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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2020)
OREGON NEWS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A UMATILLA MALHEUR COUNTY Continued from Page 3A Continued from Page 3A Fiumara said Sept. 2 that his depart- ment is still evaluating next steps toward reaching Phase 2, but any plan to get back there will include the entire community continuing to buy into health and safety guidelines. “It’s all about the community response,” Fiumara said. “I am not sure how that works,” he said. “Oregon’s system is different than Idaho’s system. Their structure is more like it is left up to the counties and the cities to set the rules.” Joyce said he isn’t sure just how much impact Idaho’s COVID-19 cases have on Malheur County. “I don’t think there is any science,” he said. Poe said while Idaho cases are impacting Malheur County’s COVID-19 response, transmission of the virus goes both ways. “We have people who live in Malheur County who have exposed people in Idaho, and people who live in Idaho who have exposed people in Malheur County,” said Poe. The key difference, she said, is in the population between Malheur County and the counties closest to it in Idaho. Despite its geographic location, Malheur County is part of the greater Boise metro area where 730,426 people live, work and play. “It is just a tremendous difference — 700,000 people versus 30,000 people in Malheur County,” Poe said. The geographic COVID-19 challenge isn’t unique to Malheur County, said Marissa Morrison Hyer, press secretary for Idaho Gov. Brad Little. “We have similar issues in different communities whether on the Utah border or the west side of the state with Oregon and Idaho,” she said. Little isn’t focused on a cross-border cooperation, she said, but instead has adopted a “more regional response.” Morrison Hyer said there has been discussion with Southwest District Health — the agency that oversees Canyon, Payette and Washington counties — about limited gatherings and closing taverns but no decision has been made. COVID-19 restrictions are “an issue that the gover- nor tasked the public health districts to address,” she said. Overall, said Morrison Hyer, Little delegated the COVID-19 response to local public health districts to address. Poe said local governments are critical in the fi ght to overcome COVID-19. “The role of govern- ment is not to say you are on your own but to protect people they represent,” said Poe. Prison outbreaks included in Umatilla County numbers As an outbreak of the virus has spread at Eastern Oregon Correctional Insti- tution in Pendleton over the last two months, Umatilla County has advocated for the state to remove those numbers from the county’s case totals and metrics, which would undoubtedly make meeting the standards for Phase 2 and reopening schools easier. According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, over half of the EOCI inmates tested for the virus have been confi rmed as positive for a total of 252 cases among its roughly 1,700 inmates as of Friday, Sept. 4. An additional 24 employees at the prison have tested positive. In Umatilla, 41 inmates and 23 staff members have tested positive for the virus inside Two Rivers Correctional Institution. However, those inmates have tested posi- tive at a rate of just over 5%. In a statement provided by the Oregon Health Authority, state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger indicated these numbers Alex Castle /East Oregonian When Umatilla County will be permitted to move back to Phase 2 of reopen- ing, which would allow several types of businesses, including bowling alleys, to open, is up in the air after the state denied its appeal this week. won’t be universally included or excluded when evaluating an individual county’s case metrics. “OHA is not routinely excluding prison populations from county-based COVID-19 reporting. We will not routinely be doing so for school metrics,” Sidelinger stated. “We may consider the effect of prison popula- tions on county-based COVID-19 metrics on an as needed basis if they are not associated with community spread and a county would otherwise meet the metrics.” Fiumara said Umatilla County Public Health will continue to report all cases from within the two prisons because they are by defi nition within the department’s jurisdiction. However, he agreed there needs to be a nuanced evaluation of the county’s numbers that accounts for how representative those numbers are of the virus’s spread in the community. “I would agree that what’s happening in the prison is not an apples to apples comparison for community spread, but I would also make the argument that it had to get there somehow,” he said. Republican Party statement arrives 29 seconds late, won’t be in pamphlet ■ GOP chairman Bill Currier says decision ‘reeks of partisan discrimination’ in Marion County demanding that the statement be included SALEM — This might be in the voters’ guide before it the closest deadline miss in goes to print later this month. Oregon political history. State “We can’t quite explain the offi cials say the Oregon Repub- interpretation and decision lican Party’s statement for the here” by state elections offi cials, state voters’ pamphlet arrived Hoar said. “That’s why we’ve 29 seconds too late and won’t gone to court.” appear in the guide mailed In a statement, state Repub- to voters for the November lican Chairman Bill Currier election. said the failure to include his “We have to apply deadlines party’s statement from the equally for everyone,” Laura voting guide “reeks of partisan Fosmire, a spokeswoman for discrimination.” Secretary of State Bev Clarno, He added, “If a bureaucrat said in a statement. “Anyone in some decision-making role wishing to submit information simply didn’t like what our to the Voters’ Pamphlet has statement said, this doesn’t several weeks to do so and we give them the right to silence recommend avoiding waiting us.” until the last minute for this Hoar also said that Currier reason.” was locked out of the online Kevin Hoar, the communica- fi ling system for several hours, tions director for the state GOP, delaying the party’s ability to insisted the party did get its fi le its statement. statement into an online fi ling Fosmire countered that system by 4:59 p.m. on Aug. there were “no problems 25, the fi nal day for fi ling. He or glitches” with the online said the party fi led a lawsuit reporting system. “We simply By Jeff Mapes Oregon Public Broadcasting received the statement after the fi ling deadline,” she said. Clarno, the secretary of state, is the only Oregon Republican in statewide offi ce. A former Oregon House speaker from Deschutes County, she was ap- pointed to the job by Democrat- ic Gov. Kate Brown to serve the rest of the term after Secretary of State Dennis Richardson died in 2019. Each of the eight political parties who nominate can- didates in Oregon’s general election is allowed to fi le a statement promoting its prin- ciples and explaining why its candidates should be elected. The statement submitted by the Republican Party was headlined “Had enough? Vote Republican!” It attacked Democratic leadership in Oregon on issues ranging from “Unrestrained rioting” in Portland to mismanagement of the pandemic resulting in “catastrophic small business losses.” The Democratic Party of Oregon and six other politi- cal parties are included in the voters’ pamphlet for the Nov. 3 election. Imagine The Difference You Can Make DONATE YOUR CAR 1-844-533-9173 FREE TOWING TAX DEDUCTIBLE Help Prevent Blindness Get A Vision Screening Annually Ask About A FREE 3 Day Vacation Voucher To Over 20 Destinations!!! Idaho Power Requests Rate Changes Related to Langley Gulch Langley Gulch Power Plant Idaho Power has filed a proposal with the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) requesting a rate change that, if approved, would impact pricing for Oregon customers. The filing requests an increase of about $500,000, or 0.92%, associated with collection of previously deferred revenues related to the Langley Gulch natural gas power plant. 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