SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2021
COVID
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
LOCAL & STATE
Age Trends in Baker County COVID-19 Cases
Continued from Page 1A
Between May 1-20, no
county resident in that age
range tested positive for the
virus, according to the Baker
County Health Department.
The infection rate among
county residents 70 and older
has dropped over the past two
months:
• 17.5% of new cases from
March 23 through April 2
• 9.9% of new cases from
April 3-21
• 2% of new cases from
April 15-30
Of the 15 county residents
who have died after testing
positive for COVID-19, ac-
cording to the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA), all but one
was older than 70. The lone
exception is a 59-year-old man
who died on Feb. 2.
On Thursday, May 20, the
OHA reported that a 74-year-
old Baker County man had
died May 15, after testing
positive for the virus on May
3.
The man had underlying
medical conditions, according
to OHA.
“I’m very sorry for his
family and friends’ loss,”
Baker County Commissioner
Mark Bennett said in a press
release. “Over a year into this
pandemic, it hasn’t gotten
any easier to receive a report
like this. I ask that everyone
stay aware that there are,
and are going to continue to
be, individuals who haven’t or
can’t receive a vaccine. Thanks
for everything you’ve done to
protect our community, and
please continue to make choic-
es that protect each other.”
The death reported Thurs-
day was the county’s fi rst
AGE RANGE
% CASES 3/23-4/2
4/3-21
4/15-30
5/1-15
70 and older
60 to 69
50 to 59
40 to 49
30 to 39
20 to 29
10 to 19
9 and younger
17.5%
10.5%
24.6%
19.3%
10.5%
8.8%
7.0%
1.8%
9.9%
13.2%
11.0%
11.0%
26.4%
4.4%
16.5%
7.7%
2%
3.9%
9.8%
13.7%
25.5%
21.6%
13.7%
9.8%
0%
11.1%
11.1%
7.4%
18.5%
11.1%
11.1%
29.6%
Source: Baker County Health Department
meted as that age group’s
vaccination status has
increased.
“That’s protecting people
from getting COVID,” Staten
said. “That just makes sense.”
Rates are lower among
younger residents, many of
whom weren’t eligible for
inoculation until some time
in March or April.
Vaccination rates range
from 45% for people ages 60
to 64, to 14.6% for ages 16 to
Vaccinations
19, who have been eligible to
As of Thursday, May 20, a be vaccinated for a month.
total of 5,998 Baker County
The OHA also has started
residents — 35.7% of the
tracking vaccination rates by
population of about 16,800 — ZIP code. In Baker County:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were either fully vaccinated
• Sumpter: 134 of 282 resi-
A depiction of a coronavirus particle.
(5,218, or 31.1%) or partially dents vaccinated, 47.5%
vaccinated (780, or 4.6%).
• Halfway: 391 of 904,
The vaccination rate is
43.3%
COVID-19-related fatality in will have the lowest daily case
highest among residents 80
rate since October.
• Haines: 291 of 740, 39.3%
more than a month.
For the 13-day period May and older, 67% of whom are
• Baker City: 4,533 of
A 71-year-old Baker County
fully or partially vaccinated. 12,348, 36.7%
woman died on on April 14 at 8-20, the county reported no
new cases on fi ve days, and a Most of those people — 694 of
• Durkee: 26 of 85, 30.6%
a Boise hospital, seven days
742 — are fully vaccinated.
single case on six days.
• Unity: 28 of 129, 29.5%
after testing positive.
The second-highest vac-
“Our numbers are bet-
• Richland: 229 of 798,
Case rates
cination rate 66.3%, is among 28.7%
ter than what we’ve seen in
From May 1-20, Baker
people ages 70 to 74.
months,” said Nancy Staten,
• Huntington: 132 of 501,
County reported 42 new cases, director of the Baker County
Staten said she doesn’t
26.3%
a rate of 2.1 per day. The daily Health Department.
think it’s a coincidence that
• Bridgeport/Hereford: 20 of
case rate during April was 5.4.
infections among residents
While there have been no
77, 26%
If May’s trend continues, it infections among residents 70 older than 70 have plum-
• Oxbow, 24 of 216, 11.1%
and older in May, the larg-
est share of cases during the
month has been among people
9 and younger. That group,
which accounted for just 1.8%
of cases from March 23 to
April 2, had 29.6% of cases
from May 1-15.
