6A | SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS
MAPLETON from page 1A
is to look at what all the requirements are
and then have meetings with staff.”
What distance learning will look like
for each grade is different, “Especially
when it comes to elementary,” O’Mara
said. “The shorter amount of screen time
for those kiddos, the better. We have to
figure out how to balance that with the
instruction we have to give to students
virtually.”
The district is still in the process of fig-
uring out what online capabilities its stu-
dents have. While school staff polled fam-
ilies on whether or not they had internet
access, the types of devices students have
access to are still being looked at.
“For some families, they don’t have cell
phone access, but can still do WIFI call-
ing,” O’Mara said. “For other, computer
access is limited to a PlayStation or get-
ting data on their phones. Those are the
things we really have to delve into.”
The district does have a program that
provides Chromebooks to its seniors and
laptops to its middle school students. The
district will be looking at what families
need when deciding how to distribute
those to students.
Family needs of any kind are a concern
for the district, and staff are working on
keeping in close contact throughout the
shutdown.
“We put a system in place early this
week where every student and family will
be contacted by a staff member each week
to create that connection, see how things
are going and check in,” O’Mara said. “It
lets the teachers be involved, and it lets
the kids and families know we haven’t for-
gotten them — we’re still here and want
to support them. I think that’s important.”
The district had been making food de-
livery trips every day of the week during
the shutdown, but starting next week it
will cut deliveries to only Monday and
Wednesday, though it will still provide
meals for the entire week.
“Part of the reason for reducing it is to
reduce the amount of contact that com-
COUNTY from page 1A
Rural versus urban
Questions on how the state
should report cases was discussed
early on in the crisis, according
to Davis, with information com-
ing from the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta, Ga.
“Oregon took up this ques-
tion early on in light of our own
unique situation here — except
for a couple of dense metropol-
itan areas, we are largely rural,
small communities,” Davis said.
Two arguments came out for
and against naming communities
with COVID-19.
“There were some people say-
ing, ‘Yes, I think in our county
it is fine to release individual
information. We think the rami-
fications of doing so will be man-
ageable, and it’s not a violation
of HIPPA,” Davis said, referring
to the law barring the release of
private health information to the
public.
However, others felt that if
smaller, rural cities were named,
patients with COVID-19 would
be easily identified and poten-
tially targeted — as has happened
with past outbreaks such as HIV,
SARS and Ebola.
“I think what has colored the
public health reasoning behind
this are those isolated and ex-
treme incidences where people
have really gone above and be-
yond to make an individual’s life
miserable, even taking poten-
tially harmful physical actions
against people [with a disease],”
Davis said.
But Davis also pointed out that
stigmatization is not the norm.
“I think the general public is
not interested in shaming peo-
ple,” he said. “I don’t think the
public is interested in condemn-
ing people for getting sick, espe-
cially since we understand how
contagious this illness is. It’s no
fault of the individual.”
The state was not able to come
to an agreement on whether to
release location information of
confirmed COVID-19 cases, so it
left the decision up to individual
counties, according to Davis.
“In Lane County, the initial
assessment was leaning on a
national public health model of
keeping patient privacy intact,”
he added.
The reasoning being that if a
munity and staff have, just to reduce the
risk of spreading the virus,” O’Mara said.
As far as graduation requirements for
seniors, at press time ODE still has not
given guidance.
“We’ve been waiting anxiously and we
keep asking,” O’Mara said. “We are going
to get them there, and we’re going to sup-
port them the best we can. They worked
hard for 13 years, and we don’t want them
to miss out on this.”
The one thing that Mapleton students
are missing is going to school itself.
“I’ve gotten a couple text messages
from high school students, and they miss
school. They want to be back in school,”
O’Mara said. “They said they never
thought they would say that.”
But the superintendent stressed that
kids are resilient and can make it through,
with the help of adults.
“I think it’s up to us as adults to help
make this a positive experience for our
kiddos. It is traumatic, it is trying, it is dif-
ferent. It’s something that none of us have
ever had to deal with. I think it’s import-
ant for us as adults to make this as pos-
itive an experience as we can,” she said.
