A18
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Sheriff
Normalcy
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
While recent legislative action
allowed her to announce an extension
of a mortgage foreclosure moratorium
through the end of September, Brown
said she had not yet received legisla-
tive authority to extend the rental evic-
tion moratorium set to expire June 30.
With the Legislature set to adjourn
no later than June 27, Brown said she
hoped there was still time to act and
give renters “safe harbor” for July.
But she advised renters to take steps
now and not assume the law would be
extended.
“Please apply today for rental assis-
tance to pay your July rent,” Brown
said.
The backlog of earlier unpaid rent
is covered by a schedule in prior legis-
lation, but as of July 1, there is no spe-
cial dispensation for rental payment or
eviction proceedings.
“I’m calling on landlords across
the state to work with tenants to avoid
evictions,” she said.
Information on programs for both
renters and landlords could be found
online at oregonrentalassistance.org or
lcf.oregon.gov or by calling 2-1-1 to
ask questions.
“We have made it through this pan-
demic by looking out for one another,”
Brown said.
Current COVID-19 infection
trends are good, according to Dr. Dean
Sidelinger, the state epidemiologist.
Oregon reported 1,720 new
COVID-19 cases in the most recent
week, the lowest since September
2020, before the autumn and winter
spike. Hospitalizations and deaths are
also trending lower.
The current rate of spread is 0.66,
meaning each infected person spreads
the disease to less than one person.
That will ensure a continued decline
that could push daily totals to about 100
cases per day and five hospitalizations.
Even the most pessimistic forecast
has overall cases declining, but to 135
per day and seven hospitalizations.
Sidelinger emphasized that the
numbers combined what infectious
disease experts see as two different
pandemics.
People who have been vaccinated
make up a tiny fraction of new cases.
Guidelines to loosen restrictions on
interactions with others show inocula-
tion is the key to safely returning to a
lifestyle close to normal.
“If you are not vaccinated, the virus
still rages,” Sidelinger said.
big county, and if you’re
somewhere else, it just
takes a long time to get
there,” he said.
He said right now
the office has six patrol
deputies.
Goals, setbacks and
the future
Eagle file photo
Blue Mountain Hospital District Director of EMS Rebekah Rand prepares a shot at a previous vaccination clinic.
Brown said she had complete con-
fidence that the state would reach the
70% goal for one shot in eligible adults
by the June 25 goal date.
She noted the $1 million state lot-
tery prize that those vaccinated are
automatically entered to win. Another
$10,000 prize can be won in each
county.
Brown urged those who were
vaccinated by the federal Veterans
Administration or in another state to
register for the lottery at takeyour-
shot.oregon.gov.
Health officials say they are con-
cerned that, once the 70% mark is met
and restrictions are relaxed across the
state, clusters of new infections could
arise in areas where vaccination rates
have been low.
Many of the areas are in less popu-
lous parts of Central and Eastern Ore-
gon, where medical care and hospital
beds are less available. More remote
areas could experience overtaxed
emergency response and medical care
systems.
Brown singled out the St. Charles
Health System. It’s main COVID-19
care facilities are in Bend, where vacci-
nation rates in surrounding Deschutes
County are among the state’s high-
est. But the facilities are also where
infected patients from a wide swath of
the state with much lower vaccination
rates would most likely be sent.
Brown said hospitals are woven
into a network of emergency COVID-
19 care.
“We have a well developed system
that works on the local level and with
neighboring states,” Brown said.
But specific points in the system
can quickly become overwhelmed, and
moving patients takes time.
Sidelinger said unvaccinated Ore-
gonians are also potential hosts for
new variants of the virus, which could
spread faster and be potentially more
severe.
Saying the pandemic would have
“no easy exit,” Sidelinger urged the
unvaccinated or those with compro-
mised immune systems who might
not receive the full benefit of inocu-
lations to continue to wear masks and
socially distance, even when the time
comes that the state lifts mandatory
restrictions.
The recovery does not equal
“going back to life as it was in 2019,”
Sidelinger said.
Brown rejected the suggestion
from some in the business commu-
nity that Oregon should cut unemploy-
ment benefits as a way to get more
people to search for work. Some con-
servatives say higher benefits during
the pandemic have served as a disin-
centive to people on unemployment
to accept work at the lower end of the
wage scale.
Brown said she believed that the
hesitancy to go back to work was due
to a number of factors, including fear
of the virus, the costs associated with
a return to working and the lack of
affordable, dependable and convenient
child care.
Brown said Oregon had low infec-
tion and death rates throughout the
pandemic and was doing “substantially
better” on most public health measure-
ments than other states.
While the pandemic is far from
over, she said hitting the 70% mark for
one shot of vaccine in adults would be
a major step.
“We can return to some level of
normalcy,” she said.
McKinley said a
judge’s Feb. 10 ruling to
dismiss murder charges
related to a missing cou-
ple whose house burned in
Grant County in 2018 was
a considerable setback
for the sheriff’s office.
The judge dismissed the
case due to Undersheriff
Zach Mobley inappropri-
ately obtaining a murder
confession.
McKinley said scru-
tiny for mistakes is not
limited to just the county
and gets spread around
the state like “wildfire.”
He said, initially, when
he was “out and about”
around the state, people
would mention the case to
him quite frequently.
McKinley said the
investigation is still “very
active,” however. He said
it was something that
“should have occurred
differently” and that he
did not want to say any-
thing else that could get
into “personnel issues” or
jeopardize the case.
A ways to go
McKinley told the
Eagle that for an institu-
tion as old as the Grant
County Sheriff’s Office,
he is surprised at how
far it has come along
throughout the years —
but also surprised it has
not further along than
where they are.
He said it comes back
to the business model of
policing.
“I’m sure any busi-
ness has this issue: You’re
continually getting new
employees and retrain-
ing to do your model,” he
said.
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