Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
SATURDAY • February 13, 2021
RESTAURANTS DO THEIR PART
FOR HOSPITAL STAFFERS WORKING LONG SHIFTS DURING THE PANDEMIC, MEALS PROVIDE EMOTIONAL SUSTENANCE. • STATE, A2
Bend-La Pine |
In-person lunches
CENTRAL OREGON
HEAVY SNOW FAILS
TO FALL — FOR NOW
Staff find
creative
solutions
to stay safe
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
At Silver Rail Elementary School, a spe-
cialist, nonclassroom teacher like Emily
Gibson monitor unmasked students during
lunch while teachers take a break.
Gibson and other school staff stand in a
common space shared by three classrooms.
From there, they’re able to oversee three
classes of students in their classrooms at
once, from a distance, she said.
Gibson has some nerves about being
around unmasked children, but it’s as safe as
it can be while the weather is frigid, she said.
“It’s still very anxiety-producing, trying
to ensure that everybody is safe in this sit-
uation, but we’re in the best-case scenario,”
she said.
Since elementary students in Bend-La Pine
Schools returned to in-person learning on Jan.
25, local school staffers and administrators
have used a multitude of methods to keep stu-
dents and educators safe during lunch.
See Bend-La Pine / A7
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin photos
Gary Gowens, manager of Bend Sentry Storage in Bend, uses a skid-steer early Friday to clear several inches of snow from around the business.
St. Charles sued
for $15M for
wrongful death
National Weather Service predicts another storm Friday night
BY KYLE SPURR • The Bulletin
L
a Pine resident Wes Elliott woke up Friday expecting to see knee-deep snow on the ground. Instead, he saw a
dusting. Weather forecasts showed the possibility of 10 to 20 inches of snow across Central Oregon by Friday, but
Danae Risch, of Bend, suffered
a heart attack during surgery
that never materialized. Another storm is expected Friday night, but the region was mostly spared for now.
Elliott, who owns La Pine Tax Service, was re-
lieved he didn’t have to spend the day clearing
snow from his own driveway and the parking lot
of his business.
“I was dreading having to plow and snow blow
all day,” Elliott said Friday.
“So that snow going away was a nice surprise
this morning.”
While La Pine and Sunriver saw about 2 inches
of snow Friday, Bend had 3 to 4 inches, according
to Marilyn Lohmann, a hydrologist with the Na-
tional Weather Service in Pendleton.
“Overall, it hasn’t been quite as much as we ex-
pected,” Lohmann said.
Greg
Johannsen,
of Bend,
takes
advantage
of the fresh
snow Friday
morning to
cross-coun-
try ski
around
Drake Park.
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
Bend resident Danae Corrine Risch died
Dec. 14, 2018, at age 27, after suffering a
heart attack during surgery to remove her
gall bladder. The decision to put Risch un-
der for the elective procedure, despite a
known heart condition, was made by her le-
gal guardians, her parents.
This week, Risch’s mother and father, Gin-
ger Caviness and Mark Risch, sued St. Charles
Health System for $15 million for what they
say was information and inappropriate rec-
ommendations given to them by doctors.
See Snow / A7
See St. Charles / A7
4 Oregonians test positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated
Four Oregonians have tested
positive for COVID-19 after
being vaccinated against the
disease, Oregon health officials
said Friday.
The Oregon Health Author-
TODAY’S
WEATHER
ity said two of the cases were in
Lane County and two were in
Yamhill County.
Two of the cases were found
during routine surveillance
testing. The other two appear
to be connected. OHA officials
did not specify which two.
Morning snow
High 34, Low 21
Page A8
INDEX
“This is a serious but not
surprising development,” OHA
Director Patrick Allen said.
These reinfections, called
“breakthrough infections,” are
infections that occur more
than 14 days after receiving the
second dose of vaccine.
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A5-6
B6-7
B3-4
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A6
B5
A6
Given the effectiveness rate of
the two vaccines —95% for Pfiz-
er-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s
— it’s inevitable that some of the
177,000 vaccinated Oregonians
would become reinfected.
It isn’t yet known if these
four known reinfection cases
Local/State
Nation/World
Obituaries
A2-3
A4
A6
Puzzles
Sports
B4
B1-2
involved newer variants of
the coronavirus. The Oregon
Health Authority is attempt-
ing to get samples from these
patients to be tested, a process
that could take over a week.
The U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention is
The Bulletin
ù
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 119, No. 38, 16 pages, 2 sections
gathering data on COVID-19
breakthrough cases, but it has
yet to make that data public.
Oregon is one of the first states
to participate in the center’s
genomics surveillance pro-
gram.
See Positive / A7
DAILY
BY ERIN ROSS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
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