A8
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
15 Oregon counties heading back to extreme risk as COVID-19 spikes
Indoor dining shut
down in Grant
County through May 6
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
A steep surge in COVID-
19 cases will lead to the shut-
down Friday of indoor dining
and other severe restrictions in
15 counties, Gov. Kate Brown
announced Tuesday.
The 15 counties include
Grant, Baker, Clackamas,
Columbia, Crook, Deschutes,
Jackson, Josephine, Klamath,
Lane, Linn, Marion, Mult-
nomah, Polk and Wasco. The
restrictions, including a ban
on indoor dining and reduced
capacity indoors, will last
through May 6.
Oregon on Friday reported
over 1,020 new infections,
more than double two weeks
ago — the sharpest spike of
any state.
The spread of more con-
tagious variants is outpacing
vaccinations, which now top
1.1 million out of the state’s
4.3 million residents.
“In the race between vac-
cines and variants, the vari-
ants are gaining ground and
have the upper hand,” Brown
said during a Friday morning
press call.
During a period last month
PMG fi le photo
Gov. Kate Brown
when cases were dropping,
Brown ordered an exemption
from the harshest restrictions
if the state was under 300 hos-
pitalizations for COVID-19.
There are currently 305 con-
fi rmed or presumed COVID-
19 patients hospitalized in
Oregon, although only 276
have tested positive.
The rising infection rates
will almost certainly pass
the threshold this week-
end. Brown said she would
announce Monday if she was
re-imposing limits that include
a ban indoor dining and cut-
backs on gathering sizes, busi-
ness hours and other public
activity.
If a return to extreme risk
levels is warranted, it will
occur at the end of next week,
without the prior “warning
week” to give counties more
time to prepare for changes in
the rules.
“Essentially this is your
warning,” she said.
Oregon Health Author-
ity Director Pat Allen said the
drive to vaccinate Oregonians
has varied widely across the
state. Over 50% of the adult
population has at least one
shot of vaccine in Hood River,
Lincoln, Benton, Deschutes
and Multnomah counties.
The counties with the low-
est vaccination rates are Lake,
Umatilla, Gillam and Doug-
las, where less than 35% of
adults are vaccinated.
Increasingly the “under-
vaccination gap” is driven
by personal choice instead
of availability of shots, Allen
said.
Softening demand could be
caused by vaccine hesitancy
or outright opposition. The
one-shot Johnson & Johnson
vaccine was again approved
for distribution on Friday after
a pause ordered by the Food
and Drug Administration.
The agency and the Cen-
ters for Disease Control inves-
tigated a small number of inci-
dents, including the death of
an Oregon woman, among the
7.5 million people vaccinated
with the shot. The renewed
use of the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine will now come with
a warning of extremely rare
blood clots.
Health offi cials across
the nation have worried that
Americans would become
too focused on a tiny number
of adverse outcomes instead
of the larger and more lethal
threat of COVID-19. Vacci-
nation delays give the virus
time to spin off more variants,
including those that started in
Britain and South Africa, driv-
ing up infection and death
rates.
Allen mentioned con-
certs, family gatherings and
seeing loved ones without
masks as parts of life that
everyone — including him-
self — wanted to return to as
soon as possible. The fastest
way of getting “back to nor-
mal” was to be vaccinated
soon, he said.
Brown said she realized
any new restrictions would
whipsaw Oregon’s already
turbulent business environ-
ment during the pandemic.
The $1.9 trillion American
Rescue Plan approved by
Congress would be tapped to
soften the economic impact
on proprietors and companies
aff ected by a new order.
The number of new virus
infections in Oregon has risen
58% in the last 14 days, the
steepest of any state, the New
York Times reported Friday.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the
state’s top contagious disease
expert, said the upswing in
infections exceeded the state’s
most pessimistic scenarios.
“If that spread contin-
ues unabated, our hospitals
risk being swamped by virus-
stricken patients,” he said.
The “fourth surge” of the
pandemic has some reason to
be less pessimistic than ear-
lier spikes, said Dr. Renee
Edwards, chief medical offi cer
at OHSU Healthcare at Ore-
gon Health and Science Uni-
versity and advisor to Brown.
“This will be diff erent,”
she said.
The vaccination of three
out of four people 65 and
older, who made up the major-
ity of people who were killed
by the virus, means this
spike will impact a relatively
younger and healthier group
of unvaccinated people. The
result will be that, while infec-
tions and illness could climb
steeply, deaths will not.
Edwards said the restric-
tions would likely be needed
for no more than three weeks,
when the increasing vaccina-
tion levels will cap the usual
exponential growth of the
COVID-19 spikes.
While hoping that COVID-
19 cases can be low enough to
lift most restrictions by July,
Brown said that would not be
the end of the fi ght.
After California Gov.
Gavin Newsom announced
this week that students at the
massive University of Califor-
nia and California State Uni-
versity systems would have
to show proof of vaccination
before being allowed to return
to classes in the fall, Brown
said Oregon would most likely
follow suit, but said she was
not yet ready to issue the order
before consulting with univer-
sity and community college
leaders.
Oregon gets sixth congressional Legislator alleges harassment by fellow lawmaker
Republican
district — but where?
representative accuses
State receives fi rst
congressional seat in 40 years
until late August or September, up to
six months behind schedule. Census
offi cials said the COVID-19 pandemic
delayed the counting of the population
and the ability of staff to compile the
numbers.
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled
April 9 that the Legislature will have
until Sept. 27 to submit maps for the
state House and Senate seats, as well as
congressional districts.
If they cannot agree on new districts,
legislative districts would be drawn by
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, while
congressional seats would be deter-
mined by a special judicial panel. If
Fagan’s maps are found wanting under
legal review, the Oregon Supreme Court
would draw the lines itself.