Staten said those younger
residents have generally had
cold-like symptoms, some of
which initially were thought
to be allergies.
COVID-19
vaccinations in
Baker County,
by age group
As of Friday, May 21
a total of 6,006 Baker
County residents —
35.8% of the population
— were either fully
vaccinated (5,273, 31.4%)
or partially vaccinated
(733, 4.4%). The
breakdown by age (the
percentage is for that
age group; e.g., 67% of
county residents 80 and
older are fully or partially
vaccinated):
• 80 AND OLDER:
742 (67%)
• 75 TO 79:
538 (58.4%)
• 70 TO 74:
844 (66.3%)
• 65 TO 69:
857 (55%)
• 60 TO 64:
690 (45%)
• 50 TO 59:
861 (37.5%)
• 40 TO 49:
575 (35%)
• 30 TO 39:
502 (25.9%)
• 20 TO 29:
301 (23%)
• 16 TO 19:
96 (14.6%)
Source: Oregon Health Authority
La Grande man describes gunpoint encounter with Sprague
■ Travis Sprague, Baker man accused of spraying bear spray in police officer’s face, was arrested in La Grande
man with a sawed-off shotgun burst
through.
LA GRANDE — Gary Hatch said
“When he came here, he just busted
he was just turning off his outside
the barrel against my forehand and
light Wednesday night, May 19, when then lowered the barrel to my chest,”
he heard a tapping at the door.
Hatch recalled. “He said he was going
He lives in the 1700 block of
to kill me.”
Claire Street, a neighborhood on La
Hatch, 59, said he has a gun, but
Grande’s east side that he said tends it was in his bedroom, and nothing
to be quiet. What he said happened
prepared him for this encounter.
next shattered any solace.
“It had to be one of the scariest
Hatch opened the door, and a
moments of my life,” Hatch said. A
By Phil Wright
The (La Grande) Observer
sawed-off shotgun. And I still have
the bruise on my forehead.”
The purple semicircle on Hatch’s
forehead was evident on the late
afternoon of May 20. Hatch also said
the man at the trigger end of that
shotgun was the same man police
arrested May 20 in connection with a
May 19 shooting and break-in just a
block over on East Glacier Street.
Police identifi ed that suspect as
Travis James Sprague, 24, of Baker
County, who is now in custody in the
Baker County Jail. Sprague had a
Baker County warrant for his arrest
on numerous felonies, including
burglary, attempted kidnapping and
assaulting a police offi cer, the latter
charge stemming from the allegation
that Sprague sprayed bear spray in
the face of Baker City Police offi cer
Koby Essex on May 14.
Oregon revenue surges, leading to
bigger tax ‘kicker’ rebates in 2022
wanes will produce $1
billion more for state cof-
For Oregon’s state budget, fers than state economists
and for Oregon taxpayers, it projected just three months
appears everything’s coming ago. That will be enough to
up roses these days.
boost state spending, with-
An economic surge as
out cuts, as lawmakers fi n-
the coronavirus pandemic
ish work on the state budget
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
HAINES
for the next two years.
Meanwhile, that surge will
result in an estimated $1.4
billion — more than twice
the amount projected back
on Feb. 24 — going back
to taxpayers next year in
the form of “kicker” credits
at the Elkhorn Grange, 925 Third St.
• National anthem, performed by
Continued from Page 1A
Steffi Carter, 10 a.m.; Carter will sing
But this year they’ll be joined, as
from the balcony at the Haines Sell-Rite.
usual, by several other events as part of
• Parade starting at 10 a.m.
what Friends of Haines bills as an “old
• Barbecue fundraiser for the Mabry
fashioned Fourth of July celebration.”
