INSIDE: DEAR ABBY, HOROSCOPE, PUZZLES & FEATURES
C1
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2021
bendbulletin.com/business
Coronavirus | Central Oregon
Internet plays pivotal role during pandemic
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
The pandemic showed
teachers, students, parents and
senior citizens how important
it is to have access to the in-
ternet.
At the Redmond School Dis-
trict, about 1,400 students re-
quired hotspots, a pocket-sized
mobile router used to create
an internet connection to con-
tinue learning.
Likewise, at the Bend-La
Pine School District, more
than 1,000 hotspots were is-
sued to students.
The internet is a depend-
able source of information for
families being asked to shoul-
der more of the responsibility
for learning and seeking help.
Often it’s the first thing to be
erased from a tight budget as it’s
seen as a luxury. But access is
not assured to all in Central Or-
egon due to a lack of financial
support from the region’s most
prominent internet provider.
COVID-19 showed internet
access is a necessity, said Scott
Cooper, NeighborImpact ex-
ecutive director. At the start of
the pandemic, the nonprofit
that helps families in need,
from housing to food, in Cen-
tral Oregon, switched to an on-
line platform to offer services.
“That kept assistance roll-
ing,” Cooper said. “Now that
we are coming out of pan-
demic conditions, we’re find-
ing that the internet applica-
tions made aid more widely
available. “
Using the internet actually
helped the nonprofit reach
people by eliminating barriers
like child care and transpor-
tation.
“Clients who live in more re-
mote areas can have the same
access as clients who live near
an office,” Cooper said. “Being
able to use a phone or cellular
connection to file a housing
application or an application
for rent assistance or to look
up a location for an open food
bank is a time saver for clients
and spreads relief to more peo-
ple and bigger geography.
“That adds equity to the sys-
tem by allowing everyone to
access services.”
See Broadband / C8
Travel Guide
How to take vacation
time in the post-vaccine
TRAVEL BOOM
BY NATALIE B. COMPTON
The Washington Post
E
ven before the coronavirus
pandemic fundamentally
changed how we live and
work, Americans have
never been good at taking days off.
The pandemic further tipped the
scales of our work-life imbalance.
“The concept of being totally re-
moved from work has become re-
ally foreign,” says Andrea Bonior, a
clinical psychologist who writes an
advice column, Ask Dr. Andrea,
for The Washington Post. “We’ve
been absorbed in this little work-
life murky blob that swirled every-
thing together.”
Because of lockdowns and travel
restrictions, the potential for days
off was limited. Many felt like va-
cation time would be wasted if it
was not spent traveling. But now
with the world’s borders reopening
for tourism, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
saying that vaccinated people are
able to travel with less risk, tak-
ing paid time off (PTO) is looking
more appealing than ever.
After a year of not going any-
where, travelers may have forgot-
ten best practices for requesting
time off — or have new anxieties
due to the pandemic. Here’s what
to keep in mind as you begin put-
ting in your vacation requests.
Keep travel boom in mind
Everyone who was saving their
PTO for a time when they could
travel is gearing up to take those
trips again.
Getty Images
See Vacation / C8
Getty Images