Bend had the largest population
growth in Oregon — about 25% — over
the past decade.
The other largest concentration of
growth was the ring of suburbs around
Portland, with Gresham, Troutdale
and Sandy showing strong population
increases, with less dense population
growth in the south towards Estacada.
On the west side, smaller but dense
clusters of growth are in Beaverton, New-
berg, Tigard and, to the north, St. Helens.
Congressional candidates do not have
to be residents of the district they repre-
sent, and reapportionment has led to “dis-
trict shopping” for congressional seats.
One name to take out of the mix for
Oregon’s new congressional seat is Gov.
Kate Brown, according to her longtime
political consultant Thomas Wheatley.
He said after the census announcement
that Brown is not interested in running
for the seat.
“I don’t even see a crack” of interest
from Brown, Wheatley said.
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon will add a sixth congressio-
nal seat in the 2022 election, the U.S.
Census announced Monday.
Where it will go is to be determined.
Monday’s announcement is the appor-
tionment of the 435 House seats to the
states. Based on population changes in
the past 10 years, states can gain or lose
seats.
Oregon is one of the winners, receiv-
ing its fi rst new congressional seat in 40
years.
Among the losers is California,
which will have to give up one of its 53
seats in Congress — the fi rst time in its
history it hasn’t gained seats or stayed
the same.
Six other states will get new seats.
Texas gets two seats. Colorado, Florida,
Montana, North Carolina each received
one new seat.
Besides California, states that lost a
seat were New York, Illinois, Michigan,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Democrats currently hold a 218-212
majority in the House. Five seats are
vacant.
How the district lines will be drawn
diff ers from state to state. Oregon is
among 33 states where the legislature
controls all or most of the process. Eight
states — including California and Wash-
ington — use independent commissions
to do redistricting. Two do a mix.
Data from the U.S. Census required
to draw districts that meet federal and
state voting rights laws won’t arrive
or other House
Floor business,”
Breese Iverson
wrote in her let-
ter to House
Speaker
Tina
Kotek.
“The
Rep. Vikki
quid
pro-quo
Breese
he texted me
Iverson,
is an inexcus-
R-Prineville
able abuse of his
power. Experi-
encing this sexual harassment is
something I should not have to be
exposed to or accept as a course
of business, especially in today’s
Capitol culture.”
Breese Iverson fi led a formal
conduct complaint the next day
with the Legislative Equity Offi ce.
In the complaint, she signed a por-
tion that included acknowledging
a false complaint would be consid-
ered perjury. Sarah Ryan, an attor-
ney with Jackson Lewis, a fi rm
specializing in labor and business
law, was hired by the equity offi ce
to investigate the allegations. She
interviewed Witt and Breese Iver-
son and found that Witt was in no
way a physical danger to Breese
Iverson.
Ryan said Breese Iverson told
her that going to meetings with
Witt in attendance would take an
emotional toll on her. She rec-
ommended that communication
between the two be banned and
Witt temporarily removed from
the chairmanship.
A panel of the House Conduct
Committee met Friday. Unlike
other committees where the
majority Democrats are the chairs
and have more votes than Repub-
licans, the conduct committee is
evenly split between the parties,
Democrat of sexual
harassment
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson,
R-Prineville, has gone public with
her allegation that she was sexu-
ally harassed in texts from Rep.
Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie.
Breese Iverson said Tuesday
that she was the previously anony-
mous lawmaker who accused Witt
of sexual harassment. She said she
was speaking out after the bipar-
tisan House Conduct Committee
rejected a recommendation that
Witt be removed from chairman-
ship of the House Agriculture and
Natural Resources Committee.
Witt later stepped down from the
chairmanship but remains on the
committee.
Breese Iverson is a member of
the committee and the formal con-
duct complaint fi led against Witt
says the incident occurred during
a meeting on April 12. Details
of what happened have not been
fully divulged, but Breese Iverson
said Tuesday that Witt had sent
her inappropriate texts.
One text included a reference
to a “quid pro quo,” a Latin term
still used in business and politics
that loosely means “a favor requir-
ing the return of a favor.”
“The fact Representative
Witt chose to sexually harass me
leaves us no room for any future
ability to have real discussions
regarding committee business
including who presides.
The panel on Friday included
Rep. Ron Noble, R-McMinnville,
and Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene,
who are co-chairs of the commit-
tee. Other members who attended
were Rep. Raquel Moore-Green,
R-Salem, and Rep. Tawna San-
chez, D-Portland. Noble presided
over the hearing.
Witt appeared and spoke
briefl y to say that he was “shocked
and surprised” by the allegations.
Breese Iverson did not take part in
the hearing.
The lawmakers were unan-
imous in approving the ban on
communication. But all agreed
they did not have the power to
remove Witt and were uncomfort-
able asking Kotek to force Witt
out as chair because it could vio-
late rules about presumption of
guilt.
“This process is not supposed
to be punitive,” Fahey said.
House Minority Leader Chris-
tine Drazan, R-Canby, criticized
the committee for not taking a
fi rm stance on safety measures for
Breese Iverson.
“Co-chair Fahey’s rejection
of the independent investigator’s
recommendation to temporarily
remove Chair Witt from his com-
mittee shows a shameful disregard
for the pressing need for interim
safety measures to protect the vic-
tim,” Drazan said in the statement.
In her letter to Kotek, Breese
Iverson said the House had failed
to follow its own rules in not act-
ing to issue “interim safety mea-
sures” as outlined in the Legis-
lature’s Rule 27, which ensures
a “safe, respectful and inclusive
workplace.”
Shawna Clark, DNP, FNP
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