TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & STATE
Hospitals await aid from National Guard
“The goal is to help these
hospitals with nonclinical
support staff,” said Maj.
LA GRANDE — Oregon
Chris Clyne, public affairs
Gov. Kate Brown on Aug. 13
officer with the Oregon Na-
issued an emergency order to
deploy nearly 1,500 Oregon
tional Guard.
National Guard soldiers
Mardi Ford, director of
throughout the state to help
communications and market-
support hospitals.
ing at Grande Ronde Hospital,
said that the situation at the
In Eastern Oregon, only
hospital is fluid — while they
the Blue Mountain Hospital
haven’t needed support from
District in Grant County
the National Guard yet, that
has received any of those
situation could change.
resources.
“Yes, we are short staffed,
As of Friday, Aug. 27,
but at this point we have con-
several hospitals in Northeast-
tingencies locally and at the
ern Oregon have not sent in
a request for National Guard
Baker City Herald, File state level for bringing in sup-
support, according to Oregon
port and are in the process of
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City.
Health Authority officials.
working through all of that if
“We have staff burnout.
District. The hospital is among
Those hospitals include CHI
needed,” Ford said in an email.
with operations in Ontario.
They have been working
only 11 hospitals in Oregon
St. Anthony Hospital in Pend- It was not known how many
According to Ford, the
very long, stressful hours,
situation in Union County is
leton, Grande Ronde Hospital soldiers were requested for the to receive support from the
and we are looking for ways not as dire as it is in South-
nearly 500 national guard
in La Grande, Good Shepherd Baker City location.
members currently activated. to help our staff out as they
Wallowa County on Aug.
Medical Center in Hermiston
ern Oregon, which has seen
and Pioneer Memorial Hospi- 25 requested Oregon National Officials with the Oregon Na- face this next wave of CO-
one of the largest spikes in
Guard support, according
hospitalization in the United
VID-19,” said Mark Snider,
tional Guard have indicated
tal in Heppner.
to Brooke Pace, director of
States in the past two weeks,
roughly 20 more hospitals will public relations and digital
According to an OHA
strategy coordinator at Saint but that the hospital was
be bolstered by an additional
spokesperson, Saint Alphonsus communications and public
Medical Center in Baker City relations at Wallowa Memorial 1,000 guard members by next Alphonsus Health System in monitoring the situation in
Hospital. The request came 12 week, with numbers varying
case it changes.
Baker City.
was one of the few hospitals
days after Brown’s announce- based on need.
“Right now, we are manag-
Soldiers with the Oregon
to put in a request for guard
National Guard served in
Soldiers’ tasks include as-
members to bolster resources ment about deploying Oregon
ing. But it requires daily —
but did not specify when the
often hourly — oversight,”
National Guard soldiers to
sisting in support roles, such as support roles rather than
order was placed. The soldiers hospitals during the recent
Ford said.
entrance screeners, janitorial direct clinical roles in Jose-
would provide support to the
Hospitals in Eastern
surge of COVID-19.
services and security for the
phine County in Southern
hospital through clinical and
Oregon have reported staffing
In Grant County, sev-
hospital, as well as providing
Oregon, which has experi-
nonclinical roles. The hospital eral members of the Oregon
issues and are looking to add
logistical relief for overworked enced the fastest growing
chain — which serves Baker
several dozen workers to their
outbreaks of COVID-19 in
National Guard have already health care staff who have
City, Ontario and Boise — also begun assisting operations in been on the front lines of the
the United States within the ranks. As of Aug. 26, Grande
requested six soldiers to assist the Blue Mountain Hospital
Ronde Hospital had 63 posi-
pandemic for nearly two years. past two weeks.
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
BIGHORNS
Once ewes and lambs started to con-
gregate in large groups, as they typically
do during summer, due in part to the
Continued from Page A1
scarcity of water sources, people started
reporting dead lambs in the Lookout
county’s eastern edge. Those sheep are
Mountain unit, Ratliff said.
part of the Lookout Mountain herd, Or-
(Based on previous testing of lambs,
egon’s biggest herd of the Rocky Mountain
subspecies with about 400 sheep prior to biologists know they are not infected, by
their mother, prior to birth, he said.)
the bacterial outbreak.
As of Monday, Ratliff said, ODFW
Later in 2020 biologists also confirmed
knows of just five lambs from the Lookout
that the same strain of Mycoplasma
Mountain unit that have survived.
ovipneumoniae bacteria had infected
He said biologists haven’t found any
bighorns in the county’s other herd, in the
Burnt River Canyon between Bridgeport lambs in the Burnt River Canyon herd,
although he said those sheep are harder
and Durkee.
to track due to the terrain.
