LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
A11
All Oregonians eligible for vaccine by July 1
Wallowa County
residents in next
group can begin
signing up
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Every adult
in Oregon will be offered
a
vaccination
against
COVID-19 by July 1, with
the two-shot vaccines
reaching all adults who
want it by August, Gov.
Kate Brown said Friday,
Feb. 26.
“Come summer, any
Oregonian who wants the
vaccine can receive it,”
Brown announced at a vir-
tual press conference.
It was a surprisingly
optimistic forecast after
recent estimates that the
vaccination of the entire
state would stretch into
autumn or even early 2022.
Group 6 eligibility,
the next step in Phase 1B
of immunization, begins
March 29, when residents
45-64 with medical condi-
tions that the Centers for
ELIGIBILITY PRIORITIES
FOR COVID-19 VACCINATION
March 29: Phase 1B, Group 6
•
Adults age 45 to 64 with underlying health conditions,
as defi ned by the CDC
•
Seasonal workers, such as migrant farm workers, seafood
and agricultural workers, and food processing workers.
•
Currently displaced victims of the September 2020
wildfi res
•
Wildland fi refi ghters
•
People living in low-income and congregate senior
housing
•
Homeless
May 1: Phase 1B, Group 7
•
Individuals age 16-45 with underlying health conditions
•
All other frontline workers as defi ned by the CDC
•
Multigenerational household members
June 1: Phase 2, Group 1
•
Adults 45 to 64
July 1: Phase 2, Group 2
•
Everyone age 16 and over
Disease Control and Pre-
vention defi nes as mak-
ing them more likely to
become seriously ill or die
if infected with COVID-
19, can sign up. Conditions
include Type 2 diabetes,
cancer, heart conditions,
kidney disease, COPD,
Down syndrome, compro-
mised immune systems and
sickle cell disease. Preg-
nancy is on the list, as is
obesity that results in a
Body Mass Index (BMI) of
30 or more.
Residents should consult
with their doctor and with
the full explanation of qual-
ifying conditions on the
CDC and Oregon Health
Authority websites.
Also eligible on March
29 are some farm and food
industry workers, homeless
people, residents of low-in-
come or congregate hous-
ing, wildland fi refi ghters
and those displaced by the
2020 wildfi res.
On May 1, those aged
16-44 with medical condi-
tions on the CDC list can
sign up. Also “frontline”
workers with jobs dealing
with the public, and any
adult living in a multigen-
erational household.
Phase 2 begins with any-
one over 45 eligible on
June 1 and anyone over 16
on July 1.
No vaccine approved for
children is available yet,
though several are under
development.
In Wallowa County,
individuals who qualify for
the vaccine as part of Group
6 were able to start calling
Wallowa Memorial Hospi-
tal on Monday, March 1, to
get on the waitlist.
“Once we get into (vac-
cinating) Group 6, we will
open the phone line for
Group 7,” WMH Commu-
nications Director Brooke
Pace said. “We imagine
Group 6 is going to be a
large number of people. We
are going to open this up
one group at a time.
“When they call we will
ask them a qualifying ques-
tion. We will ask them what
group they fall under, and
if it is an underlying condi-
tion. It’s a pretty long list,
but it’s not anything. It has
to be an underlying health
condition with extreme risk
as identifi ed by the CDC.”
Pace added that as long
as there is vaccine on hand
and everyone 65 and older
who wants a vaccine has
received one, they can
move into initial inocula-
tion of Group 6 individuals
prior to March 29.
“The wording that they
use on their sequencing is
‘eligible no later than,’”
Pace said. “That allows us
to move forward as long
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COVID-19 closes Enterprise, Wallowa schools
A confi rmed
case within the
district prompted
Thursday’s closure
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Enter-
prise and Wallowa school
districts both were closed
on Thursday, Feb. 25, after
each posted on their Face-
book pages late Wednesday
night that they had a con-
fi rmed case of COVID-19
within the district.
The shutdown of the
schools was short lived, as
schools were allowing stu-
dents back in the class-
room Monday, March 1,
following contact tracing
and quarantining any stu-
dents or staff determined to
be in direct contact with the
individual.
In almost identical posts,
both districts said they were
working with health author-
ities at the local and state
levels. The districts pro-
vided cohort information
and contact tracing logs to
the health authorities and
began deep cleaning the
schools.
“I would say the key to
stopping the spread and our
response has really been
The most valuable and
respected source of
local news, advertising
and information for
our communities.
eomediagroup.com
Dr. Liz Powers,” Wallowa
Superintendent
Tammy
Jones said. “She is an amaz-
ing support for districts, and
is there anytime day or night
to help us through. We got
the word late (on Wednes-
day night). It was a late night
start in our communication.
It’s gone really smooth.”
Nineteen
individuals
from Wallowa junior high
and high school will be
required to quarantine, and
those students will study
via comprehensive distance
learning until March 11, a
follow-up post stated, after
they were determined to
be in contact with the con-
fi rmed case.
“The exposures were
short term in nature, but our
country does take extra pre-
cautions to make sure we
don’t create a spread,” Jones
told the Chieftain. “Keeping
our community healthy and
safe is a priority.”
At the elementary school,
second and sixth grades
were able to return to the
classroom Monday. Kinder-
garten, fi rst-, third-, fourth-
and fi fth-grade students
will be transferred to online
learning until between
March 9-11. Jones said the
staggered return dates were
set by Powers based on
when the exposures hap-
pened in those grades.
“You go from the last
potential exposure, you go
14 days from that,” Jones
said.
In an update Friday
morning, Enterprise Super-
intendent Erika Pinkerton
posted that all students and
staff who had direct contact
had been contacted by local
health authorities.
“This really has affected,
primarily, the elemen-
tary,” Pinkerton told the
Chieftain. “There is only
one secluded cohort that
was exposed at the middle
school/high school.”
Those students who
returned to the elemen-
tary school in-person Mon-
day were in two groups —
a portion who returned to
regular study, and a group
that will meet in a one-room
schoolhouse format.
Seven classes will move
to online instruction for at
least a week, and are slated
to return between March
9-11.
At the middle and high
schools, students who were
determined to have been
a direct contact have been
notifi ed and will quarantine
until March 10. The rest of
the students will be able to
resume studying in-person
next week.
Both
superintendents
said the sports schedules
should not be impacted by
the current situation in each
school.
as the group ahead of them
has been addressed.”
Pace said another 300
doses of the vaccine are
scheduled to be adminis-
tered by the hospital on Fri-
day, March 5, which would
wrap up the 70-and-older
group — with the exception
of a few individuals who
cannot get in that day —
and start into the 65-and-up
demographic.
As of last week, there
were at least 1,233 fi rst
doses of the vaccine admin-
istered, Pace said, and 619
people who had been fully
vaccinated. There currently
are about 330 individuals
on the 65-and-older waitlist
and about 275 more sched-
uled for vaccination on the
70-and-up list.
An additional 400 sec-
ond doses are slated to be
administered March 9 and
March 16, Pace said.
Those newly eligible
who want a spot on the
waitlist are encouraged to
call 541-426-5437.
———
Wallowa County Chief-
tain Editor Ronald Bond
contributed to this report.
This week we are giving a tip of the hat to all of us out there who
are continuing to wear our masks. It can be an nuisance at times
(for those of us who constantly have fogged up glasses) and
uncomfortable for those of us who wear them for hours on end.
But thanks to all of you, our county cases have remained
low and we continue to be in the lowest
rank in the state. Kudos to us all!
udly
Pro onsore d b y
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Wallowa County’s Home for
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