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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2021)
6A | SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS COVID from page 1A “The Delta variant is spreading fast and wide, throwing our state into a level of crisis we have not yet seen in the pandemic. Cases and hospitalizations are at a record high,” said Brown. “Masks are a quick and simple tool we can im- mediately deploy to protect ourselves and our families, Shoppe LOCAL #MyFlorence Shop. Eat. Support. SAVE. SHOP and quickly help stop fur- ther spread of COVID-19. “The Delta variant is much more contagious than previous variants we’ve seen, and it has dra- matically increased the amount of virus in our communities. Masks have proven to be effective at bringing case counts down, and are a necessary mea- sure right now, even in some outdoor settings, to help fight COVID and pro- tect one another.” The public is asked to follow these emergency recommendations regard- less of vaccination status. Lane County’s full list of recommendations are as follows: • Wear masks in indoor spaces with other individu- als outside of your immedi- ate household. • Wear masks in outdoor spaces when maintaining six feet of distance is not possible from other indi- BENEFITS from page 1A SUPPORT being the suspension of loan payments with a 0% inter- est rate and discontinuation of collections on defaulted loans, free of charge. This will allow student loan borrowers to skip payments until they can meet afford to until Jan. 31, 2022. People can learn more about what loans are eligible for the 0% loan in- terest through studentaid. gov/announcements-events/ coronavirus. Some ways to avoid “pan- demic grants” and “Biden loan forgiveness” scams, the Department of Education recommends all students check with their school to find out if the “offer is legit.” To learn more on how to avoid scams, visit studentaid. gov/resources/scams. As the pandemic contin- ues, student loan payments aren’t the only concern up in the air. According to the State of Oregon Employment De- partment (OED), $10.6 bil- lion in benefits have been paid to Oregonians from March 15, 2020, to Aug. 17, 2021, and Oregon’s unem- Visit us on the web viduals outside of your im- mediate household. • Carry masks and hand sanitizer with you when leaving home and wash your hands as often as pos- sible. • Avoid crowded public spaces, whether in or out- doors. • Avoid unnecessary business or leisure travel. • Respect other’s space and maintain at least 6 feet distance from others. • Limit activities that could lead to injuries re- quiring hospital care. • If you are an unvacci- nated adult, stay home and avoid public interactions as much as possible. • Get vaccinated. greater than 200 people in- doors and outdoors for at least the next two weeks. LCPH advises to strong- ly consider postponing events until a later date when transmission risk is reduced. If this is not pos- sible, LCPH recommends taking the following steps to limit the spread. • Require indoor and outdoor masking, regard- less of vaccination status. • Consider requiring proof of vaccination for entry. • Consider capacity lim- its to facilitate distancing, whether in or out of doors. • Provide ample sanita- tion stations for handwash- ing. • Consider entrances, ex- its, and other areas where people tend to cluster — ensure that attendees have room to queue that facili- tates spacing. Use signage and staff to remind people to maintain distance and use masking, indoors and outdoors. • Consider touchless vending options, if possi- ble. • Prominently post ap- propriate signage to re- mind customers to observe COVID-19 safe practices; reinforce via public address announcements through- out the event. For Businesses: • Ensure indoor mask- ing consistent with previ- ous LCPH advisories and Governor Brown’s masking order. • Ensure outdoor mask- ing for those older than five years of age (two and old- er if tolerated) — regard- less of vaccination status — when in outdoor public spaces in which six feet of distance cannot be consis- tently maintained. • Limit capacity to facili- tate social distancing, par- ticularly when customers will be eating and drinking without masks. • Prominently post ap- propriate signage to re- mind customers to observe COVID-19 safe practices. • Prominently post sig- nage about the vaccination status of your business and staff. Public Venue Owners, Operators, and Permitting Authorities While peer-reviewed evidence of outdoor trans- mission risks associated with the Delta Variant of SARS-CoV-2 is incom- plete, Lane County Public Health (LCPH) says it be- lieves that the safest strate- gy is to avoid public events ployment rate was recorded at 5.2% in June. The OED offers nine ben- efits and, of the $10.6 billion allocated, $3.3 billion of the benefits were distributed towards the CARES ACT, $2.7 billion for Regular Un- employment Insurance (UI), and $1.3 billion issued for the Pandemic Emergency Un- employment Compensation. As for the rest of the benefits, each category allocated over $100 million, except for the Disaster Unemployment As- sistance, which served a frac- tion of Oregonians $767,800. For Regular UI, a total of 727,200 Oregonians have ap- plied, and 504,200 of them were paid during the stated period. For the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the OED received a total of 335,600 claims, and 331, 800 of them have been entered into the unemployment sys- tem. In addition, 95,800 Or- egonians were paid Regular benefits and 113,700 people have benefitted from pan- demic unemployment. However, beginning Sept. 4, temporary federal unem- ployment benefit programs related to the pandemic will end. “The expiring benefit programs are Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Un- employment Compensa- tion, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensa- tion, and the Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensa- tion program,” according to the OED. Other temporary federal unemployment benefits in- cluded the Continued Assis- tance Act, which allowed for 11 extra weeks of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. During that time, the OED was guided by the U.S. Department of Labor that “everyone” was enti- tled to the same 11-week additional benefits, which reached people after Dec. 27, 2020. Another temporary fed- eral unemployment benefit was the American Rescue Plan Act. This was a bene- fits package that allowed for benefit extensions of $300 extra to continue through Sept. 4, which will soon end. With the temporary bene- fits ending, Oregon’s waiting week will apply again to un- employment insurance ben- efits starting Sept. 5. “We know unemploy- ment benefits are a critical safety net and people rely on these funds to provide for their families and stay in their homes. With tempo- rary federal benefits ending Sept. 4 and COVID-19 on the rise, this is a stressful time for many throughout the country,” said David Gerstenfeld, acting director of the Oregon Employment Department. “We want to make sure people have the information they need when we return to regular unem- ployment insurance (UI) benefit rules, including the waiting week.” For more information: • on unemployment re- sources, visit unemploy ment.oregon.gov/american rescueplan. • about loan exten- sions, visit studentaid.gov/ announcements-events/ coronavirus. • on federal benefits, visit unemployment.oregon.gov/ resources. 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