A4 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021 Weather Continued from A1 The record high tempera- ture for the month was 76 degrees on Feb. 28, 1923, ac- cording to weather service data. Low temperatures last month in Bend averaged 24.4 degrees, which was 0.2 de- grees above normal. The low- est was 6 degrees on Feb. 13, which was much warmer than the record low temperatures of minus 26 degrees on Feb. 9, 1933, according to the data. A total of 22 days last month in Bend had low tem- peratures below 32 degrees. On Feb. 13, the high tempera- ture stayed below 32 degrees. February precipitation in Bend totaled 1.12 inches, which was 0.03 inches above normal. Measurable precip- itation of at least 0.01 inch was recorded on 10 days. The heaviest precipitation was 0.35 inches on Feb. 12. Bend had 8.6 inches of snowfall in February. At least 1 inch of snow fell on three days. The heaviest snowfall was 3.5 inches on Feb. 12. The deepest snow depth on the ground was 2 inches on Feb. 16. The outlook for March calls for below normal tem- peratures and near normal precipitation. The first week of March is forecast to have warm temperatures of 50 and 60 degrees, but those could cool down the following week, according to weather service meteorologist Jim Smith. “It does look like it’s cool- ing down,” Smith said. “The trend is a little cooler than the upper 50s and near 60s this week. There is colder air mov- ing in on Sunday and it looks like it’s sticking around for much of next week.” Normal high temperatures for March in Bend rise from 48 degrees at the start of the month to 54 degrees at the end. Normal lows temperatures rise from 25 degrees to 29 degrees throughout the month. The normal March precipi- tation in Bend is 0.73 inches. e e Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com Tensions over vaccine equity pit rural against urban America BY TRAVIS LOLLER, JONATHAN MATTISE AND GILLIAN FLACCUS The Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rita Fentress was worried she might get lost as she traveled down the unfamiliar forested, one- lane road in rural Tennessee in search of a coronavirus vaccine. Then the trees cleared and the Hickman County Agricultural Pavilion appeared. The 74-year-old woman wasn’t eligible to be vaccinated in Nashville, where she lives, because there were so many health care workers to vacci- nate there. But a neighbor told her the state’s rural counties had already moved to younger age groups and she found an appointment 60 miles away. “I felt kind of guilty about it,” she said. “I thought maybe I was taking it from someone else.” But late that February day, she said there were still five openings for the next morning. The U.S. vaccine campaign has heightened tensions be- tween rural and urban Amer- ica, where from Oregon to Tennessee to upstate New York complaints are surfacing of a real — or perceived — inequity in vaccine allocation. In some cases, recrimina- tions over how scarce vaccines are distributed have taken on partisan tones, with rural Re- publican lawmakers in Demo- crat-led states complaining of “picking winners and losers,” and urbanites traveling hours to rural GOP-leaning commu- nities to score COVID-19 shots when there are none in their city. In Oregon, state GOP law- makers walked out of a legis- lative session last week over the Democratic governor’s vaccine plans, citing rural vac- cine distribution among their concerns. In upstate New York, public health officials in rural counties have complained of disparities in vaccine allocation and in North Carolina, rural lawmakers say too many doses were going to mass vaccine centers in big cities. In Tennessee, Missouri and Alabama, a dearth of shots in urban areas with the greatest number of health care workers has led senior citizens to snap up appointments hours from their homes. The result is a hodgepodge of approaches that can look like the exact oppo- site of equity, where those most Oregon to receive 34,000 doses of new COVID-19 vaccine Oregon health officials said Monday they expect to receive 34,000 doses of, the recently approved, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week. Currently the two vaccines that Oregon has — Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — both have reported efficacy rates around 95%, require two doses and need ultra-cold storage. Johnson & Johnson’s is a sin- gle-dose vaccine and can be stored in a refrigerator for months, but has a lower efficacy rate. “Having access to a third highly effective COVID-19 vaccine is a game changing development for Orego- nians,’ said Paul Cieslak, the medical director for com- municable diseases and immunization for the Oregon Health Authority. “We believe this vaccine is effective likely to be vaccinated are peo- ple with the savvy and means to search out a shot and travel to wherever it is. “It’s really, really flawed,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who noted there are even vaccine hunters who will find a dose for money. “Ideally, allocations would meet the population’s needs.” With little more than gen- eral guidance from the federal government, states have taken it upon themselves to decide what it means to distribute the vaccine fairly and reach vulner- against the virus, and a one-dose regimen will allow us to vaccinate more Oregonians more quickly.” While officials say they are excited for the John- son & Johnson doses, they anticipate that less will be available in the next few weeks following this week’s initial allocation. So far, more a cumulative total of more than 986,000 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to Oregonians. As of Monday, people who