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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2022)
A2 The BulleTin • Thursday, January 13, 2022 The Bulletin LOCAL, STATE & REGION how to reach us CIRCULATION didn’t receive your paper? start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS COVID-19 data for Wednesday, Jan. 12 Deschutes County cases: 32,026 (737 new cases) Deschutes County deaths: 224 (2 new deaths) Crook County cases: 4,023 (53 new cases) Crook County deaths: 62 (zero new deaths) Jefferson County cases: 5,041 (110 new cases) Jefferson County deaths: 70 (1 new death) Oregon cases: 494,945 (8,760 new cases) Oregon deaths: 5,845 (31 new deaths) COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend on Wednesday: 43 (5 in iCu). The Bulletin had been tracking the seven-day average case count based on state data since local cases were first reported, until 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 GENERAL INFORMATION 541-382-1811 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. ONLINE www.bendbulletin.com EMAIL bulletin@bendbulletin.com AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 sW upper Terrace drive suite 200 Bend, Or 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 The highly contagious omi- cron variant is running ram- pant nationally and setting infection records in Oregon. The supply chain – from at- home self-tests to staffing at test sites to laboratory capacity to process tests – is failing to keep up with record demand. Schools are struggling to stay open. Heath care workers are struggling to get tested. Public health guidance is confusing, and sometimes conflicting. And public officials have no satisfying answers. “The reality is that wide- spread testing is not available,” said Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, a spokesperson for Mult- nomah County. “No one has enough tests. The county has no secret stash. The reality is we have no more information than the state does.” Oregon did set testing re- cords last week, with results reported for nearly 260,000 screenings. But state officials recognized the looming test- ing crush as early as two weeks ago and ordered 6 million rapid antigen test kits, with each kit containing two tests. They touted the move, saying those tests “will be offered to people around the state for free so they can find out, at home, if they are carrying the virus, and take steps to prevent its spread.” But as of Monday, the Ore- gon Health Authority had re- ceived only 542,970 kits, about half the “1.1 million test kits” it initially said it was expect- ing by the end of last week. Nearly all of those are being distributed to hospitals, not to be people wanting to test at home. The agency did not re- spond to questions about what caused the apparent shortfall, nor would it say how many more kits it’s expecting this week. Agency officials say they still expect to receive all test kits by early February. Whether that alleviates the wider shortages remains to be seen. Erica Heartquist, spokesper- son for the agency, said 90% of the rapid antigen kits the agency has received to date will go to hospitals around the state for front-line health care workers – an area of evident need. The agency said it is also prioritizing K-12 schools, Head Start programs and vul- nerable populations that do not have ready access to test- ing. Heartquist acknowledged testing is not easily available, with rapid antigen tests hard to find and molecular testing, such as PCR testing, ham- strung not by supplies but in- stead by staffing challenges. Health care “staffing short- ages have reduced molecular test availability,” she said in an email. “There is extremely high demand for rapid antigen tests and availability has been limited nationwide and in Or- egon.” Charles Boyle, a spokesper- son for Gov. Kate Brown, said in a statement that Oregon was being impacted by the same shortages in available tests and testing supplies that all other states are experiencing. Cases in Oregon are at re- cord levels, averaging 7,250 a day over the past week, and testing demands have in- creased as well. “It remains as important as ever,” he said, “for Oregonians to get vaccinated, get their booster shots, and wear masks to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19 – these actions will also help our health care workers and hos- pitals to ensure they have the capacity they need to continue treating patients.” BY TED SICKINGER The Oregonian B COVID-19 test shortage hits Oregon PORTLAND State delays decision on tolling I-205, I-5 ADMINISTRATION Publisher heidi Wright ..............................541-383-0341 Editor Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166 DEPARTMENT HEADS BY JAELEN OGADHOH Oregon Capital Bureau Advertising Brian naplachowski .................541-383-0370 Circulation/Operations Jeremy Feldman ......................541-617-7830 Finance anthony Georger ....................541-383-0324 Human Resources ................541-383-0340 TALK TO AN EDITOR City Julie Johnson ...................541-383-0367 Business, Features, GO! Magazine Jody lawrence-Turner ............541-383-0308 Editorials richard Coe ...........541-383-0353 News Tim doran .......................541-383-0360 Photos .........................................541-383-0366 Sports Mark Morical ...............541-383-0318 Pamplin Media Group, file TALK TO A REPORTER Bend/Deschutes Government Brenna Visser .............................541-633-2160 Business suzanne roig ............................541-633-2117 Calendar .....................................541-383-0304 Education Bryce dole .....................................541-617-7854 Fine Arts/Features david Jasper .................................541-383-0349 Health suzanne roig ............................541-633-2117 La Pine ........................................541-383-0367 Public Lands/Environment Michael Kohn ............................541-617-7818 Public Safety Garrett andrews ......................541-383-0325 Redmond.....................................541-383-0367 Salem/State Government .. 541-383-0367 Sisters .........................................541-383-0367 Sunriver .....................................541-383-0367 REDMOND BUREAU Mailing address ..................P.O. Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 Phone ......................................... 541-617-7829 CORRECTIONS The Bulletin’s primary concern is that all stories are accurate. if you know of an error in a story, call us at 541-383-0367. TO SUBSCRIBE Call us ......................541-385-5800 • Home delivery and E-Edition ..........................