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Wallowa.com
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
A13
Plunge:
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Werdinger
contrasted
Gibans’ willingness to brave
the lake’s icy waters with his
own.
“I’m the complete oppo-
site,” he said. “I’m too much
of a wimp when it comes to
cold water.”
Wandschneider said that
at 79, he believes he was the
oldest — or one of the oldest
— to participate this year.
Both agreed it was fi t-
ting to remember Gibans by
attaching her name to the
plunge.
“She was a mover and
a shaker in a lot of ways,”
Werdinger
said.
“She
contributed a lot to the
community.”
“She’s a heroic fi gure.
She battled cancer many
years,” Wandschneider said.
“She was very important to
what we have in the county
today.”
Chilling reaction
Most
who
partici-
pated wanted some form of
cleansing off from 2021 and
expressed hopes for a better
2022.
That was the attitude
of Kayla Rynearson of
Enterprise.
“I’ve been doing it for
eight years,” she said. “It’s
invigorating. You get to
wash of the last year.”
Her 12-year-old daugh-
ter, Savanna, has joined her
for the past several years.
She said the air tempera-
ture makes a big diff erence
in how the plunge feels.
“It depends on if it’s
warm or cold out. When it’s
negative (temperatures), it’s
not so bad,” Savanna said.
“Last year was warmer and
the water was freezing.”
After her dip, she had one
word to describe the experi-
ence: “COLD!!!”
Kayla Rynearson said she
works at Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital and often many
COVID-19:
Continued from Page A1
cases over the total at the
end of 2020. Two addi-
tional cases were reported
Dec. 29, and there were fi ve
cases reported Dec. 30 and
six reported Jan. 3. It brings
the county putting the total
at 793 for the pandemic and
at least 710 for the year of
2021. The county’s infec-
tion rate for the pandemic
is about 11.0%, per OHA
data. Given the most recent
COVID report covers the
end of 2021 and beginning
of 2022, it’s unclear how
many of the six cases are in
the last year.
To review, Wallowa
County had among one of
the lowest case rates in Ore-
gon at the end of 2020, with
the county reporting 77
cases from the start of the
pandemic through Dec. 31,
2020.
Cases trickled in over the
next six months. The county
reached 100 on Jan. 26, and
150 cases on April 2. It was
another
three-and-a-half
months until the 200th case
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A chilling but refreshing start to 2022 is what participants in the Beth Gibans Memorial
Wallowa Lake Polar Bear Plunge experienced Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
coworkers join her. She said
she’s been told it’s not likely
an ambulance would be
needed at the plunge.
“They say that because
we don’t jump off a dock,
there’s less likelihood of
anybody having any cardiac
issues,” she said.
Another
long-time
plunger, Randi Jandt, also
liked memorializing Gibans
with the event.
“I don’t do it every year
— but with the memorial to
Beth, I wanted to this year,”
Jandt said. “It’s for luck in
the new year. … It’s misery
that lasts for a short time.”
One newcomer to the
Enterprise area, Stefan Has-
selblad, was simple with
his reasons for taking the
plunge.
“To cleanse,” he said.
“It’s a good way to start the
new year.”
Coming down from
Elgin, Tiff ani Lamberts also
had a simple reason.
“It’s to wash off the old
year and welcome the new,”
she said, adding that this
year was her second time.
With her was Ariana
Lesser of Enterprise.
“It’s my fi rst time doing
it,” Lesser said. “I wanted to
see if I like it. If I do, maybe
I’ll do it again.”
was reported July 19. The
rate for the year was higher
than 2020, but the county
remained on the lower end
of the case spectrum until
the delta variant spike hit
the state.
It’s unknown exactly
how many cases were the
delta variant. Regardless,
the count shot through the
roof. An additional 39 cases
were reported during the
fi nal 12 days of July, put-
ting the number at 239 by
the end of the month. By
early August, the number
was past 250. In the same
month, 300, 350 and 400
were reached, and by the
end of August the total was
419.
There were 180 cases
in August alone, match-
ing the total the county had
from when its fi rst case was
confi rmed in April 2020
through May 6, 2021. Totals
that were once coming in
over several months were
now coming in just days.
The case count ebbed
from that peak, but slowly.
September saw 163 cases,
October had 123 and
November had 55. The three
highest months all had totals
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Rich Wandschneider of Joseph disrobes in preparation for the
Beth Gibans Memorial Wallowa Lake Polar Bear Plunge on
Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. He is one of fi ve founding members of
the plunge.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A quick dip was all anyone was up for Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022,
during the Beth Gibans Memorial Wallowa Lake Polar Bear
Plunge.
Spectators
There were about as
many spectators, pho-
tographers and self-de-
scribed “towel-holders” at
the plunge as there were
participants.
Jess Bohnsack was on the
fence about going in at fi rst,
but then decided against it.
“I’ve been in some pretty
cold weather, but I’m not
going in today,” he said.
Two men with coat-wear-
ing dogs said the plunge
would’ve been too cold for
the canines.
Denny Kolb said that
while he’d taken such a
plunge in Minnesota, he’d
that surpassed the case count
of 2020.
December’s total has
been tame in comparison,
with the average under a
case a day, and a total of 27
reported during the month
as of Dec. 30.
The number of deaths in
the county has remained at
13, with nine of those com-
ing during 2021, and fi ve
being reported during a one-
week span in late August.
There were three deaths
reported in 2020, and a
fourth reported later in 2021
that was from the previous
year.
As of Dec. 29, the county
is at a vaccination rate
among adults of 70.7%,
which ranks it 15th among
the 36 counties in Oregon.
The 70% threshold was
actually broken through on
Dec. 7. Currently, 66% of
county adults have received
a full set of shots, and 33.7%
have received a booster
shot. In this area, the county
is actually ninth in the state,
and is above the state rate of
32.4%, where it sits below
the state rate in the other
categories, which are 80.7%
and 73.9%, respectively.
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never done it here.
“I’m just here to watch,”
he said.
Another spectator, sitting
bundled up with his dog in
his pickup, also passed on
the experience.
“Are you kidding me?”
he said. “We’re not getting
out of the truck.”
Wandschneider tried to
dispel notions some may
have of what jumping in icy
water would feel like. He
said it’s crucial to quickly
warm the extremities after
the plunge.
“Believe it or not, it’s not
immediately unpleasant,”
he said.
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sweet and sassy hanging out
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