are 65 years and older be- came eligible to receive doses of the vaccine — joining other elderly residents, people in long-term care facilities, adults in custody, educators and health care workers. able populations. Tennessee, like many states, has divvied up doses based pri- marily on county population, not on how many residents be- long to eligible groups — such as health care workers. The Tennessee health commis- sioner has defended the alloca- tion as the “most equitable,” but the approach has also exposed yet another layer of haves and have-nots as the vaccine rollout accelerates. In Oregon, the issue led state officials to pause dose deliv- eries in some rural areas that had finished inoculating their — The Associated Press health care workers while clin- ics elsewhere, including the Portland metro area, caught up. The dust-up last month prompted an angry response, with some state GOP lawmak- ers accusing Democratic Gov. Kate Brown of playing favorites with the urban dwellers who elected her. Public health leaders in Mor- row County, which has one of the highest COVID-19 infec- tion rates, said they had to de- lay two vaccine clinics because of the state’s decision. Other rural counties delayed vaccines for seniors. States face plenty of chal- lenges. Rural counties are less likely to have the deep-freeze equipment necessary to store Pfizer vaccines. Health care workers are often concentrated in big cities. And rural counties were particularly hard hit by COVID-19 in many states, but their residents are among the most likely to say they’re “defi- nitely not” going to get vacci- nated, according to recent Kai- ser Family Foundation polling. Adalja said most of these complications were foreseeable and could have been avoided with proper planning and funding. “There are people who know how to do this,” he said. “They’re just not in charge of it.” OBITUARY Bennie Edward Oatman July 17, 1932 - February 19, 2021 Av er a rich, full life, Bennie Edward Oatman passed away of natural causes at the age of 88. Fairgrounds Continued from A1 “In an ideal world, we would have gotten to deliberate on that,” Chang said. Chang said there are good reasons to try the pop-up clinic model. Several residents have been asking for the county to bring more vaccinations out to more rural parts of the county to serve more vulnerable res- idents who may have a hard time getting to the fairgrounds. He also said he knows the fairgrounds as a department was one of the worst hit finan- cially due to the pandemic, and understands the need to make up for lost event revenue. In this instance, Chang said he doesn’t think “it’s a terrible thing” to do pop-up clinics be- cause the county is receiving so few vaccines from the state. But he worries about the long term once the county begins to receive more vaccines again. “I’m concerned we will have created an expectation to bring vaccinations to all the corners of the county, and that could inhibit our ability to keep our vaccination clinic staying put at the fairgrounds,” Chang said. Geoff Hinds, director of the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, said the fairgrounds from the start of the mass vac- cination clinic has shared with public health specific dates when the fairgrounds may not be able to make accommoda- tions unless “absolutely neces- sary.” He said the Sportsmen’s Show was one of those events. Hinds said vaccination clin- ics remain a priority, and that the fairgrounds can work with the public health department to ensure the health and safety of the community along with working with and honoring longstanding events. “I certainly understand the concerns, and we’re very un- derstanding of the concern for public health in our com- munity,” Hinds said Monday. “We’re proud of the role we’ve been able to play thus far and will continue to play, and that will always remain our prior- ity.” When asked whether there were any other future events that could result in moving the vaccination clinic, Hinds said the fairgrounds was working with public health to accom- modate clinics to the “utmost extent possible into the future.” e e Reporter: 541-633-2160, bvisser@bendbulletin.com George “Art” A. Barker III of Sisters, OR July 26, 1954 - Feb 17, 2021 Arrangements: Autumn Funerals of Red- mond is honored to serve the family. 541-504-9485 Memories and condolenc- es may be expressed to the family on our website at www.autumnfunerals.net Services: A celebration of life will be announced at a later date. Contributions may be made to: St. Charles Hos- pice, 2275 NE Doctors Dr Bend, OR 97701 Sharron Lea Allman of Powell Butte, OR November 30, 1931 - February 21, 2021 Arrangements: Autumn Funerals, Redmond 541-504-9485 www.autumnfunerals.net Services: A Gathering will be held at a later date. OBITUARY DEADLINE Call to ask about our deadlines 541-385-5809 Monday-Friday 10am-3pm Email: obits@bendbulletin.com Bennie was born July 17, 1932 in the Texas Panhandle to Sallie and I.H. Oatman. His family moved to Bend Oregon when he was a child. Married to Eileen June Oatman for 63 years, Bennie was a family man, devo} ng his } me and energy to crea} ng an exci} ng environment for his wife and three children. Joining the Air Force in 1950, Bennie was sta} oned in New Mexico (with the Nuclear Commission). Av er his Air Force duty, Bennie worked various jobs in construc} on and mills and working on a logging train in North-Central Oregon. He built planes at Boeing in Washington, as well as working to construct Round But e Dam in Central Oregon. He û nished his career in a job at the Bend School District where he did plumbing and hea} ng. In recent years, Bennie could be heard saying