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Wednesday, January 13, 2021
MyEagleNews.com
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Slowing the rollout
Grant County fights to be able to distribute vaccines to at-risk people after
state told them to wait a month while it determined who should receive them
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle file photo
Kimberly Lindsay, Grant Coun-
ty public health administrator,
during a session of Grant Coun-
ty Court in November.
A hundred COVID-19 vaccines
won’t be sitting unused on a shelf in
Grant County for a month after all.
The Grant County Health Depart-
ment received word Monday afternoon
that it can proceed with vaccinations
after being told last week to stop distri-
butions for up to a month while the state
determined who should be included in
the next vaccination group, according to
Grant County Public Health Administra-
tor Kimberly Lindsay.
Ahead of most of the state, Grant
County has already completed most of
Phase 1a of the vaccination rollout, get-
ting shots into the arms of health care
providers and long-term care facility
employees and residents who wanted
them. County educators are scheduled to
receive their doses this week in Phase 1b.
Lindsay said a state health official
told her last week they did not want to
slow the health department down in get-
ting the vaccine to more people, and as
long as they vaccinated educators first,
they could move on to get the vaccine to
people in other at-risk groups, including
people 65 and older and those with sig-
nificant medical issues.
However, a quick call to the state
for guidance on whether grocery store
workers qualified as food workers to
be included in Phase 1b stopped the
progress.
Lindsay said the state sent her a
notice not to vaccinate others beyond the
educators because other counties lack
the supply to immunize beyond Phase 1a
and Grant County “must keep the pace
with other counties.”
She said she was told the Vaccine
Advisory Committee needs to define
Phase 1b more clearly and prioritize
See Vaccines, Page A14
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
A vial of the Moderna vaccine sits
on a counter Monday at the Grant
County Health Department.
OVERCOMING
OBSTACLES
Eagle file photo
Monument Superintendent/Principal
Laura Thomas.
Monument
School shifts
to distance
learning
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle file photo
Denise Porter and Jennifer Garinger of Long Creek School receive grants from the Juniper Arts Council. School officials have gone to great lengths
to provide distance learning in Monument, which has minimal broadband access.
Long Creek School purchases iPads, data plans, cell
boosters for distance learning without broadband
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
Distance learning isn’t easy — especially
without high-speed internet.
But Long Creek School District has over-
come the hurdles to provide a consistent educa-
tion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After purchasing iPads with cellular data
plans for all of the students and installing cell
signal boosters, the school is now able to pro-
vide comprehensive distance learning.
Long Creek School Office Manager Jenni-
fer Garinger said, distance learning came with
a learning curve, but the year has been going
well. Early on, the school board and teachers
were concerned about having to shift between
in-person and online classes during the school
year, so they focused only on preparing for
online coursework.
“We found this power in the fact that we
know this is what we’re doing,” Garinger said.
“We don’t have to have lesson plans in case
we’re in person or online. We are dedicated to
this one model, and it allows us to overcome
the (distance learning) hurdles. ... Maybe this
wouldn’t have worked at a different district, but
for us, it works.”
With minimal broadband, the school dis-
trict purchased iPads with data plans because
they rely on cellular towers for online usage
to provide a more stable connection to online
programs.
“Data works better in Long Creek,” Gar-
inger said. “It’s still not good, but it’s way bet-
ter than internet.”
Garinger said getting the iPads and set-
ting them up for students was a process. Each
iPad needed software that monitored usage and
blocked students from harmful websites.
Students then went to the school in groups
to be trained on how to use the tablets for
classes.
The iPads were not ready at the begin-
ning of the school year, so most work was
originally done through packets. Students
and teachers worked together in the warmer
weather at the beginning of the school year
Eagle file photo
See Learning, Page A14
Long Creek School is ‘front and center’ for
the community.
Thirty-one people in Grant County
have tested positive for COVID-19
since Jan. 5.
The jump in cases in Monument led
school district officials to move students
to distance learning “out of an abun-
dance of caution,” according to Mon-
ument School District Superintendent
Laura Thomas. Two cases were con-
firmed at the school, and another case
was “presumptive.”
Kimberly Lindsay, Grant County
public health administrator, said the the
school district and the community had
been proactive about working with the
health department.
“There was a good awareness and
understanding on the school’s part,” she
said.
The health department offered
drive-up testing in the Monument
School parking lot on Tuesday past
press time.
As of Jan. 11, the county has had
190 COVID-19 infections and remains
in the lower risk category.
According to an Oregon Health
Authority report, the number of people
being hospitalized due to COVID-19 in
the county’s Region 7 is at 46 as of Fri-
day. The report stated that six people
with COVID-19 were in an intensive
care unit, and five were on ventilators.
At St. Charles Hospital in Bend,
36 COVID-19 patients are being hos-
pitalized as of Monday. Seven of the
COVID-19 patients are in the ICU, and
five are on ventilators.
St. Charles reported they had given
4,493 vaccines.
On Monday, there were 939 new and
presumptive cases reported in the state,
and upwards of 126,000 total positive
COVID-19 cases since the beginning of
the pandemic, according to OHA.
State health officials reported 10
new deaths Monday.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the total num-
ber of cases nationwide since Jan. 21 is
just over 22 million.