That can be difficult with the fallout of
COVID-19.
“Some adults are dealing with a loss
of job, and having kids home full time
affects the stress within the home. It’s
stressful for us as adults. We need to put
some systems in place at home, and I’m
doing it myself, to do self care and turn-
ing this into a positive experience. Kids
are going to remember this time,” she
added.
O’Mara also spoke to the importance
of keeping children informed of the reali-
ties of the situation.
“We need to talk to our kids about why
the school is closed and why we need to
keep social distancing,” she said. “It’s hard
when we see a kid picking up their lunch
and they want to give you a hug. How do
you tell them not to? But we need to. We
need to be the leaders and the role mod-
els and say, ‘Okay, let’s do an air hug and
explain to you why.’ Kids are resilient and
woman in her 50s in the Eugene/
Springfield area were to contract
the virus, it would be difficult to
pinpoint exactly who she was be-
cause of the large population of
the two cities.
“However, in a small commu-
nity like Swisshome or Dead-
wood, where there might be only
three people in their 50s overall,
it would be pretty easy to narrow
down,” Davis said.
While LCPH has a duty to pro-
tect HIPPA law, “It’s also about
respecting individual civil liber-
ties, rights and medical privacy,”
he said. “It’s about trying to make
sure folks in communities in
Lane County feel confident that
they can have communications
with Lane County Public Health
about personal health informa-
tion and it won’t be made public.”
Also playing into the decision
was the fact that Oregon was
already putting in place strict
social distancing guidelines and
treating community spread of
COVID-19 as a reality.
“It is already in your commu-
nity, and it’s already spreading
around. And there likely will be
cases — and some of those cases
will never be identified,” Davis
said.
So, the county made the deci-
sion to only report two areas: Eu-
gene/Springfield would get one
designation, and the rest of Lane
County would be considered
“outside” or “rural.”
Interconnected rumors
The approximately 4,200
miles that constitutes “rural” in
Lane County has hundreds of
communities, many of which
have sizable populations. This
includes Cottage Grove (pop.
10,169), Florence (pop. 8,947),
Junction City (Pop. 6,101), Cre-
swell (5,375), Veneta (pop. 5,016)
and Oakridge (pop. 3,294). Then
there are the hundreds of small
communities in the county that
connect to these cities.
For example, the Siuslaw re-
gion includes Florence, Dunes
City, Mapleton, Swisshome, Tide
and unincorporated areas that
make up an estimated 16,000 res-
idents in total.
The communities are inter-
connected, sharing the same
medical care at PeaceHealth
Peace Harbor, as well as the
same shopping destinations and
Buying or Selling? I can help.
they know we’re all going to get through
this. I just hope the majority of them have
fonder memories than not.”
Despite the isolation of social distanc-
ing in the already isolated upriver com-
munity, O’Mara is seeing signs that peo-
ple are coming together more than ever.
“I don’t see isolation,” she said. “For
instance, in the Deadwood community
there’s a phone tree where people check
in on each other. I think that’s happening
more now than before, just because of the
isolation that a lot of people are comply-
ing with.”
The district is in constant touch with
organizations such as Mapleton Food
Share to find out what their needs are,
and the school is coming up with a list of
resources they can share to people of all
ages.
“Are we able to maybe reach out in dif-
ferent ways to our community that may
not have school-aged children, but are
still in need?” O’Mara asked. “Those are
definitely conversations that we’re having
because it’s something we can help pro-
vide for our community.”
As for the school itself, Mapleton
School District staff is using this time as
an opportunity to better know the com-
munity they serve.
“They come every day to pack the
food, deliver the food, make those con-
tacts with the community. That puts
them at risk, and so right now those are
our rock stars and we could not do that
without them,” O’Mara said.
The district has created a remind-
er app, giving out resources for mental
health and other assistance.