The Burnt River Canyon bighorns,
Sheep in the Burnt River Canyon
which previously numbered about 85
animals, are of the California subspecies, began dying around October 2020, and
which are somewhat smaller than Rocky Ratliff believes sheep from that herd
crossed I-84 earlier in the year, mingled
Mountain bighorns.
Biologists believe that all of the 65 to with Lookout Mountain bighorns and
70 lambs born in the Lookout Mountain became ill, then returned and began
spreading the bacteria among Burnt
herd in the spring of 2020 died from
River Canyon sheep.
pneumonia, which results from the
bacterial infection.
Ratliff estimated that at least 75 adult Trying to identify ‘chronic shedders’
bighorns from the Lookout Mountain
ODFW’s focus is on finding which
herd also died in 2020.
bighorns, from both herds, are chroni-
An aerial survey of the herd in late
cally shedding the bacteria, regardless of
whether those animals are actually ill.
2020 turned up about 250 sheep, com-
Ratliff said even a few of these chronic
pared with 403 in a 2018 aerial census.
shedders can keep the bacteria circulat-
To maintain the herd population
requires a minimum of 20 lambs per 100 ing throughout a herd and continue to
decimate each year’s lamb crop.
ewes, Ratliff said. The average ratio for
He’s especially concerned about ewes
the Lookout Mountain herd is 38 lambs
that are chronic shedders, since the
per 100 ewes, and the number ranged
female sheep spend much more time in
from a high of 67 per 100 to a low of 24.
close contact with other ewes and with
Ratliff said biologists were initially
optimistic at the start of this summer that lambs.
Rams, by contrast, generally don’t min-
the worst of the outbreak had passed. As
of mid June, biologists hadn’t found any
gle with ewes and lambs until November,
dead lambs from the 2021 crop, nor any
so a ram that’s a chronic shedder isn’t as
that were coughing or otherwise appeared likely to spread the bacteria as widely.
to be sick.
Last fall, ODFW, with financial aid
from the Confederated Tribes of the Uma-
“We started out really, really good,”
tilla Indian Reservation, as well as the
Ratliff said.
But the situation quickly turned bad. Oregon and national chapters of the Foun-
SHERIFF
Continued from Page A1
Ash wrote that he also
favors “science, and common
sense.”
“Over the course of the
pandemic, lapses in leadership
at the state and national level
have resulted in a certain level
of distrust,” Ash wrote. “We
saw the benefits of local control
last year when many of our
small school districts were able
to return to in-person learning
and extra-curricular activities
(without negative health con-
sequences) much sooner than
their larger counterparts.”
Ash’s letter doesn’t mention
Brown or any other state or
local elected official.
Bowen’s letter, by contrast,
is addressed to Brown.
(Although the governor’s
communications director told
The Oregonian that none of
the sheriffs’ letters had actu-
ally been sent to Brown.)
Bowen in his letter refers
to Brown’s “overreaching
mandates” and “bullying
threats,” and he accuses the
governor of “dictating our
state by fear.”
Bowen also contends that
Brown is “inflicting more
damage to our children than
any virus could ever do, and
you hide behind the misrepre-
sentation that you care for us
all. You ma’am care nothing
about our children or the
people of Eastern Oregon.”
Columbia County Sheriff
Brian Pixley also posted a
letter to Brown that includes
some of the same phrases as
Bowen’s letter does, including
referring to Brown’s “over-
reaching mandates” and
“bullying threats.”
Malheur County Sheriff
Brian E. Wolfe wrote in a
letter to his constituents that
“It has become very appar-
ent that certain government
heads have used this pan-
demic to enact emergency
dation for North American Wild Sheep,
captured 25 bighorns from the Lookout
Mountain herd. Although all 25 of those
sheep had antibodies in their blood
showing they had been infected with the
bacteria, just four of the 25 were shedding
bacteria at that time, Ratliff said.
Biologists fitted all those sheep with
tracking collars so they can be captured
again this year and retested, Ratliff said.
This tracking and testing campaign
will be expanded dramatically this
year, with a goal of capturing 140 more
bighorns, including some from the Burnt
River Canyon herd.
The strategy is a “two strikes and
you’re out” concept, Ratliff said.
Bighorns that are identified as chronic
shedders for two consecutive years will be
euthanized, he said.
Source of bacteria remains mystery
Ratliff said biologists don’t know how
the Lookout Mountain herd was initially
infected with the bacteria.
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae bacteria
are not known to be carried by cattle, but
domestic sheep can be infected.
Domestic sheep graze on a public
land allotment, overseen by the Bureau
of Land Management, in the Lookout
Mountain unit, Ratliff said. None of the
domestic sheep that graze on that allot-
ment has been tested for the bacteria.
