
The omicron variant is
extraordinarily contagious,
leading to the skyrocketing
number of cases.
But each individual
case is likely to be less
severe, especially for
those vaccinated and who
have received a booster
shot. About one-third of
new infections have been
in vaccinated people. But
among that group who test
positive, about 5% need
hospital care and about 1%
die, with the average age of
fatalities 81.
T he hos pit als a nd
morgues are populated
primarily by those who are
not vaccinated or had no
booster shot.
Though each case is
likely to be less severe,
the sheer crush of omicron
infections is driving hospi-
talizations beyond previous
high points set during early
waves.
The Oregon Health
Authority weekly report
issued Jan. 12 grasped
for extreme adjectives to
describe the state’s situa-
tion. Omicron had created a
“a record-smashing total of
daily cases, surging hospi-
talizations, a sharp rise in
deaths and a staggering
percent positivity.”
While the Institute for
Health Metrics & Evalu-
ation projects higher total
numbers of people needing
hospitalization at the peak
of the wave than OHSU,
projections are just guesses
informed by statistics and
trends.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the
state’s top epidemiologist,
said Oregon offi cials looked
at all the possibilities, then
err toward the worse case
scenario.
The best course was
to plan for the worst case
scenario and be grateful if
the numbers come in lower
or sooner than they could
have been.
“We’d rather be overpre-
pared than underprepared,”
Sidelinger said.
According to Johns
Hopkins University, as of
Jan. 13, is has been 744
days since the fi rst COVID-
19 infections were reported
in Wuhan, China on Dec.
31, 2019.
Worldwide, there have
been 319,042,646 reported
cases and 5,518,767 deaths.
In the United States,
there have been 63,744,198
cases and 845,899 deaths.
Johnson: Elgin comment ‘pulled out of thin air’
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
ELGIN — A remark from
an Oregon gubernatorial
candidate regarding a local
Union County city likely
meant no harm, despite its
connotation.
Betsy
Johnson,
running as
an inde-
pendent
candidate,
commented
Johnson
on
her
thoughts
about a lack of safety across
Oregon in an interview
with Willamette Week on
Wednesday, Jan. 5 — the
quote tied in Elgin, a small
town at the northern end of
the Grande Ronde Valley.
When asked when Oregon
“lost its way,” Johnson
stated that Oregon citizens
are not safe on the streets,
regardless of what town you
live in.
“We really lost our way
with the advent of COVID.
It seems to be a kind of colli-
sion of catastrophes. We’ve
got 13 counties, a third of our
land mass, wanting to fl ee to
Idaho. We’ve got people not
safe on this streets, whether
you’re in Elgin or Laurel-
hurst,” Johnson told the
Willamette Week.
Johnson later cleared the
air, noting that Elgin was the
fi rst city on the east side of
the state that she could think
of at the time.
“I just pulled it out of
the air,” she said. “I was
just thinking about a small
Hallgarth
Bowen
town somewhere in Eastern
Oregon.”
Johnson explained that
the quote was not intended
as a dig to Elgin, stating that
she has visited the Northeast-
ern Oregon town in the past.
“I’ve been to Elgin and I
had Elgin on the brain,” she
said. “I just purely picked it
out of the air, there was noth-
ing specifi c.”
Elgin Mayor Risa Hall-
garth weighed in on the
quote, stating she has no
idea why Johnson would
mention Elgin by name in
that context.
“Everybody has their
problems, but I don’t feel
unsafe at all here and I’ve
lived here all my life,” she
said. “I don’t know why
she would have said Elgin,
maybe because it’s small in
comparison to other towns.”
Hallgarth said that while
crime occurs in every city,
she disagrees with tying in
Elgin as unsafe.
“We don’t have gang
issues or drive-by shootings.
We don’t have a lot of this
stuff that the larger towns
have,” she said. “I walk a lot,
at night sometimes.”
Union County Sheriff
Cody Bowen stated there is
no recent criminal activity
that would give credence to
a specifi c reference to Elgin
as an unsafe city.
“I don’t know what she
would be referring to, other
than reaching out to the
furthest part of the state,” he
said.
Johnson, a former state
senator for District 16,
resigned Dec. 15 from the
Oregon Legislature to focus
full-time on her statewide
run. She represented a swath
of Northwestern Oregon
since 2001 that included
Clatsop, Tillamook, Colum-
bia, Multnomah and Wash-
ington counties.
Johnson is aiming to be
the fi rst independent candi-
date to become Oregon
governor since Julius L.
Meier did so in 1931. She will
need to collect approximately
24,000 signatures to make it
on the 2022 November ballot.