A2 The BulleTin • Friday, augusT 6, 2021
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Jefferson County cases: 2,540 (12 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 42 (zero new deaths)
Oregon cases: 225,919 (1,382 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 2,885 (8 new deaths)
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at
St. Charles Bend on Thursday: 33 (4 in ICU)
COVID-19 data for Thursday, Aug. 5
Deschutes County cases: 10,827 (86 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 87 (zero new deaths)
Crook County cases: 1,469 (22 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 24 (zero new deaths)
The Bulletin had been tracking the seven-day average case
count based on state data since local coronavirus cases were
first reported in March of last year. Starting with the July Fourth
weekend, the state stopped providing county-level data for
weekends or holidays. When data is available, The Bulletin will
continue to publish information about the pandemic.
8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday
7 a.m.-11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday
and holidays
COVID-19 in Oregon
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COCC announces incentive
for vaccinated students
Central Oregon Commu-
nity College on Wednesday
announced that students and
employees fully vaccinated
against the coronavirus will
have the chance to win $500.
The community college is
using the incentive to encour-
age students and staff to get
vaccinated before the fall.
Those who are fully vacci-
nated by Sept. 20 will be eligi-
ble to win one of over 100 gift
cards valued at $500, $250 and
$100.
“We know the COVID-19
vaccines are our most effec-
tive tool in the fight against
the coronavirus, its deadly
variants and the pandemic’s
impact on our personal free-
doms and public health,” Dr.
Alicia Moore, the college’s vice
president of student affairs
said in a statement.
“Thanks to federal fund-
ing, COCC is able to offer fi-
nancial incentives as a way to
say ‘thanks’ to students and
employees for getting vacci-
nated.”
For more information, visit
the college’s website, www.
cocc.edu
A vaccination clinic is
scheduled at the COCC Ma-
dras campus on Aug. 20 and
Sept. 10, from 3 to 7 p.m.
Anyone over the age of 12
is eligible and no photo ID or
health insurance is necessary.
The Pfizer, Moderna and
Johnson & Johnson vaccina-
tions will be available, and
Spanish-speaking volunteers
will be present.
—Bulletin staff report
STATE BRIEFING
Fired Albany school leader
says different values
behind her ouster
four recently filled positions
went to white men on a fast
timeline.
An ex-Oregon schools
leader said the people who
ousted her last month never
spoke to her, and the district’s
work on equity — which she
championed — is now lan-
guishing.
Board members at the
Greater Albany Public Schools
District fired Superintendent
Melissa Goff soon after new
members took over, Oregon
Public Broadcasting reported.
Goff was terminated with-
out cause, a point Goff said
confirmed she hadn’t done
anything wrong. She said she
was removed for having dif-
ferent values, such as ensur-
ing equity was integrated into
teaching.
Board Chair Eric Aguinaga,
however, said in an emailed
statement that Goff was fired
because she had become a po-
larizing figure in the Albany
community.
The conflict is not the only
example of recent friction be-
tween elected school board
members and administrators.
The Newberg School Board
has announced plans to repeal
state policies aimed at equity
including a policy that among
other things, bans hate sym-
bols such as nooses and swas-
tikas. Those plans have drawn
opposition from the state Leg-
islature’s Black, Indigenous
and people of color caucus and
House Majority Leader Bar-
bara Smith-Warner, D-Port-
land.
Aguinaga also disagrees
with Goff’s allegation that Al-
bany has been shirking com-
mitments to help historically
marginalized students. The
chair noted that Goff’s interim
replacement, longtime school
leader Rob Saxton, is deeply
committed to equity work.
Goff argues that the process
to bring in new administra-
tors — including Saxton — is
evidence that the district is less
committed to helping students
of color and other student
groups the district hasn’t his-
torically served well. Goff said
Astoria port panel backs
letter urging caution with
sea otter reintroduction
The Port of Astoria Com-
mission voted unanimously
Tuesday to urge the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to con-
sider potential issues for port
infrastructure in reintroducing
sea otters on the Pacific coast.
A letter was drafted by the
West Coast Seafood Proces-
sors Association, a trade group.
Lori Steele, the association’s
executive director, appeared
remotely at the port meeting to
advocate for the letter.
The Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice was instructed by Con-
gress to conduct a one-year
study that analyzes the cost
and feasibility of reestablish-
ing sea otters. The association
plans to send the letter to the
federal agency prior to a final
report to Congress in January.
“We tried to focus the let-
ter on providing constructive
input and identifying the real
critical issues that the Fish and
Wildlife Service needs to ad-
dress in their study,” Steele said
over Zoom.
The association reached out
to the Port of Astoria asking
for support because the group
considered the agency a stake-
holder.
