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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2020)
RS 2020 Coronavirus Stimulus Guide How the $2 trillion CARES Act will assist local residents, businesses E EA SIU S CEL SN BR AT I N G 1 30 Y Mapleton continues to serve upriver community District provides instruction, resources The Mapleton School District, along with other districts across the state, is By Jared Anderson looking at new guide- Siuslaw News lines re- leased by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) requiring all schools to move to graded distance education by April 13. While Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has not extended the shutdown order past April, schools are expected to be closed for the remainder of the school year, creating the need for distance educa- tion. “Brenda [Moyer], my high school principal, and I are still delving deep into what that means for our district,” said Mapleton Superintendent Jodi O’Mara. For the following week, the district will still be handing out supplemental instruction, broad lessons that aren’t graded but still keeps kids engaged. But on April 13, actual graded homework will be going out. “What that looks like, we really aren’t sure yet,” O’Mara said. “Our teachers are the experts when it comes to the education of our students. So our goal See MAPLETON page 6A SATURDAY EDITION | APRIL 4, 2020 | $1.00 THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S See pages A7-A8 Inside Community gathers PPE for local emergency groups NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY Story & photo By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News T he COVID- 19 emergency has not only shaken the collective con- sciousness of Americans, it has revealed a number of problems with the medical supply model currently in place. Most noticeably at this time is a severe shortage of equipment that is meant to protect those at risk of in- fection. Medical first responders in Flor- ence and nationwide are experienc- ing shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) of all types, but there is a critical need at this time for appropriate protective masks. The City of Florence and West Lane Emergency Operations Group (WLEOG) has recognized this prob- lem and has initiated a PPE donation program to assist in the collection and distribution of items needed by medical personnel. Donations of PPEs from the community may be dropped off on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the City of Florence Public Works Facility, 2675 Kingwood St. The city has put in place measures to assure safety for Public Works em- ployees and volunteers helping with the collection. Most importantly, do- nators should place items in the trunk/ back hatch of the vehicle and are asked to not exit the vehicle. A designee from the Emergency Operations Center will then remove the items and place them in donation Siuslaw News VOL. 130, NO. 27 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Volunteers are stationed at Florence Public Works during the week to collect Personal Protective Equipment from the community. bins. WLEOG is designated as the pri- mary entity tasked with guiding the Siuslaw region through this emergen- cy by coordinating a Western Lane Emergency Operations Center, in coordination with the Lane County Emergency Operations Center. “It is essential to have PPE on hand to prepare for possible surges in the number of local cases,” stated a March 27 press release from WLEOG. “Please consider donating your surplus PPE, including new masks, gowns and gloves. This applies to medical profes- sionals — doctor, dentist, veterinari- an, etc. — or non-health care private businesses such as contractors or elec- tricians.” WLEOG Public Information Of- ficer Megan Messmer provided an update on the collection effort’s first week and commented on the support of local residents. “We appreciate the generosity of our community and encourage continued donations. West Lane County is coor- dinating with Lane County on inven- torying donations. As of Thursday, April 2, we had received more than 60 masks — including hand-sewn masks See PPE page 6A Lane County Public Health unable to confirm location of rural COVID-19 cases Rain showers with a high of 48 and a low tonight of 41. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Fellowship donates to Florence Habitat for Humanity INSIDE — A3 SPORTS County protocols prevent identifying rural communities with confirmed cases of the virus By Jared Anderson & Ned Hickson Siuslaw News At the beginning, the symptoms mirrored underlying health condi- tions the woman had, and there were no symptoms that were often associat- ed with COVID-19, such as fever. The woman went untested for 25 days, until the symptoms came to a point that testing was deemed neces- sary on March 18. It is unknown if or when she went into isolation during that period. “This is something we’re seeing more and more,” Davis said. “People who feel general lethargy, or head- aches or coughs, it’s hard for them “I hear concerns from the people I live near. I abso- lutely know the fear and anxiety of being kept in the dark. That’s the last thing in the world in terms of out- comes that we want to see happen.” — Jason Davis, Lane County Public Health Public Information Officer sources on social media. LCPH Public Information Officer Jason Davis spoke with the Siuslaw News about the possible Florence-ar- ea patient, the rules regarding disclo- sure, why they were implemented and the effects the current protocols could have on flattening the curve of the spread. Siuslaw’s first “confirmed” case On April 2, LCPH announced that a woman in her 50s had been officially diagnosed with COVID-19. She had been hospitalized but was now recov- ering at home. Her symptoms first began on Feb. 23. “There was a cough and then the cough progressed into a shortness of breath,” Davis told the Siuslaw News after Lane County’s press briefing on Thursday. to understand the first symptoms of COVID. Since the virus can take a long time to show those advanced symptoms, it makes it problematic in identifying those with the initial on- set.” And despite having the virus for over a month, the woman is still in recovery. “This individual is being asked to stay home because they are still exhib- iting some of those symptoms,” Davis said. “That is being done in an abun- dance of caution.” The one thing that Davis could not tell Siuslaw News is where the woman was actually residing. All he could say is she lived in “rural Lane County.” Siuslaw News became aware of the case this past Wednesday, after a local healthcare worker, who asked to re- main anonymous, said they knew of a local woman in her 50s who had been confirmed to have COVID-19 fol- lowing testing at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart at RiverBend in Eugene. That would make her the first confirmed case of the virus in the Florence area. Siuslaw News had been receiv- ing multiple reports of possible COVID-19 infections throughout the past week, including one individual who stated that she and seven friends were convinced they had contract- ed the virus earlier in March but had since recovered. However, none of the individuals had been tested for COVID-19 and therefore have not been officially confirmed. Rumors and questions were also buzzing on social media. Siuslaw News contacted Davis, who stated that there were no confirmed cases in the Siuslaw region at that time, “but if there was a case, family would be notified first, then the city in charge and, soon after, the infor- mation would be released via a flash alert and a press conference.” However, during the live LCPH press briefing this past Thursday, authorities confirmed two new cases in Lane County, one of which was “a female in her 50s who lives in rural Lane County and was hospitalized but is now at home…” A source familiar with LCPH told the Siuslaw News, “The county is not reporting residency of patients liv- ing outside of the Eugene-Springfield area. They are simply reported as be- ing from ‘elsewhere in Lane County.’” Siuslaw News emailed LCPH for a response, requesting that the agency either confirm or deny the woman in her 50s lives in the Florence area of the Siuslaw region. At that point, Davis contacted Siuslaw News for an in-depth interview on the reasoning behind Lane County’s decision to withhold residency information from rural communities with confirmed cases of COVID-19. See COUNTY page 6A Long range recreation 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 | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 The Siuslaw region may have had its first confirmed case of the novel coro- navirus COVID-19. The patient, a woman in her 50s, returned home this week after being hospitalized with the illness, the first symptoms of which began in late Feb- ruary. Lane County Public Health (LCPH) announced Thursday that the woman lives in a “rural area outside of Eugene/ Springfield,” and Siuslaw News has re- ceived independent reports that the patient does live in the Florence area of the Siuslaw region. However, Lane County will neither confirm nor deny whether the patient lives in Florence. This is due to a rule implement- ed by the county that does not allow LCPH representatives to report res- idency of any cases living outside of the Eugene-Springfield area. Instead, all Lane County cities outside that area are lumped into the designation “outside Eugene/Springfield” or “Rural Lane County.” Because of current LCPH protocol, Florence and those living in the Siu- slaw region will not have official con- firmation of any cases of COVID-19 despite evidence that there is at least one confirmed case already. LCPH says the reason for the cur- rent protocol is patient privacy and safety. Recent examples of discrimina- tory actions against patients with the virus have made Lane County officials wary of pinpointing cases in smaller communities. However, there are con- cerns the not identifying communities outside of Eugene/Springfield with confirmed cases of the virus could have a host of negative effects in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. By withholding information, regions such as the Siuslaw are hampered in their abilities to properly prepare for and respond to a potential outbreak. The result could be a spike in local cases due to a false sense of security, po- tentially encouraging people to break stay-at-home orders. At the opposite end of the spectrum, confusion or as- sumption regarding rumors of the vi- rus within small communities could be made worse by LCPH not identifying where confirmed cases of COVID-19 are located. This could have the oppo- site effect of reducing discriminatory actions if those suspected of having the virus are identified through unofficial HAVE YOU RECENTLY BEEN APPROVED FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS? If yes, Central Lincoln’s Job Loss Assistance may also be able to help with your electricity bill. Go to clpud.org and click on “Job Loss Assistance” for details, and how to apply. Funds are fi rst come, fi rst served. (Assistance is limited, and some restrictions apply.) We will #PowerOnTogether A C O M M U N I T Y- O W N E D E L E C T R I C U T I LI TY