$7 per week • By mail .................................$9.50 per week • E-Edition only ...................$4.50 per week To sign up for our e-editions, visit www.bendbulletin.com to register. TO PLACE AN AD Classified ......................................541-385-5809 advertising fax ..........................541-385-5802 Other information ....................541-382-1811 OBITUARIES no death notices or obituaries are published Mondays. When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number. 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They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. Morning traffic crosses Boone Bridge on Interstate 5 south of Portland in 2018. The Oregon Department of Trans- portation has temporarily postponed its decision on tolling stretches of in- terstates 5 and 205 in the Portland area in the next five years and will consider a request from Clackamas County for extra time to hash out regional conges- tion-pricing plans before tolls are im- plemented. Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas requested a delay in voting, originally scheduled for this month, on ODOT’s proposal to amend the metro region’s long-term transportation plan and its required process for allocating funding to transportation projects. ODOT’s delay allows the Oregon Transportation Commission time to review the county coordinating com- mittee’s proposal to develop a com- prehensive plan for answering “critical systemwide questions” regarding traffic diversion mitigation and funding deci- sions before bringing proposed amend- ments to an official vote. County staff will return with updates from ODOT and recommendations for next steps at a future session before ODOT’s proposed amendments are brought to a vote. State reports $24M in unemployment fraud in 2020 Final number will likely be higher, but it is much lower than other states have tallied BY MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian The Oregon Employment Department says it has iden- tified just over $24 million in fraudulent jobless claims paid in 2020. That’s according to a new report from the agency, its first public attempt at tally- ing fraud losses during the first months of the pandemic. That total includes only fraud the department has spe- cifically identified. The agency acknowledges total fraud losses were assuredly higher, though how much higher is unclear. The state hasn’t tallied 2021 losses yet. Still, the employment de- partment says Oregon’s losses appear to have been a tiny fraction of fraud reported in some other states, which esti- mate their own unemployment fraud losses in the billions or tens of billions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Labor es- timates total unemployment fraud losses at more than $50 billion across the 50 states. “It appears that Oregon, the amount of fraud that Oregon experienced, was less than what occurred in many other states,” said Sara Cromwell, the department’s deputy director for benefits. That’s partly because of measures the employment de- partment took to identify and stop fraud, she said, and partly because the same antiquated computer systems that delayed payments to legitimately un- employed Oregonians also slowed payments to online thieves. That gave Oregon more time to identify their schemes. Nearly two years into the pandemic, though, Oregon says it still cannot estimate its total fraud losses during 2020. The state, like the rest of the nation, was experiencing re- cord unemployment in the early months of the pandemic, and Oregon’s employment de- partment says it’s been unable to come up with a reliable fig- ure. “Because the volumes and the methods of ID theft and attacks were unprecedented, we don’t have a baseline we can use to forecast what the ulti- mate number will be,” Crom- well said. “We have made efforts to gauge that,” she said, “but ef- forts need to be validated be- fore we can go public with (fraud) rates.” Unemployment fraud soared during the pandemic as thieves around the country and around the globe sought to cash in on new federal ben- efits programs that provided an enormous infusion of aid to people laid off as a result of COVID-19. States struggled to keep up with demand from jobless workers, let alone mon- itor claims for identity theft and other fraudulent schemes. Until this month’s report, Oregon had refused to pro- vide any data about possible Find it all online bendbulletin.com fraud losses. The employment department, which has an unusual and broad exemp- tion from state public records law, said it feared that releas- ing any information about its fraud losses could invite online thieves to target the state. The new report contains only basic information, which the department said would be of no use to thieves. It tallies $24 million in suspected or proven fraud, the vast major- ity perpetrated by individuals. It has identified $3 million in losses connected to identity theft, the kind of fraud that online gangs used to steal the most money in other states. Oregon has recovered more than $1 million in fraudu- lent payments from 2020, ac- cording to the employment department. The agency said four people have been con- victed in unemployment fraud cases since the start of 2020, and three more cases are pending. The employment depart- ment says it has identified 19 other cases of suspected fraud it expects to refer for future prosecution and is working to find more. On Tuesday, employment department Director David Gerstenfeld stood by his de- cision to delay reporting of fraud losses until now. He said some benefits programs, nota- bly Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, faced nearly con- tinuous attacks until that pro- gram for self-employed work- ers expired last year. Anything the department said earlier about how it was responding to fraud risked in- viting unwelcome attention from gangs of cybercriminals, Gerstenfeld said. “The amount of risk of it tipping someone off may not be huge, but the consequences of that risk if it were to come true, as we have seen in some other states, can be massive,” he said. Get your copy in The Bulletin on Saturday, January 15! SHOWCASING HOMES, LAND, AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FOR SALE IN CENTRAL OREGON • Reach local consumers with discretionary income with an advertisement in Central Oregon Homes & Business. • Publishing the second Saturday of the month with the Real Estate section. • Over 2300 additional copies distributed throughout Central Oregon. • Put your listing in front of those buying or selling homes. • Showcase your home on the front of Central Oregon Homes & Business. CALL DEBBIE COFFMAN AT 541-383-0384
