A4 The BulleTin • SaTurday, June 12, 2021
Vaccination
Stimulus
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
Like most states, Oregon is
left with a remaining eligible
population who either haven’t
found the time and opportu-
nity for vaccination, or are hes-
itant for personal reasons.
As yet unknown is how
many eligible adults are op-
posed to inoculations — what
OHA once termed “vaccine
belligerent.” County vaccina-
tion rates for getting one shot
into eligible arms range from
34% in rural Lake County to
nearly 71% in the tech hub
areas of Washington County
near Portland.
Umatilla County has offi-
cially put shots in just under
39% of eligible adult residents
as of Friday. Some county of-
ficials have argued the count
is too low because it doesn’t
include people who were inoc-
ulated in nearby Washington
and Idaho or at federal and
other facilities that don’t show
up in OHA counts.
Public health officials are
using flexible hours, drop-in
sites, outreach to remote com-
munities, lottery prizes and
other rewards to attract more
arms for now readily available
vaccination needles.
Brown and state officials
presented a mix of optimism,
frustration and concern over
the COVID-19 situation in Or-
egon.
While recent legislative ac-
tion allowed her to announce
an extension of a mortgage
foreclosure moratorium
through the end of September,
Brown said she had not yet re-
ceived legislative authority to
extend the rental eviction mor-
atorium set to expire June 30.
With the Legislature set to
adjourn no later than June 27,
Brown said she hoped there
was still time to act and give
renters “safe harbor” for July.
But she advised renters to take
steps now and not assume the
law would be extended.
“Please apply today for
rental assistance to pay your
July rent,” Brown said.
The backlog of earlier un-
paid rent is covered by a sched-
ule in prior legislation, but as
of July 1, there is no special dis-
pensation for rental payment
or eviction proceedings.
“I’m calling on landlords
across the state to work with
tenants to avoid evictions,” she
said.
Information on programs
for both renters and landlords
can be found online at oregon-
rentalassistance.org, lcf.oregon.
gov, or by calling 2-1-1 to ask
questions.
“We have made it through
this pandemic by looking out
for one another,” Brown said.
Current COVID-19 infec-
tion trends are good, accord-
ing to Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the
state epidemiologist.
Oregon reported 1,720 new
COVID-19 cases in the most
recent week, the lowest since
September 2020, before the au-
tumn and winter spike. Hospi-
talizations and deaths are also
trending lower.
The current rate of spread
is 0.66, meaning each infected
person spreads the disease to
less than one person. That will
ensure a continued decline that
could push daily totals to about
100 cases per day and five hos-
pitalizations.
Even the most pessimistic
forecast has overall cases de-
clining, but to 135 per day and
seven hospitalizations.
Sidelinger emphasized that
the numbers combined what
infectious disease experts see
as two different pandemics.
People who have been vac-
cinated make up a tiny frac-
tion of new cases. Guidelines
The proposed legislation
lists 17 categories of eligible
job categories, among them
health care, law enforcement,
education, agriculture, food,
energy, transportation, com-
munications, defense, resi-
dential shelter work and hy-
giene products and services.
Workers must have been
within 6 feet of the public
while on the job or cleaned
public facilities. Those who
worked remotely would not
be eligible.
The legislation is sure to
face intense competition for
funding as lawmakers hash
out budget priorities in the
remaining weeks of the leg-
islative session. But Demo-
cratic leaders, who control
both legislative chambers,
have indicated they are open
to the idea.
“Legislators are prioritizing
bills that help communities
impacted by the pandemic.
Essential workers are the peo-
ple hit hardest,” Ben Morris,
SEIU spokesman, wrote in
an email this week. “So we
are hopeful that the essential
worker pay proposal will be
among the bills that get pri-
oritized.”
Dru Draper, communi-
cations director for Senate
Republicans, said his caucus
will oppose the bill because it
leaves in place a $300 weekly
unemployment bonus. Some
businesses say that federally
funded bonus provides an in-
centive for prospective hires
to stay home. The state’s job-
less rate remained elevated
at 6% in April, even though
many small businesses say
they’re struggling to find
work.