“There are a lot of consider-
ations and issues for ports and
potential impact on port infra-
structure,” Steele said.
The letter has already re-
ceived signatures from several
ports along the coast, includ-
ing Coos Bay, Newport and Il-
waco in Washington state.
Steele said it is possible the
Fish and Wildlife Service will
seek greater protection for sea
otters under federal law.
“If that happens we will
run into all kinds of trouble
with trying to get permits and
things like that for infrastruc-
ture, maintenance and repair,”
Steele said. “Those are largely,
I think, the concerns from the
port perspective.”
Pendleton hospital reports
record-high total patients
BY BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
COVID-19 surge sweeping
Umatilla County continues
to drive up hospitalizations at
CHI St. Anthony in Pendleton.
Roughly two-thirds of the
hospital’s inpatients over the
past week tested positive for
COVID-19, and more than a
quarter of patients admitted
to the emergency department
had the virus, according to
Harold Geller, the president of
CHI St. Anthony.
“We urge everyone to be-
come vaccinated,” said Geller.
On July 31, the hospital
had 13 COVID-positive pa-
tients in its care, the highest
daily total since the pandemic
began, according to Geller. If
that total exceeded 18, Geller
said the hospital “may need to
suspend elective surgeries, but
not emergency surgeries.” On
Monday, the number of hos-
pitalized patients had dropped
to 9.
As infection ramped up in
the county in July, the hospi-
tal admitted 24 patients with
COVID-19, with 22 of those
patients coming in the last
10 days of the month. Those
patients were spread across
the hospital’s critical care and
medical units.
And as hospitals through-
out Oregon and Washington
fill with COVID-19 patients,
transferring patients to other
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Brandon Ragsdale directs a patient on proper self-administration of a
COVID-19 test Wednesday during a free testing event at CHI St. Anthony
Hospital, Pendleton. Ragsdale said the event gathered at least 11 cars
before it opened, with many cars having more than one occupant.
hospitals for a higher level of
care continues to be a chal-
lenge for St. Anthony, accord-
ing to Emily Smith, a hospital
spokesperson.
Of the 25 staffed intensive
care unit beds available in
Eastern Oregon, only five were
available as of Tuesday, ac-
cording to the Oregon Health
Authority.
“The governor is incredibly
concerned about the increase
in COVID-19 hospitalizations
we are seeing due to the spread
of the delta variant in areas
with low vaccination rates,”
Charles Boyle, a spokesperson
for Gov. Kate Brown, told the
Oregon Capitol Bureau. “Se-
vere illness from COVID-19
is now a preventable disease,
thanks to vaccines.”
Boyle said the governor’s
office and OHA have “been in
communication with Umatilla
County about what assistance
or additional resources they
may need” and added that the
state “will continue to reach
out and stand ready to assist.”
Reported COVID-19 hos-
pitalizations have spiked state-
wide as the highly contagious
delta variant rips through
communities, infecting huge
swaths of unvaccinated peo-
ple. As of Tuesday, nearly 380
people were hospitalized with
COVID-19, the highest total
since January, The Oregonian
reported.
Lawsuit: Over a decade, Oregon has failed
to create cleanup plan for polluted waters
BY KALE WILLIAMS
The Oregonian
An environmental advo-
cacy group is suing Oregon
and the federal government
for failing to make plans to
clean up the state’s most pol-
luted waterways, a require-
ment of federal law.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday
by Northwest Environmental
Advocates, alleges the state
and federal governments
have failed to comply with
the Clean Water Act, which
mandates states submit to the
Environmental Protection
Agency a list of water bodies
that need cleanup every two
years.
That list, ranked by prior-
patio
world
ity, should form the basis for
cleanup plans, along with a
timeline for implementation
within two years. The EPA
is supposed to determine
whether the plans comply
with federal law.
While the state did submit
a list of polluted waterways
as recently as 2017, which
showed more than 3,000 bod-
ies of water requiring cleanup,
the state has not issued any
new cleanup plans since
2010 after a previous lawsuit
brought by the same advo-
cacy group in the mid-1990s,
the suit alleges.
“The last time Oregon pro-
duced any new water pollu-
tion clean-up plans was over
a decade ago, and those were
the direct result of our having
sued EPA in 1996,” Nina Bell,
executive director, said in a
statement. “It’s clear that Ore-
gon only protects water qual-
ity in response to lawsuits, so
here we are again, heading to
federal court.”
Jennifer Flynt, a spokes-
woman for the Department
of Environmental Quality,
disputed the claims in the law-
suit, saying the state has issued
plans to bring down nutrient
levels and water temperature
in the Klamath basin, to miti-
gate mercury pollution in the
Willamette Basin and another
for the Columbia River, all
within the last two years.
where quality matters
—Bulletin wire reports
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