James Anders Memorial Fund, 11 a.m.,
Rowe said the group had hoped to
with music by Barefoot and Bonafi de.
have events in the city park as in the
• Fireworks at 10 p.m. The show will
past.
be from its usual location near the rodeo
But so long as the state continues to
grounds.
have restrictions in place on gatherings,
Although Rowe notes that the entire
the city can’t allow events on city prop- schedule is “subject to change,” depend-
erty, Haines Mayor Jim Brown said.
ing on the progress of the pandemic,
Brown said the city’s insurance policy she’s optimistic that with case rates
requires that the city comply with those declining in Baker County, there won’t
regulations.
be any problems.
“It’s totally a liability issue,” he said.
Rowe said she thinks it’s vital that
That was also the case in 2020, and
this year Haines has all its usual Inde-
it’s the reason Friends of Haines didn’t
pendence Day events, rather than the
have events in the city park.
fi reworks show alone.
But rather than cancel the festivities
She worries that if the full slate of
that precede the fi reworks show, Rowe
events is canceled two straight years,
said Friends of Haines looked for other local residents will lose interest, and
options.
get used to making other plans on the
“We just decided that we’re going to
holiday.
do it on private property,” Rowe said.
“We don’t want to see it die,” Rowe
Most events on the Fourth, which is a said. “I feel if we don’t pull it off this
Sunday, will take place on the east side year, we’re going to start losing partici-
of Front Street, the main street through pation. That’s one reason I wanted to
Haines.
work so hard to get it back going.”
The Haines Art Festival will run from
Rowe said she believes that many
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the grassy area just
Haines area residents were concerned
north of the Haines Sell-Rite.
about COVID-19 a year ago, with the
Other events:
holiday happening little more than
• Cowboy breakfast, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. three months after the virus became
against their 2021 tax bills.
The fi nal fi gure will be deter-
mined in the September eco-
nomic and revenue forecast,
but the share of tax liability
is projected at 13.6%.
See Kicker/Page 5A
widespread in Oregon and the nation,
and that their worries largely tempered
their disappointment about popular
events being canceled.
But she thinks the sentiment is quite
different this year, with many people
eager to enjoy a more typical summer.
Fundraising challenge
Although Friends of Haines was able
to put on the 2020 fi reworks show, the
group had to cancel its major fundraiser,
the May steak dinner and auction.
That event brings in most of the
money for the fi reworks show, Rowe
said.
“We put $10,000 worth of fi reworks
up in the air,” she said.
Friends of Haines had enough money
to put down a deposit for fi reworks last
fall for the 2021 show.
But donations are more crucial than
ever, Rowe said.
To that end, Friends of Haines has
multiple ways for people to contribute,
including online accounts at GoFundMe
and Venmo.
Donations can also be dropped off at
Haines Sell-Rite or the Main Frontier
restaurant in Haines, or at the Main
Event in Baker City, Rowe said.
Rowe said Kari Raffety, who owns the
Main Frontier, which opened on Front
Street in February, has offered space for
Fourth of July events and has supported
Friends of Haines’ plans.
Phil Wright/The (La Grande) Observer
Gary Hatch shows the
See Arrest/Page 5A bruise on his forehead.
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FICTION
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• “The Last Thing He Told Me,” Laura Dave
NONFICTION
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• “The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory,” Anne Dixon.
• “Hymns of the Republic,” S.C. Gwynne.
• “Killing the Mob,” Bill O’Reilly
• “Reading Refl ex,” Carmen & Geoffrey McGuinness
CHILDREN’S
• “Art For Kids,” Susan Schwake
• “Cardboard Creations,” Barbara Rucci.
• “The Color Monster,” Anna Llenas
• “The Crayon Man,” Natascha Biebow
• “Every Color of Light,” Hiroshi Osada
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