A2 THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021
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DESCHUTES COUNTY
COVID-19 data for Thursday, Jan. 28:
Deschutes County cases: 5,339 (37 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 43 (zero new deaths)
Crook County cases: 679 (2 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 15 (zero new deaths)
Jefferson County cases: 1,750 (4 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 25 (zero new deaths)
Oregon cases: 140,783 (750 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 1,930 (6 new deaths)
BULLETIN
GRAPHIC
129 new cases
130
(Dec. 4)
LOCAL
VACCINATIONS
15,782
Number of vaccinations
given by St. Charles
Healvth System
What is COVID-19? It’s an infection caused by a new
coronavirus. Symptoms include fever, coughing and
shortness of breath. This virus can be fatal.
7 ways to help limit its spread: 1. Wash hands often
with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. 2. Avoid
touching your face. 3. Avoid close contact with sick
people. 4. Stay home. 5. In public, stay 6 feet from others
and wear a mask. 6. Cough into your elbow. 7. Clean and
disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
90 new cases
110
(Nov. 27)
100
90
80
70
50
(Nov. 14)
28 new cases
(July 16)
40
31 new cases
(Oct. 31)
30
16 new cases
(Sept. 19)
9 new cases
20
(May 20)
1st case
10
(March 11)
EMAIL
bulletin@bendbulletin.com
120
(Jan. 1)
47 new cases
7-day
average
ONLINE
108 new cases
60
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles
Bend on Tuesday: 19 (1 in ICU).
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
www.bendbulletin.com
SOURCES: OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY,
DESCHUTES COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES
New COVID-19 cases per day
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
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COVID-19 vaccine
Oregon debates race in rollout
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — The role
that race should play in de-
ciding who gets priority for
the COVID-19 vaccine in the
next phase of the rollout is be-
ing put to the test in Oregon
as tensions around equity and
access to the shots emerge na-
tionwide.
An advisory committee
that provides recommenda-
tions to Oregon’s governor and
public health authorities was
scheduled to vote Thursday on
whether to prioritize people of
color, target those with chronic
medical conditions or focus on
some combination of groups
at higher risk from the coro-
navirus. Others, such as essen-
tial workers, refugees, inmates
and people under 65 living in
group settings, are also being
considered.
The 27-member committee
in Oregon, a Democratic-led
state that’s overwhelmingly
white, was formed with the
goal of keeping fairness at the
heart of its vaccine rollout. Its
members were selected to in-
clude racial minorities and
ethnic groups, from Somalian
refugees to Pacific Islanders to
tribes. The committee’s recom-
mendations are not binding
but provide critical input for
Gov. Kate Brown and guide
health authorities crafting the
rollout.
“It’s about revealing the
structural racism that remains
hidden. It influences the dis-
parities we experienced before
the pandemic and exacerbated
the disparities we experienced
during the pandemic,” said
Kelly Gonzales, a member of
the Cherokee Nation of Okla-
homa and a health disparity
expert on the committee.
The virus has disproportion-
ately affected people of color.
Last week, the Biden adminis-
tration reemphasized the im-
portance of including “social
vulnerability” in state vaccina-
tion plans — with race, ethnic-
ity and the rural-urban divide
at the forefront — and asked
states to identify “pharmacy
deserts” where getting shots
into arms will be difficult.
Overall, 18 states included
ways to measure equity in their
original vaccine distribution
plans last fall — and more have
likely done so since the shots
started arriving, said Harald
Schmidt, a medical ethicist at
the University of Pennsylvania
who has studied vaccine fair-
ness extensively.
Attempts to address inequi-
ties in vaccine access have al-
ready prompted backlashes in
some places.
To avoid legal challenges, al-
most all states looking at race
and ethnicity in their vaccine
plans are turning to a tool
called a “social vulnerability
Erik Robinson/Oregon Health & Science University via AP
Andy Henning, an OHSU nurse practitioner, rings a bell and cheers for a vehicle full of newly vaccinated peo-
ple during a drive-thru vaccination clinic at the Portland International Airport on Jan. 24. An advisory com-
mittee in Oregon that provides recommendations to the governor and public health authorities about which
groups to prioritize next for the COVID-19 vaccine is tackling what role race should play in those decisions as
tensions around urgent questions of equity and vaccine access bubble up nationwide.
index” or a “disadvantage in-
dex.” Such an index includes
more than a dozen data points
— everything from income to
education level to health out-
comes to car ownership — to
target disadvantaged popula-
tions without specifically citing
race or ethnicity.