“Other states are using
Jaime Valdez/Oregon Capital Insider
Gov. Kate Brown, at a May 2020 press event, wears a face mask to protect against the coronavirus.
to loosen restrictions on in-
teractions with others show
inoculation is the key to safely
returning to a lifestyle close to
normal.
“If you are not vaccinated,
the virus still rages,” Sidelinger
said.
Brown said she had com-
plete confidence that the state
would reach the 70% goal for
one shot in eligible adults by
the June 25 goal date.
She noted the $1 million
state lottery prize that those
vaccinated are automati-
cally entered to win. Another
$10,000 prize can be won in
each county.
Brown urged those who
were vaccinated by the federal
Veterans Administration or in
another state to register for the
lottery at takeyourshot.oregon.
gov.
Health officials say they are
concerned that once the 70%
mark is met and restrictions
are relaxed across the state,
clusters of new infections could
arise in areas where vaccina-
tion rates have been low.
Many of the areas are in less
populous parts of Central and
Eastern Oregon, where medi-
cal care and hospital beds are
less available. More remote ar-
eas could experience overtaxed
emergency response and medi-
cal care systems.
Brown singled out the St.
Charles Health System. It’s
main COVID-19 care facilities
are in Bend, where vaccination
rates in surrounding Deschutes
County are among the states’
highest. But the facilities are
also where infected patients
from a wide swath of the state
with much lower vaccination
rates would most likely be sent.
Brown said hospitals are
woven into a network of emer-
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gency COVID-19 care.
“We have a well-developed
system that works on the lo-
cal level and with neighboring
states,” Brown said.
But specific points in the
system can quickly become
overwhelmed and moving pa-
tients takes time.
Sidelinger said unvaccinated
Oregonians are also potential
hosts for new variants of the vi-
rus, which could spread faster
and be potentially more severe.
Saying the pandemic would
have “no easy exit,” Sidelinger
urged the unvaccinated or
those with compromised im-
mune systems who might not
receive the full benefit of in-
oculations to continue to wear
masks and socially distance,
even when the time comes that
the state lifts mandatory re-
strictions.
The recovery does not equal
“going back to life as it was in
2019,” Sidelinger said.
Brown rejected the sugges-
tion from some in the busi-
ness community that Oregon
should cut unemployment
benefits as a way to get more
people to search for work.
Some conservatives say higher
benefits during the pandemic
have served as a disincentive to
people on unemployment to
accept work at the lower end of
the wage scale.
Brown said she believed that
the hesitancy to go back to
work was due to a number of
factors, including fear of the vi-
rus, the costs associated with a
return to working and the lack
of affordable, dependable and
convenient child care.
Brown said Oregon had
low infection and death rates
throughout the pandemic and
was doing “substantially better”
on most public health mea-
surements than other states.
While the pandemic is far
from over, she said hitting the
70% mark for one shot of vac-
cine in adults would be a ma-
jor step.
“We can return to some level
of normalcy,” she said.
e
gwarner@eomediagroup.com
“Legislators are
prioritizing bills that help
communities impacted by
the pandemic. Essential
workers are the people
hit hardest. So we are
hopeful that the essential
worker pay proposal will
be among the bills that get
prioritized.”
— Ben Morris, SEIU spokesman
back-to-work payments, too,
but generous unemployment
benefits must also be ad-
dressed in any plan, which
this bill does not,” Draper
said.
Rep. Rob Nosse, D-south-
east Portland, co-authored
an opinion piece in The Or-
egonian last month pitching
the value of stimulus money
for front-line workers who
staffed hospitals and clinics,
kept the grocery stores open
and continued harvesting
food through the pandemic.
“For a lot of those workers,
they didn’t actually see any
increase in their compensa-
tion from their employers,”
Nosse said Thursday. “It’s a
way to say thank you. And
candidly, the other reason to
do it is there’s a lot of essen-
tial workers that don’t make a
very rich living.”
While Nosse said the to-
tal payout might be trimmed
during the budget process, he
said he’s hopeful lawmakers
will ultimately reward front-
line workers.
“There’s still a chance this
is going to happen. I doubt
it’s going to be a check worth
$2,000,” Nosse said Friday.
“This is a pretty big swing.”