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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2020)
HERMISTON HERALD TO BECOME A FREE PUBLICATION STARTING MAY 6 » PAGE A3 Wednesday, april 8, 2020 HermistonHerald.com $1.50 INSIDE RELIEF Ahead of the curve Hermiston businesses can seek grants from the Small Business Administration and Umatilla County. Page » A3 CLEANING TIPS Find out the best ways to keep your home and busi- ness sanitized. Page » A10 STAR ATHLETE Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero named the All-EO Player of the Year. Page » A11 BY THE WAY Food drive to benefit Agape House By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR As the country’s eco- nomic crisis deepens, the Agape House in Hermis- ton continues to need sup- plies to serve needy fami- lies and individuals. A food drive is under- way for the nonprofit. People can drop off non- perishable food items at the Agape House, 500 West Harper Road, on Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon or 1-3 p.m. or Friday 9 a.m. to noon. Items that are espe- cially needed include boxes of macaroni and cheese, crackers, apple- sauce, canned fruits and vegetables, granola bars, instant oatmeal, ramen, cereal and canned soup. People can also mail in or drop off checks to help the nonprofit purchase items for its food bank. • • • Some Hermiston resi- dents celebrated National Doctors Day last week by supporting Good Shepherd Health Care System. City Auto Sales pitched in by purchas- ing 100 hot meals from Ruty’s Restaurant for Good Shepherd staff to enjoy during their shift. staff photo by Ben lonergan Michael Mehlman, left, and Allyssa Sullivan place student materials in bags to distribute to parents while assisting the Umatilla School District with distributing school materials to students on Wednesday afternoon. Local school districts get a running start on distance learning By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR The country may be trying to “flatten the curve” when it comes to coronavi- rus, but when it comes to distance learn- ing, Umatilla School District is ahead of the curve. The Oregon Department of Educa- tion had previously told districts that they could offer “supplemental” educational opportunities, but they couldn’t continue official classes with grades, as it would be unfair to students who didn’t have internet access. But on the evening of March 30, the department reversed course abruptly with a statement that there was a “very real potential” that students won’t return to the classroom at the end of April after all, and districts must pivot to “distance learning for all” by April 13. Umatilla School District Superinten- dent Heidi Sipe said the district’s current “supplemental” learning opportunities already look a lot like distance learning, with class video chats through Google Classroom and homework packets for stu- dents to fill out. “The only difference is we can give grades now,” she said. Last Wednesday, the district’s princi- pals began traveling door-to-door, deliv- ering Chromebooks (simple, inexpensive staff photo by Ben lonergan A bin of school supplies rests on the ground as students pick up supplies, lunches and other materials from a bus operated by the Umatilla School District. laptops mostly used for internet access) to students who requested to check one out. Sipe said the district had already been using about 1,700 Chromebooks — enough for every student in the district — in the classroom. They replace them on a rotating basis and are handing out the ones that need to be replaced soonest first in case they get broken. If one gets stolen, the district can remotely shut it down so it doesn’t work anymore. “We’re hoping that will be a deterrent,” she said. Internet access for all is a bigger hur- dle for districts attempting to implement distance learning, particularly for a dis- trict like Umatilla where a majority of stu- dents live in low-income households. But Umatilla School District has been work- ing in partnership with internet providers See Learning, Page A12 See BTW, Page A10 Umatilla County has 3 new coronavirus cases Latest recommendation from experts at the CDC is for people to wear masks when out in public areas HERMISTON HERALD 8 08805 93294 2 Umatilla County Pub- lic Health announced Mon- day that three new cases of COVID-19 were identified, bringing Umatilla County’s total since the beginning of the outbreak to eight. According to a press release, one of the people diagnosed with the corona- virus was in close contact with one of the two cases in Morrow County, while the other two Umatilla County patients have no connec- tion to each other or any of the other previous cases. All three of the new COVID-19 cases are self-isolating and recover- ing at home. As with previous cases, Umatilla County is declin- ing to release the patient’s city of residence, their age ranges or any other demo- graphic information. How- ever, in a news release announcing the county’s fifth case last week, the county noted that “each of the cases has been in a dif- ferent town so no popula- tion center is really exempt and there is no area of Umatilla County where it isn’t important to follow the guidelines.” The fact that the two newest cases were picked up from an unknown origin also sup- ports public health experts’ assertion that the outbreak is more widespread than official testing numbers show. Joe Fiumara, the depart- ment’s director, said last week that the county’s more recent cases have had a shorter list of people to notify of possible expo- sure, suggesting that many staff photo by Ben lonergan, File people in the county are Large signs at the perimeter of the Good Shepherd Health See Cases, Page A10 Care System campus instruct those arriving at the hospital on newly enacted procedures.
