A2 THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2022
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U.S. infections,
hospitalizations
continue their
steady decline
BY LEAH WILLINGHAM AND
JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press
CONCERNS LINGER
Average daily COVID-19
cases and hospitalizations are
continuing to fall in the U.S.,
an indicator that the omicron
variant’s hold is weakening
across the country.
Total confirmed cases re-
ported Saturday barely ex-
ceeded 100,000, a sharp down-
turn from around 800,850 five
weeks ago on Jan. 16, accord-
ing to Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity data.
In New York, the number of
cases went down by more than
50% over the last two weeks.
“I think what’s influencing
the decline, of course, is that
omicron is starting to run out
of people to infect,” said Dr.
Thomas Russo, professor and
infectious disease chief at the
University of Buffalo’s Jacobs
School of Medicine and Bio-
medical Sciences.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
are down from a national sev-
en-day average of 146,534 on
Jan. 20 to 80,185 the week end-
ing in Feb. 13, according to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention COVID data
tracker.
The drop in daily hospitaliza-
tions in Oregon amid omicron
is expected to fall below 400 per
day by March 20, according to a
new forecast by Oregon Health
& Science University.
Oregon’s latest single-day re-
port, released Friday, showed
1,635 new COVID-19 cases
statewide.
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Dry January aggravates conditions across the region
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Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166
BY KATY NESBITT
For EO Media Group
P
ENDLETON — December
and January storms set up the
winter of 2022 to be cold and
wet, but several weeks without sig-
nificant snow or rain are creating
concerns of another drought year.
Northeast Oregon is faring better
than Central and Southern Oregon,
with cold temperatures prevent-
ing the early January snowfall from
melting. Snow in the last few days
has helped inch up snowpack and
snow water equivalent levels for the
Blue and Wallowa mountains.
According to the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service
website, monthly streamflow and
reservoir conditions for January
in the Umatilla-Walla Walla-Wil-
low Basin were above average. Two
bodies of water in the southern re-
gion of the basin near Heppner are
considerably higher than the rest of
the basin: Willow Creek is at 187%
and Rhea Creek is at 142% of the
30-year median.
Farther south, the North Fork
John Day River at Monument is re-
cording 83% of its 30-year median.
The basin has one stronghold for
water: Camas Creek near Ukiah at
346% of the median.
Snowpack has been holding up,
despite the lack of precipitation in
the last five weeks.
In the Blue Mountains between
La Grande and Pendleton, Em-
igrant Springs has 45 inches of
snowpack and is 148% above av-
erage with 10% snow water equiv-
alent. High Ridge Snotel east of
Pendleton has 52 inches of snow-
pack, 5% below its average, but with
33% snow water equivalent.
In the Wallowas, Mount How-
ard has 27 inches of snowpack, 25%
below average with 32% snow wa-
ter equivalent. On the south side of
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Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
ABOVE: A dwindling snowpack rests atop Mount Harris, near Imbler in Union County,
on Friday. Several weeks without significant snow or rain are creating concerns of
another drought year. | BACKGROUND: Weeks of subfreezing temperatures have
held snow in the higher elevations of Northeast Oregon, as is evident in this Feb-
ruary photo of the Wallowa Mountains. Despite reasonable snowpack levels in the
high country, however, most of the region is still facing severe drought.
the range, Moss Springs Snotel is
recording 49 inches of snowpack,
which is 15% below average with a
snow water equivalent of 32%.
In Central Oregon, after a burst
of snowfall slammed the area in late
December and early January, snow-
pack levels surged to 130% of aver-
age, but dry conditions since those
storms have erased much of those
gains. A Feb. 12 report in The Bul-
letin put the snowpack in the Upper
Deschutes and Crooked River ba-
sin at 92% of normal, with precip-
itation for the water year at 89% of
normal, according to the Natural
Resources Conservation Service.
While Northeast Oregon’s snow-
pack and water levels look good
now, the area is facing down the
barrel of another drought year, ac-
cording to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.
According to www.drought.gov,
Wallowa County was down 0.69
inches of precipitation in January.
The entire county is considered to
be in severe drought status, and
44.36% of the county is experienc-
ing extreme drought conditions.
Union County is down 0.27
inches of its average precipitation.
The entire county is considered to
be under severe drought conditions
while 4.3% is experiencing extreme
drought. And Umatilla County is
down 0.2 inches of precipitation
from a normal January. This puts all
of the county under severe drought
conditions, with 33.77% considered
to be under extreme drought con-
ditions.
The extended forecast for North-
east Oregon calls for 33% to 40%
below normal precipitation with a
40% to 50% chance of above nor-
mal temperatures.
More declines ahead?
Public health experts say
they are feeling hopeful that
more declines are ahead and
that the country is shifting
from being in a pandemic to
an ‘endemic’ that is more con-
sistent and predictable. How-
ever, many expressed concern
that vaccine uptick in the U.S.
has still been below expecta-
tions, concerns that are ex-
acerbated by the lifting of
COVID-19 restrictions.
Dr. William Schaffner of Van-
derbilt University’s School of
Medicine said Sunday that the
downturn in case numbers and
hospitalizations is encouraging.
He agreed that it likely has a lot
to do with herd immunity.
“There are two sides to omi-
cron’s coin,” he said. “The bad
thing is that it can spread to a
lot of people and make them
mildly ill. The good thing is it
can spread to a lot of people
and make them mildly ill, be-
cause in doing so, it has created
a lot of natural immunity.”
However, Schaffner said
it’s much too early to “raise
the banner of mission accom-
plished.”
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