THE FACTS ABOUT CORONAVIRUS » SPECIAL SECTION, INSIDE
HermistonHerald.com
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
$1.50
INSIDE
HOMICIDE
A Hermiston man’s death
is being investigated as a
homicide after he was found
just outside town last week
Page » A3
STEPPING UP
Local quilters make masks for
hospitals and first responders
Page » A10
HOMESCHOOLING
Homeschoolers give tips for
parents looking to provide
educational opportunities for
their children.
Page » A11
BY THE WAY
A note to
our readers
In order to encour-
age social distancing,
the Hermiston Herald
has closed our offices
to walk-in traffic for the
foreseeable future.
If you need to get in
touch with us, you can
call 541-567-6457 or look
up individual staff mem-
bers’ email addresses
on the staff directory at
www.hermistonherald.
com/site/directory.html.
You can also drop off pay-
ments in the locked box
outside our front door at
333 E Main St.
We continue to send
out print newspapers
to our subscribers each
Wednesday, but because
we don’t know what
the future holds when it
comes to new social dis-
tancing mandates, we
would also encourage all
print subscribers to take
a few minutes to regis-
ter your subscription now,
so that in you can still
receive an e-edition of
the paper in your email
and have full access to
our website, which comes
free with a print subscrip-
tion, in the event that mail
service is disrupted.
You can find the regis-
tration form and instruc-
tions under the large
“Register your subscrip-
tion” button we have
added to the top of our
website. If you get stuck,
call 1-800-522-0255 on
Mondays through Fridays
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
See BTW, Page A2
staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Caution tape surrounds the playground and basketball courts at Bard Park in Stanfield on Monday afternoon. Gov. Kate Brown issued
a statewide stay-at-home order Monday morning, closing playgrounds and gathering places across the state.
City leaders urge Hermiston residents to avoid unnecessary exposure after governor issues order
By JADE MCDOWELL, ANNIE FOWLER
and DICK HUGHES
EO MEDIA GROUP
There was barely anything on the
Hermiston City Council agenda on Mon-
day night, but an audience of more than
50 people showed up anyway.
Don’t worry; they were practicing safe
social distancing. They were watching a
live stream of the meeting on Facebook.
It may have been a sign of just how
bored self-quarantiners have become,
but according to Facebook, the video
had been watched more than 1,000 times
by Tuesday morning — a hundred times
more citizens than normally participate in
a council meeting.
The city council doesn’t usually stream
its meetings, but did so Monday night
— with an additional option to listen by
phone — in order to encourage people to
follow Governor Kate Brown’s plea that
Oregonians stay in their homes as much
as possible.
Councilors, sitting six feet apart, fol-
lowed up with a plea of their own, as
they discussed and ultimately decided
to change city council meetings to once
a month (the minimum mandated by the
city charter) for the foreseeable future.
Committee meetings have also been can-
celed, other than the planning commis-
sion and budget committee both needing
to meet in May.
“We all need to make sacrifices,” coun-
cilor John Kirwan said. “So, you know, I
think us as a council, we should be lead-
ing by example moving forward. If we
don’t need to be in meetings we shouldn’t
be.”
He lamented the number of people
INSIDE
For a list of business closures,
see Page A12
who were still choosing to go out for friv-
olous reasons, when staying home could
save lives.
“When have we ever been asked to
save the world by staying home?” he
asked.
Mayor David Drotzmann also urged
people to avoid unnecessary trips out in
public, in light of the fact that many peo-
ple who contract COVID-19 never show
any symptoms, but can still spread it to
others at risk for serious complications.
“None of us knows — we could all be
walking around as carriers right now,” he
said.
He said he preferred the term “phys-
ical distancing” to “social distancing”
because he hoped people in the commu-
nity are still reaching out to each other
through phone, video chat and other safe
methods. He also encouraged people who
have extra to share supplies if they can.
“Don’t go an hoard all the toilet
paper,” he said. “Don’t go and hoard all
the canned goods and alcohol and clean-
ing supplies. You don’t need a year’s
worth.”
Councilor Roy Barron encouraged
people to continue to support local busi-
nesses in what ways they can, such as
ordering take-out from local restaurants.
Barron, a teacher for Hermiston
School District, also gave a shout out to
the other teachers in the area who were
concerned about their students, particu-
staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Samantha Cox files a customer’s nails
at Ellig’ance Hair Salon in Hermiston on
Monday afternoon. Hair and nail salons
are among businesses ordered to close.
larly those who don’t live in a safe home
environment.
City manager Byron Smith reviewed
steps that the city has taken to comply
with the governor’s orders, including
making visits to city offices by appoint-
ment only and encouraging as much busi-
ness as possible to be conducted over the
phone or online. People who don’t have
internet access can still drop off their util-
ity bill at 180 NE Gladys Avenue.
“People can still use the drop box at
the old city hall, and people have been
using it,” he said.
See Home, Page A12
Hospital prepares for COVID-19
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
Good Shepherd Health
Care System in Hermiston
has made several changes to
its operations in response to
the COVID-19 outbreak.
It has followed Governor
Kate Brown’s order to tem-
porarily stop all surgeries
for non-life-threatening and
non-urgent procedures, in
order to preserve stocks of
personal protective equip-
ment such as gloves, masks
and surgical gowns.
CEO Dennis Burke told
the East Oregonian that hos-
pitals have been told to pre-
pare all of their capacity for
critical patients that could
be coming in during the out-
break. For the moment, that
actually means fewer people
than normal are coming and
going from their campus.
“We’re preparing for the
‘what if’, but that hasn’t
happened yet,” Burke said.
Communications direc-
tor Caitlin Cozad said in
an email Friday night that
Good Shepherd is “judi-
ciously monitoring” their
personal protective equip-
ment in light of the national
shortage.
“We have plenty of some
supplies, while others are
staff photo by Ben Lonergan
See Hospital, Page A12
Hospital workers screen people arriving at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston on
Monday afternoon.