Sheep from two other domestic flocks
near Richland, at the north end of the
Lookout Mountain unit, were tested in
2020 and none was carrying the Myco-
plasma ovipneumoniae bacteria, Ratliff
said. A llama owned by a resident along
the Snake River Road was also tested,
and was also negative for the bacteria.
Ratliff said the strain of bacteria in
both Lookout Mountain and Burnt River
Canyon herds has not been detected in
bighorns in Idaho, which can potentially
mingle with Oregon bighorns.
procedures and are testing
the waters of tolerance for
the loss of freedom to alleged
safety.”
Ash in his letter acknowl-
edges the current surge in
COVID-19 cases. Baker
County reported 270 cases
from Aug. 1-27 — more than
in any previous month.
“This spike in cases and
hospitalizations is supported
by real-time local data,” Ash
wrote. “I believe our county
health department and
county physician have our
best interests at heart in
making recommendations
and providing guidance for
our community. These are our
own local experts who are a
reliable source of information
as we make our individual
health decisions.”
Dr. Eric Lamb, the county’s
public health officer, said ear-
lier this month that the coun-
ty’s relatively low vaccination
rate — seventh-lowest among
Oregon’s 36 counties — has
contributed to the surge in
infections during August.
“If we had gotten to an
80% vaccination rate, the
pandemic would be over for
us right now,” Lamb said
in an Aug. 12 press release.
“First, absolutely stay home if
you’re sick, don’t pass illness
to others. Second, get vac-
cinated. The virus will keep
mutating and spreading
until we eliminate potential
carriers.”
Bowen takes a different
tack in his letter addressed
to Brown, writing: “We will
raise our children how we see
fit. We will choose to wear a
mask or choose not to wear a
mask. We will choose to get
vaccinated or choose not to
get vaccinated. Your mind-
less dictates will no longer be
tolerated.”
Ash, in his letter, ac-
knowledges that the debate
over masks, vaccines and
the pandemic itself have
become political.
tions available on its career
webpage, while St. Anthony
had 57 open positions. Ontario
had 41 open positions, Wallowa
Memorial Hospital had 31
and Saint Alphonsus Medi-
cal Center-Baker City had 28
open positions.
More than 1,600 new cases
of COVID-19 were reported
in Northeastern Oregon since
Aug. 11. Region 9, which en-
compasses Morrow, Umatilla,
Wallowa, Union, Baker, Grant
and Malheur counties, has just
five staffed intensive care unit
beds available. Jackson and Jo-
sephine Counties in Southern
Oregon reported having only
one ICU bed available.
As hospitalizations increase
throughout the state, the
stress it puts on normal op-
erations at hospitals — which
transfer patients based on
availability — is immense.
Grande Ronde Hospital in
Union County reported last
week it had to transfer a
patient to Montana because
there wasn’t enough space
available at the hospital, which
has 25 beds.
“As the volumes continue to
rise statewide and as facilities
elsewhere in the state become
overrun and start looking for
other locations to transfer
patients,” Snider said, “they
turn to smaller locations like
Baker City.”
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Students and parents gathered Monday morning,
Aug. 30, for the first day of classes at Brooklyn
Primary School in Baker City.
SCHOOL
them come in with masks
in the morning and those
who didn’t, we have masks
Continued from Page A1
for them. It’s kind of been
Anderson said the mask business as usual.”
Anderson said he was
requirement didn’t cause
happy to see students
any noticeable problems.
streaming through the
He pointed out that
students are accustomed to front doors for the first time
wearing masks inside, as
since June.
that was required last year.
“We’re just excited that
“I think the silver lining we’re able to start the year
to this whole year is that
in person and, like I said,
we’ve done this before,” An- a lot of the protocols that
derson said. “Last year we were in place last year
had very similar protocols
continued to be in place this
and so masks were required year,” he said. “We’ve been
all last year and so students able to hit the ground run-
and staff are pretty familiar ning this year, and I can tell
with the protocols and how you kids are super excited
to use masks throughout
to be in school even with
the day. To start the year,
some of the protocols that
students come in, a lot of
we’re doing.”
“As Sheriff, I represent ev-
eryone, and I hate to see how
residents are being divided
over these issues,” Ash wrote.
“I believe that in spite of our
differing viewpoints we all
want to do what is best for
our community. We breathe
the same air. We visit the
same stores. Our children
go to the same schools. We
are all still in this together.
I ask that we don’t attack
those whose decisions may
be different than ours, and
to please take responsibility
for staying home when you
are sick. Real people around
the world and in our own
community have lost loved
ones or are experiencing
long-term health effects. My
thoughts and prayers go out
to them.”
“So much of who we are is
where we have been.”
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