Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2020)
SATURDAY EDITION | MARCH 14, 2020 | $1.00 E BR AT I N G 1 3 Open 7 days a week 11am-8pm 2020 RS Serving scratch made food, local beer, wine & spirits. EA CEL SN S SIU THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S 0 Y Catering & private events available 541-997-5899 Siuslaw Region’s Closures & Cancelations I NSIDE — A6 ‘A crisis that will touch every sector’ While COVID-19 sparks local concern, Florence restaurants, businesses rally By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News T he novel coronavirus COVID-19 has taken centerstage in American life during the last 24 hours. The nation as a whole has come to the realization that the threat posed by this new strain of virus, while not existential, is quite serious. Cancelations of professional and collegiate sporting events, a shut- tered Broadway and the shift at colleges across the country to on- line classes are just the first wave of changes headed this way as a re- sult of this virulent contagion. Travel restrictions and an explo- sion of cases in Europe have added to the concern being felt by many Americans. The limited availabili- ty for those with possible infection to be tested has added another lev- el of confusion to the COVID-19 equation. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) de- clared the coronavirus contami- nation to be a pandemic, a recog- nition that the virus has, or will WEATHER Showers with a high of 47 and a low tonight of 31. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS The newly-formed Florence Restaurant Alliance gathered more than 40 restaurant owners in Historic Old Town Florence this week to present a united front. “We are dependent on our local community to keep our small businesses thriving as we come into our busy season,” the group said in a statement. soon, spread around the globe. “We expect to see the number crisis, it is a crisis that will touch WHO Director General Tedros of cases, the number of deaths every sector — so every sector and Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expect- and the number of affected coun- every individual must be involved ing the COVID-19 situation to get tries to climb even higher,” he said. in the fight.” worse, before it gets better. “This is not just a public health See SECTOR page 5A CA Governor closes Oregon school districts By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News Siuslaw and Mapleton School districts will be closed from Monday, March 16, until Tues- day March 31, following a dec- laration by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in response to the state’s emergency regarding the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Both districts will continue to pro- vide nutritional services via bus routes, while the Siuslaw School District is looking to expand services to help first responders, healthcare workers and provide childcare for the Siuslaw Dis- trict. For Siuslaw, which has been publicly preparing for a shut- down the past few weeks, prepa- rations have already been made to distribute food and school materials to its at-home stu- dents. For the first week of the shutdown, the school will focus on delivering food, while the second week will be food and homework assignments through online coursework. Starting on Friday, March 13, “The district is going to be ask- ing parents to fill out a quick survey on whether or not they have any abilities to access the internet and whether they have computing abilities at home,” said Siuslaw District Board Pres- ident Guy Rosinbaum. “If they don’t, the school district is going to help them, or provide basic course work via paper hand- outs.” If students have internet but no computer, the district will pro- vide a Chromebook. If a student has no internet access, the dis- trict will provide paper copies of coursework. While district staff prepare les- sons during the first week, they will also begin delivering meals day one. “Starting Monday, we’re going to be providing two breakfasts and a lunch to any student of the family that wants it,” Rosinbaum said. “Then on Tuesday, we’ll be providing a lunch. Wednesday, we’ll provide breakfasts and lunch again, and alternate throughout the week.” School buses will be running mostly regular routes, with staff members handing out food from the buses. Exact details will be worked on over the weekend, and the Siuslaw News will update its website with additional details when received. Starting on Monday, March 23, after the district has put together its lessons, it will begin distribut- ing lessons along the bus routes as well. As far as classes, the district will first focus on core education, such as math and social sciences. “So art and band are not hap- pening at the moment. When we can, we want to start adding as much as possible, even remotely,” Rosinbaum said. The week of March 23 was marked for the students’ spring break; however, the district is es- sentially switching the weeks to ensure a smooth rollout of ma- terials. See SCHOOLS page 8A County adds local Veterans Service Officer hours at 1845 Highway 126 in Unit E. VSOs play a critical role in assisting veterans in navi- Veterans who live in the gating the bureaucratic chal- Florence area have recently re- lenges that can be associated ceived some good news. Lane with clarifying and receiving County Veteran’s Ser- vices, a program over- seen by Lane County’s Health and Human Services Division, is working with members of benefits due to a former mili- Florence’s Disabled Veterans tary service member. VSOs are Services to provide a Veterans trained, federally accredited Service Officer (VSO) twice a and state certified to provide week at a small office located counseling, represent and ad- By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News As a precautionary measure, due to the State of Oregon being under a “State of Emergency” due to the threat of the coronavirus COVID-19, SHOREWOOD SENIOR LIVING HAS CANCELLED our Lucky Bingo Event, scheduled for March 17. We will reschedule our Event later in the year. vocate for veterans, their de- pendents and survivors in ob- taining benefits to which they are entitled. There has been a VSO at the Florence location one day a week for the last two years or so, and the addition of another day to help local vet- erans with paperwork and online communications will increase the number of veterans that can be helped each week. See VETERANS page 5A Backstreet Gallery Announces winners INSIDE — A3 SPORTS All school athletics canceled INSIDE — SPORTS RECORDS Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 “We cannot say that COVID-19 is not present in the Florence community — in fact, it is likely By Jared Anderson that it is,” Jim Siuslaw News McGovern, MD, PeaceHealth Oregon Network Vice President of Medical Affairs, told the Siuslaw News on Friday. “We are working closely with our partners at Lane County Public Health and the Oregon Health Authority as this situation evolves to limit transmission and identify potential cases. We share their goal of increasing the availability of and access to testing as soon as possible.” The statement comes after the Siuslaw News began receiving reports this week regarding individuals who said they had symptoms of the novel coronavirus but had not received testing at PeaceHealth Peace Harbor. At the same time, there have been social media reports stating that because there were no confirmed cases of the virus in the region, that precautions were not needed. McGovern provided an explanation as to why testing had been limited, what at-risk patients should do if they feel ill, and what Peace Harbor will be doing moving forward. “At this point, we are only testing a very limited number of patients — essentially only those patients sick enough to need to be admitted to the hospital,” McGovern said. “Because of the limited number of test kits currently available, the criteria for testing are limited to healthcare workers, public safety officers and individuals with symptoms con- sistent with COVID-19 who need admission to our hospital.” At issue was the lack of available tests in Oregon, a problem that is being seen nationwide. At press time on March 13, only 29 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Lane County (with five pending) — and only 437 tests have been conducted in all of Oregon. See HEALTH page 7A ED L L E NC NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 130, NO. 21 F LORENCE , O REGON PeaceHealth addresses Siuslaw region’s COVID-19 concerns ck Siuslaw News Guided by goodness, loyalty, faith, and fun 541.997.8202 • shorewoodsl.com 1451 Spruce Street • Florence a Compass Senior Living Community
