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Wednesday, april 8, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
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INSIDE
RELIEF
Ahead of the curve
Hermiston businesses can
seek grants from the Small
Business Administration and
Umatilla County.
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CLEANING TIPS
Find out the best ways to
keep your home and busi-
ness sanitized.
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STAR ATHLETE
Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero
named the All-EO Player of
the Year.
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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.