“They are really in touch with the
community and I get text messages from
them saying, ‘Hey, this was a great day, or
this is something you need to know about
this family,’” O’Mara said. “It almost feels
like there is more of a connection because
we’re out in the community, rather than
all the kids coming to our school. We’re
going out to them. I feel like this is an op-
portunity we need to take with our fami-
lies to reach out in their world.”
demographics. Based on con-
versations already taking place
in communities throughout the
Siuslaw region, most have at least
one individual who thinks they
may have COVID-19 or thinks a
community member has it.
Siuslaw News posed a scenar-
io-based question to Davis: If
LCPH statements only identi-
fy confirmed cases as being in
“rural Lane County,” then every
community not within the Eu-
gene/Springfield region is like-
ly to assume they are the latest
location with the virus. And if
every community outside of the
Eugene/Springfield area thinks
it has the latest COVID-19 case,
it could create ongoing coun-
ty-wide confusion, with commu-
nities unable to confirm the facts.
“I think you’re absolutely right
in your assessment,” Davis said.
“I think there are dangers to that.
I unfortunately don’t have a really
clear answer. The weight of the
decision so far has really been
focused on patient privacy rath-
er than the acknowledgement of
the geographic differences of our
county.”
Davis stated that he has seen
people self-outing online because
of the rumors. But so far, these
examples are from the Eugene/
Springfield area. In that case,
Lane County confirmed that
there was a case in the region.
However, if someone from Flor-
ence were to contract the disease
and decide to identify themselves
online as a public service, they
could not point to Lane County
as an official reference point to
distinguish it from being just an-
other rumor.
And neither can local news
sources.
“That is an unfortunate casu-
alty given the nature of informa-
tion sharing,” Davis said.
The dangers of the rumor
mill are not limited to privacy
concerns. Lane County’s refusal
to share information could also
make the spread of the disease
worse while weakening commu-
nity efforts to effectively combat
the disease.
In the past week, The Ore-
gonian published two articles
regarding the state’s response to
the pandemic. Quoting a recent
study by the Oregon Health Au-
thority (OHA), it was stated there
was strong possibility that the so-
PPE from page 1A
and about a dozen
much-needed N95
masks, approximate-
ly 250 pairs of nitrile
gloves and more
than a dozen dispos-
able full-body cover-
alls,” Messmer said.
People who wish
to sew their own
masks may reference
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
PeaceHealth Peace Donations of PPEs may be dropped at Florence
Harbor’s
recom- Public Works, 2675 Kingwood St.
mended pattern at
www.peacehealth.org/coronavirus.
Law enforcement officials are
To purchase a mask from a local requesting caution on the part of
family — $10 each, available in both consumers and asking for help in de-
child and adult sizes — contact Sa- terring criminals.
brina Hand at 541-999-5184 or five-
U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams
5hands@gmail.com. The Hands are said, “We are aware of instances of
donating two masks for every mask consumer fraud stemming from the
they sell.
COVID-19 public health emergency.
“The West Lane Emergency Op- While Americans work to protect
erations Group, PeaceHealth Peace themselves and their loved ones from
Harbor Medical Center and the City the threat of COVID-19, some indi-
of Florence send out a heartfelt thank viduals are actively trying to profit off
you to everyone who has stepped up of this emergency. If you or someone
to help us care for our community in you know believe you’ve been the
these challenging times,” Messmer target or victim of an outbreak-relat-
said.
ed fraud scheme, please contact law
On a related note, the Internal enforcement immediately.”
Revenue Service (IRS) has released
The following recommendations
a COVID-19 warning about unsolic- appear on Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s
ited calls claiming to represent those coronavirus webpage, govstatus.
affected by the virus.
egov.com/or-covid-19. “All com-
“Taxpayers should be extra vig- munity members should stay home
ilant for unsolicited phone calls or except to perform essential duties for
emails concerning their economic business continuity or government
impact payments,” said Justin Camp- functions, to get food, care for a rel-
bell, Special Agent in Charge of the ative or friend, get necessary health
Seattle Field Office for IRS-CI. “The care, or perform activities related
IRS will not call or email you about to maintaining a healthy lifestyle
your payment. IRS-Criminal Inves- during this time. It is okay to go
tigation is stepping up our efforts in outside for walks if you are not in
coordination with the Department a group and practice proper social
of Justice to aggressively investigate distancing. It is not okay to travel to
anyone that seeks to defraud our another community, including the
community members during this Oregon Coast, in order to maintain
crisis.”
a healthy lifestyle.”
cial distancing restrictions were
working, and that Oregon was
possibly close to flattening the
curve low enough to keep hospi-
tals from being overloaded.
