April 17, 2020
T he C olumbia P ress
Coronavirus: Some encouraging news comes out
ducting spot checks to veri-
fy employers are complying
with closure or distancing re-
quirements.
Continued from Page 3
courage visitors from coming
here for recreation. Beaches
north of the Necanicum Riv-
er in Seaside remain open to
walkers.
Fort Stevens and Ecola
state parks remain closed, as
are state-managed parking
lots and beach accesses. The
beach at Seaside is closed to
all users. The beach access
road in Gearhart is closed.
Cullaby Lake and Carnahan
county parks are closed, but oth-
er county parks remain open.
The boat ramp at John Day
County Park is open, although
the restrooms are closed.
l odging remains Closed
County commissioners ex-
tended their emergency or-
der, which initially closed
short-term lodging business-
es and campgrounds until
March 23. The new order
goes through April 30, which
coincides with the federal
government’s stay-in-place
guidelines.
s ome funds distriButed
The Oregon Employment
Department started issuing
relief fund payments April
10 from the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief and Economic Security
(CARES) Act.
Those eligible for regular
unemployment
insurance
and those eligible for feder-
al pandemic unemployment
compensation will receive
two weekly payments, one for
regular unemployment bene-
fits and an additional $600
for each week someone is eli-
gible from March 29 through
July 25.
The federal pandemic ben-
efits allow the self-employed,
contract workers, and those
not already eligible to receive
unemployment benefits to
get them for the first time.
o ut - of - state hunters
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife closed rec-
reational hunting, fishing,
crabbing and clamming to
Courtesy OANG
Oregon Army National Guard members deliver personal protection
supplies to Columbia County.
nonresidents.
While seasons remain open
to Oregon residents (except
for Columbia River salmon/
steelhead fishing), resident
hunters and anglers should
not be traveling to partici-
pate. The agency has received
5
complaints from rural com-
munities about people visiting
to hunt and fish and placing
additional burdens on their
limited resources.
C omplianCe CheCks
Oregon Occupational Safety
and Health has begun con-
The spot checks, which are
in addition to more time-in-
tensive, on-site inspections
initiated by the division, are
to confirm whether employ-
ers are doing what they’re
telling the division they’re
doing in response to com-
plaints.
OSHA received more than
1,200 complaints the week
of March 23, when the gover-
nor ordered some businesses
to close to stop the spread of
coronavirus.
s elf - serVe gas
The State Fire Marshal’s
Office has extended a tempo-
rary order allowing self-ser-
vice gas. Initially the order
was to expire April 11. The
order has been extended
through April 25.
o ther snippets
• Spring term at Clatsop
Community College is in full
swing with all students tak-
ing online classes, according
to Stephanie Homer, special
projects and compliance co-
ordinator.
• The demand for food as-
sistance has risen 65 percent
in Clatsop County, according
to Viviana Matthews, deputy
director of Clatsop Commu-
nity Action, which runs the
county’s food bank.
• Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital has lost nearly 50 per-
cent of its revenue since elec-
tive surgeries were cancelled,
a representative said during
a teleconference of the North
Coast Regional Economic
Recovery Team.