LADY PROS UNDEFEATED IN LEAGUE PLAY | PAGE A13
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
153nd Year • No. 18 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
‘Extreme’ frustration
Despite valid arguments against COVID-19 lockdowns,
misinformation muddies the waters in Grant County
Eagle fi le photo
Grant County Public Health Adminis-
trator Kimberly Lindsay
Variant of interest
at play in
Grant County
CDC: B.1.526 mutation
less susceptible to certain
monoclonal antibody
treatments
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
A variant has likely contributed to
the uptick in COVID-19 cases in Grant
County.
Grant County Public Health Admin-
istrator Kimberly Lindsay confi rmed the
virus variant B.1.526 has been identi-
fi ed in Grant County but said she could
not provide specifi cs about where it was
located.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention identifi es B.1.526 as a “variant
of interest,” which is being monitored, but
not a “variant of concern” that has been
shown to cause increased transmissibility
or disease severity.
In Grant County’s region seven, shared
with Deschutes, Harney, Klamath, Jeff er-
son, Klamath, Lake and Wheeler coun-
ties, the Oregon Health Authority reports
13 variant cases.
Dr. Anthony West, a senior research
specialist at the California Institute
of Technology, is the lead author of a
research paper detailing the institute’s
recent work on the B.1.526 variant.
West said that a variant of SARS-
CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-
19 — has a small number of changes to its
genome. He said a few variants appear to
spread more rapidly than others.
West and other researchers at Caltech
fi rst discovered the rise in B.1.526 by
scanning for mutations in hundreds of
thousands of viral genetic sequences in a
database called GISAID.
He said the fraction of B.1.526 viruses
increased rapidly in early 2021. West said
roughly half the B.1.526 viruses carried
spike protein mutation E484K, which
adversely impacts a specifi c subset of
antibodies against COVID-19. Certain
monoclonal antibody treatments may be
less eff ective, according to the CDC.
West said people who had been
infected before or were vaccinated were
able to off set the B.1.526 in lab experi-
ments but not as well as the original ver-
sion of the virus.
West said researchers saw uncertainty
in February about how well the vaccines
See Variant, Page A18
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Tensions are fl aring over COVID-
19 — and so is misinformation.
Several residents urged Grant
County leaders to publicly proclaim
the county would not comply with
Gov. Kate Brown’s executive orders
designating “extreme risk” and ban-
ning indoor dining at restaurants and
bars in 15 counties, including Grant,
to slow a spike in COVID-19 infec-
tions at the April 28 county court
meeting.
Letters of opposition were sent
to Brown by U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
state Sen. Lynn Findley and state
Rep. Mark Owens, all Republicans,
and a group of 27 county commis-
sioners, including Grant County’s
Sam Palmer and Jim Hamsher, along
with the Association of Oregon
Counties and the Oregon Restaurant
and Lodging Association.
“Respectfully,
enough
is
enough,” Findley and Owens wrote,
citing the impact on small busi-
nesses and stating no evidence has
shown that small businesses spread
COVID-19 while following the
public safety measures.
“It is no coincidence Oregon
has not seen one instance of a super
spreader event tied to our hospi-
tality industry,” the letter from the
commissioners states. “...You must
know restrictions on specifi c types
of businesses compared to oth-
ers within our local communities
is creating rifts and dividing peo-
ple rather than bringing Oregonians
together.”
The frustration expressed at the
county, state and national levels was
evident at the April 28 county court
meeting, when County Judge Scott
Myers asked Rex Blackstone not
display the protest sign he brought,
stating, “No more masks,” “Down
with Brown” and “Communists
Overseeing Vigerously Inciting Dic-
tatorship (sic).”
Bill Newman from Monument
told the court, if residents want to
get their country back, it would need
to start in the county.
When county court members
explained the county could get sued
if it failed to follow the guidelines
and could lose state funding for
schools, hospitals and other pro-
grams, Newman asked if the money
was worth it.
“Somebody has got to grow
a spine and stand up,” he said.
“Regardless of whether you expect
results from it or not.”
Despite echoing many of the
valid opinions that were expressed
in the letters to Brown, how-
ever, many of the arguments made
in Grant County also relied on
misinformation.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County resident Bill Newman addresses Grant County Court on April 28 about COVID-19 restrictions.
County Judge Scott Myers .
Masks and the ‘Stanford
study’
Newman said he could not fi nd
a “solitary example” that masks
help prevent the spread of the virus
but claimed to have seen “tamped
down” studies showing they are
ineff ective.
Palmer incorrectly cited a Stan-
ford University study, stating masks
are detrimental to long-term health.