But the core data of these stud-
ies is limited only to people ill
enough to warrant a test.
That leaves larger questions
on how the virus affects the pop-
ulation — and what is needed to
begin the process of going back
to daily life — uncertain at best.
The reason? The inability to
do wide testing, said Davis.
“There just aren’t enough test-
ing resources for us to be able to
use testing as a weapon against
this outbreak in an effective man-
ner,” Davis said. “Public Health
would love to see a mass test-
ing exercise in Florence, where
we could do drive-thu testing
on 4,000 people that might be
symptomatic. We would be able
to identify which ones actually
do have COVID and make clear
and strong recommendations
for those individuals. By doing
that, we could significantly slow
the spread of the disease in the
community. At least then we
can equip the community with a
baseline level of how COVID is
moving through.”
However, given the fact that
only a limited number of people
are being tested right now, that’s
not happening.
“There are people who are
probably have COVID. They are
being told to simply stay home,
which is the general direction
for everybody right now, but es-
pecially for individuals who are
symptomatic.”
Siuslaw News has spoken with
non-tested individuals who be-
lieve they had COVID-19, recov-
ered and are now willing to break
self-quarantine.
“I would love to get the mes-
sage out there that the level of
immunity — and how people ex-
perience immunity from COVID
— is still a very much unknown
verdict,” Davis said. “I think
we’re basing our assumptions
on MERS and SARS. This data
is not directly relevant. I would
never want to assume that I am
not going to share a disease with
the community merely based on
these very loose understandings
of this virus.”
Problems could also arise for
community responders such as
West Lane Emergency Opera-
tions Group which, without the
ability to tell the community
whether or not there are cases in
the region, the ability to mobilize
the community in the event of a
spike in infection could be made
more difficult.
The need for transparency
“I happen to live in a smaller,
rural community myself,” Davis
said. “I hear concerns from the
people I live near. I absolutely
know the fear and anxiety of be-
ing kept in the dark. That’s the
last thing in the world in terms
of outcomes that we want to see
happen.”
According to Davis, LCPH
is made up of doctors who have
devoted their lives to promote the
health of a community.
“It just so happens, in order to
stay funded, we have to remain
under the umbrella of govern-
ment. Not saying government
is bad, but we have a different
mindset and a different compo-
sition than other government
entities. It’s very pro-social and
pro-health, and not nearly as
focused on enforcement or oth-
er elements that have fostered a
level of distrust in some areas of
Lane County,” he said.
LCPH is attempting to expand
the information it is allowed to
give to help guide communities.
“We’re pushing on our data
folks to try and combine and
consolidate information to be
able to provide information to
our smaller, rural communities,”
Davis said.
And he also believes that
these issues can be worked out.
“There clearly is a way,” Da-
vis said. “I think the fragmented
nature of public health policy
implemented at local levels is
both a positive for public health
— because it allows for flexibil-
ity to make those decisions at a
local level — but also can be an
impediment. During a time of
emergency, strong leadership
and clear information is imper-
ative.”
But to do that, there has to be
broader conversation.
“I think the other piece we
have to address is that these con-
cerns are being heard, that our
officials are listening and not
turning a deaf ear to the needs
of our rural communities,” said
Davis. “While I’m not a deci-
sion-maker on many fronts, I
think we need to bring every-
body into the conversation and
really help people understand
how decisions are made — even
if we have to make hard deci-
sions. We have to bring people in
on the decision-making process
and, at the very least, help them
understand how those decisions
are being made and how to be a
part of that process.”
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