In Oregon, health leaders
are working on a social vulner-
ability index, including looking
at U.S. census data and then
layering on things like occupa-
tional status and income lev-
els, said Rachael Banks, public
health division director at the
Oregon Health Authority.
The committee’s recommen-
dations also will undergo a le-
gal analysis, Banks said.
That makes sense to Ro-
berto Orellana, a social work
professor at Portland State
University who launched a
program to train his students
to do contact tracing in His-
panic communities. Data
shows that Hispanic people
have roughly a 300% higher
risk of contracting COVID-19
than their white counterparts
in Oregon.
Orellana hopes his students,
who are interning at state agen-
cies and organizations, can put
their knowledge to use both in
contact tracing and in advo-
cating for vaccines in migrant
and farmworker communities.
Vaccinating essential workers,
prisoners and those in multi-
generational households will
reach people of color and put
them at the heart of the vaccine
plan, he said.
“I don’t want to take away
from any other group. It’s a
hard, hard question, and every
group has valid needs and valid
concerns. We shouldn’t be go-
ing through this,” Orellana
said. “We should have vaccines
for everybody — but we’re not
there.”
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6 stranded motorists get COVID-19 vaccine
One woman was so overcome with joy at the chance to get the
coronavirus vaccine that her hands shook as she filled out the paper-
work. A man was so excited, he did a happy dance. A young woman
gleefully accepted the offer, saying she didn’t think she would be eligi-
ble for a long time.
They were among six lucky recipients stranded in the middle of a
snowstorm Tuesday who got a knock on their icy windows from public
health workers also stuck on U.S. Highway 199 outside of Cave Junc-
tion in Southern Oregon.
“Once we knew that the vaccines weren’t going to make it down the
mountain, the choice was obvious,” said Mike Weber, public health di-
rector for Josephine County.
As the winter storm bore down, he and a handful of colleagues
packed up the vaccination clinic they’d held that day at Illinois Valley
High School and headed into the snow. They had hoped to deliver six
leftover doses to a half-dozen people who they’d lined up at a clinic in
Grants Pass, about 45 minutes away.
They made it onto Highway 199 where a tractor-trailer ahead had
jackknifed, shutting down the highway. The closure would last for
hours, authorities predicted. Weber didn’t want the team’s valuable
cargo to go to waste. The Moderna vaccines they had on hand were
only good for six hours after they’d been drawn.
They were left with only one choice: Get out of their cars and offer
shots to their fellow stranded motorists. Weber said with so many limits
on supply and eligibility, it’s critical not to waste a single dose.
“I’ve made it clear to my staff that above everything else, we will not
waste any,” he said. “We have gotten so little vaccine in our community
that it really is a precious commodity.”
— The Oregonian
LOCAL
BRIEFING
Numerous pets saved
in La Pine home fire
Firefighters saved
a menagerie of pets
Wednesday evening
from a house fire in La
Pine.
A bout 6 p.m., the La
Pine Rural Fire Protec-
tion District was called
to a structure fire in the
53000 block of Big Tim-
ber Drive, according to
a statement from the
district.
Firefighters arrived
to find the human oc-
cupants safe outside
the home but multi-
ple pets still inside. In
short order, firefight-
ers rounded up a dog,
two cats, several large
snakes, a gecko, fish and
a chicken and placed
them in a safe bedroom
in the house, rather than
outside in the freezing
weather, according to the
district.
As they worked on the
fire, crews contended
with exploding rounds
of ammunition and
stores of flammable liq-
uids in the garage.
A male occupant
of the home suffered
first-degree burns and
smoke inhalation when
he tried to fight the fire
with a handheld fire ex-
tinguisher.
In all, 14 firefighters
and four support per-
sonnel responded. The
home received signif-
icant damage and was
rendered uninhabitable,
a district spokesperson
said.
The fire is under in-
vestigation, with a por-
table heat lamp in the
garage, used to keep
chickens warm, a possi-
ble source.
The American Red
Cross is assisting the
family displaced by the
fire.
— Bulletin staff reports