However, according to Stan-
ford’s Senior Manager of Media
Relations Lisa Kim, the study’s
author, Baruch Vainshelboim, had
no affi liation with the university
when the journal, dubbed “Medical
Hypothesis,” published the article.
“Stanford Medicine strongly
supports the use of face masks to
control the spread of COVID-19,”
she said.
She said Vainshelboim was a
one-term, one-year visiting scholar
in 2016 for “matters unrelated” to
the 2020 article about face masks.
“BE CONSCIOUS
ABOUT WHERE YOUR
RISK IS AT. DON’T
MAKE IT POLITICAL,
BECAUSE THE VIRUS
DOESN’T CARE WHAT
POLITICAL PARTY
YOU ARE, WHAT
YOU THINK ABOUT
POLITICS. IT’LL
KILL YOU JUST THE
SAME, ESPECIALLY
IF YOU’RE NOT
VACCINATED.”
County Commissioner Sam Palmer .
Dr. Jeremy Kamil, an associ-
ate professor of microbiology and
immunology at the Louisiana State
University Health Sciences Center,
disagreed with Palmer’s assertion.
“The preponderance of public
health data is overwhelmingly in
—Dr. Jeremy Kamil, an associate professor favor of how effi cacious masks are
of microbiology and immunology at the
at preventing the spread of fl u and
Louisiana State University Health Sciences other respiratory viruses,” he said.
Center
Palmer, a registered nurse, said
the study looked like medical jour-
nals he reads to stay current with
changes in medicine.
“Maybe I should have done a lit-
tle more homework,” he said. “But
I’ll own what I did.”
Palmer issued an apology to
Myers, Hamsher and Grant Coun-
ty’s residents for quoting the
debunked study.
Still, as a “health care advocate,”
Palmer said he does not believe
masks are the answer to curbing the
spread of COVID-19.
COVID-19 vs. infl uenza
Newman said the pandemic is a
“ruse to gain power.”
Myers pointed out the virus had
been a “deadly ruse, for millions.”
COVID-19 has left four dead in
Grant County, 577,489 dead in
the United States and 3.2 million
dead around the world, according
to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
Resource Center.
Newman said there is no ques-
tion that a “bug” is making people
See Frustration, Page A18
County budget committee mulls reductions of hours
Discussion on furlough
days continues May 12
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County’s budget committee
mulled reducing hours in its non-union
departments to avoid permanent layoff s
as it looks to fi ll holes and balance the
budget before the July deadline.
Treasurer Julie Ellison said the
county could save $36,000 if employees
cut one day a month for one year. How-
ever, she told the committee the employ-
ees could lose health insurance with the
reduction in hours.
Ellison said the county could save
$50,000 by including its full-time
elected offi cials in a one-day-per-month
furlough.
She told the committee that the
Bob
Quinton
county would “eat”
the money if it did not
make the reductions
permanent.
“We don’t have
any extra revenue,
and you’re gonna be
right back in the same
spot,” she said. “So,
furloughing is not the
answer.”
Budget committee chairman Bob
Quinton said possible solutions were
permanent layoff s or cutting overtime
and comp time.
Committee member Amy Kreger
said, in her opinion, the fairest option
would be to make an across-the-board
reduction that would allow employees to
keep their jobs and benefi ts intact.
“Keep the benefi ts,” she said. “Size
down fairly so there isn’t hatred in your
building.”
Justice of the Peace
Kathy Stinnett said
elected offi cials would
have to volunteer to
take a reduction in pay.
Along with County
Judge Scott Myers and
Kathy
Ellison, Stinnett said
Stinnett
she would be willing
to take a cut.
Palmer asked how departments would
stagger schedules and who would make
the decision. Kreger said that would
likely be a department head decision.
Human Resources Manager Laurie
Cates pointed out that the County Clerk’s
Offi ce is mandated to be open for a cer-
tain number of hours and said, in her
opinion, the court should make a “blan-
ket call.”
Palmer said the committee should
bring in department heads on future dis-
cussions about the reductions to make
sure to “get it right.”
Quinton agreed. He
said the county’s most
considerable expense
is personnel.
Ellison said some
employees might be
Julie
upset at the prospect of
Ellison
losing hours because
the county approved
additional positions in some departments
that were not budgeted.
“Nobody likes it, and it won’t be
100% fair,” Kreger said. “Because
when you get down to the nuts and
bolts, there are some places that can-
not be cut.”
The next budget committee meet-
ing is from 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, May
12, at the Grant County Courthouse.
To phone in, call 541-575-4014.
The meeting identifi cation number is
8357#, and the PIN is 4499#.