6A | SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
VACCINE from page 1A
According to Florence
Public Information Officer
Megan Messmer, “Wednes-
day went extremely well
and people moved through
the process efficiently. We
heard from many people as
they left how easy and fast
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it was. Lane County Search
and Rescue managed the
registration and adminis-
tering of vaccines inside the
facility, supported by Lane
County Public Health.”
The City of Florence was
able to provide staff sup-
port for sanitation and prep
work for the team from
Search and Rescue.
“The city also staffed the
outside of the facility for
traffic flow and wayfinding.
Several CERT (Commu-
nity Emergency Response
Team) volunteers assist-
ed city staff in that effort
throughout the day,” Mess-
mer said.
The distribution of vac-
cines will continue at the
FEC today, March 6, with
a second round of vaccina-
tions being offered to eligi-
ble residents. People were
already notified of their
eligibility by Lane County
Public Health.
Bowman hopes for a sim-
ilar turnout for those inoc-
ulations.
“We are looking for-
ward to coming back to
Florence on Saturday, for
the distribution of anoth-
er 1,000 doses. These will
be available to individuals
that have preregistered at
the Lane County website,”
he said.
There is a wait list for the
event, but Bowman suggest
interested individuals stay
available as they may re-
ceive a last-minute call for
a vaccination appointment.
People can preregister for
their COVID-19 vaccine at
lanecounty.org/coronavi-
rus.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
has made several com-
ments about the vaccina-
tion of Oregonians in the
past week.
“One year in, with our
DUNES from page 1A
SUPPORT
The ordinance was
prompted by numerous
complaints resulting from
bad behavior of individ-
uals renting properties
for short periods of time,
without proper oversight.
The ordinance was the
subject of a public hear-
ing on Thursday and drew
comments from both sides
of the issue. Since last May,
some residents have con-
tacted the council with
concerns associated with
noise, trespass and liability.
There was also a signif-
icant pushback against the
implementation of any reg-
ulations governing rentals
as being unnecessary.
Rich and Lori Olson
own Darlings Resort and
Marina, which has a small
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Florence’s first vaccination clinic was organized to
keep traffic flowing and people apart. All safety pre-
cautions were taken.
vaccine efforts continu-
ing to ramp up, we truly
see light at the end of the
tunnel,” Brown said. “We
have more than 14 percent
of Oregonians vaccinat-
ed with their first dose —
which is more than half a
million Oregonians.”
As of March 1, OHA re-
ported that 973,022 first and
second doses of COVID-19
vaccine have been adminis-
tered in the state. So far, Or-
egon has received vaccine
from both Pfizer Inc. and
BioNTech SE and Moderna
Inc., which both arrived in
December. OHA is adding
a new vaccine, from John-
son & Johnson, this week,
with an initial 34,000 doses.
Unlike the Pfizer and Mod-
ern vaccines, the new vac-
cine only requires one dose.
The state will receive help
from FEMA in administer-
ing vaccines to Oregonians.
Brown also announced a
new vaccine prioritization
schedule, which she hopes
will see all Oregonians 16
and older eligible for the
vaccine by July 1.
“Come summer, provid-
ed supplies from the fed-
eral government continue
as planned, any Oregonian
who wants the vaccine will
be eligible to receive it,”
Brown said. “While that
gives us all a reason to
breathe a sigh of relief, it
should also serve as a re-
minder that the finish line
is in sight — and we cannot
let up.”
The next step for vacci-
nations will begin March
29, with the following
groups eligible:
• Adults age 45 to 64 with
underlying health condi-
tions as defined by the CDC
• Seasonally-impacted
frontline workers, such
as migrant seasonal farm
workers, seafood and agri-
cultural workers, and food
processing workers
• Currently
displaced
victims of the September
2020 wildfires
• Wildland firefighters
• People living in low-in-
come and congregate se-
nior housing
• Individuals experienc-
ing houselessness
By May, the prioritization
schedule will begin vacci-
nating frontline workers,
16-45 year olds with under-
lying health conditions and
multigenerational house-
hold members.
No later than June 1,
Phase 2 of vaccination will
begin with all adults aged
45 to 64. And, no later than
July 1, all Oregonians 16
and over will be eligible to
receive a vaccine.
“As we vaccinate thou-
sands of Oregonians each
day and reopen more school
buildings and businesses as
safely as possible, now is
not the time to let up our
guard,” Brown said. “New,
more infectious COVID-19
variants are circulating in
the United States, including
several confirmed cases in
Oregon. We will contin-
ue to keep each other safe
in the months to come by
following the same safety
measures we have through-
out the pandemic — wear-
ing face coverings, staying
home when sick, maintain-
ing physical distance and
avoiding social gatherings.”
For more information
about COVID-19 in Or-
egon, visit govstatus.egov.
com/OR-OHA-COVID-19
or
covidvaccine.oregon.
gov.
number of rental spots for
campers and RVs on Silt-
coos Lake. Darlings has a
kitchen and bar and has
had to shift services and
business plans dramatical-
ly over the last year under
COVID-19.
But the Olsons are op-
posed to the plan to regu-
late others, even though it
would have little impact on
their particular business.
“I do understand that
there is an issue in Dunes
City with Airbnbs, but I
believe writing another
ordinance in Dunes City
would be nothing more
than governmental over-
reach,” Rich said. “In the
times we are in now, we
don’t need more govern-
ment overreach. I don’t
think that is something
that is needed in Dunes
City, where we have a lim-
ited window of income. By
making an ordinance such
as this, making the re-
quirements that you have
in here, would make it al-
most impossible for most
of these people to come
back and afford to rent an
Airbnb.”
While Rich’s comments
were well received, Coun-
cilor Duke Wells said that
he believes some type of
oversight is needed to re-
spond to the numerous
complaints he and other
councilors have received.
“I think if you have a
piece of property, a home
in Dunes City, you bought
it and you don’t live in that
place and you are renting
it out — or whatever you
want to call it — you need
to be operating under an
ordinance,” said Wells.
“And if you are a company
and you own property and
are renting it out, you need
to be under an ordinance.”
A discussion then took
place regarding specific
concerns over the bad be-
havior of property own-
ers by allowing renters
without oversight or ba-
sic rules governing their
behavior. The end result
of these discussions was
a decision by the council
to table the issue pending
more research and atten-
tion to all aspects of the
rental paradigm.
The council then moved
on to the next item on the
agenda: water rights.
Mills again asked the
council to move the top-
ic to the forefront of fu-
ture discussions, as Lane
County has contacted the
city looking for an update
to the city’s plan for ad-
dressing the issue.
The council agreed to
address the situation at a
future meeting.
After this, there were
brief reports about the
quality of water in the area.
Mills completed the eve-
ning with an update from
the Western Lane Emer-
gency Operations Group
(WLEOG), to which
Dunes City belongs. She
reported that the group
has updated some aspects
of its efforts to communi-
cate with the public and
with municipal entities.
The next Dunes City
Council meeting is sched-
uled for March 24.
For more information,
visit dunescityhall.com.
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