NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
School districts, businesses provide internet options
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
After Oregon students
got the news on Wednesday
that they will be “distance
learning” for the rest of the
school year, students who
don’t have internet access
are at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, for those
students, internet provid-
ers, cellphone carriers and
school districts are stepping
up to extend access.
Charter is now offer-
ing free Spectrum broad-
band internet for 60 days to
households with at least one
K-12 or college student who
do not already get service
through Charter if they call
844-488-8395. Installation
fees will be waived.
The company is also
opening up its Wi-Fi
hotspots, which usually
require a Charter customer
password and username, for
free public use. They can be
located at www.spectrum.
com/free-wifi-hotspots.
html.
“As the country works
HH fi le photo
A Spectrum service truck sits parked near the Umatilla County
Courthouse last month. Spectrum is among a growing list of
service providers taking extra steps to alleviate the fi nancial
impact of COVID-19 closures on consumers.
collaboratively to con-
tain this pandemic, broad-
band internet access will
be increasingly essential to
ensuring that people across
the country are able to learn
and work remotely, that
businesses can continue to
serve customers, and that
Americans stay connected
and engaged with family
and friends,” the company
stated.
Comcast is also opening
up Xfi nity Wi-Fi Network
for free nationally. The net-
work has several locations
in Hermiston and Pendle-
ton and two in Pilot Rock.
People can fi nd the hotspots
by downloading the Xfi n-
ity app or searching for their
ZIP code at https://wifi .xfi n-
ity.com.
For current CenturyLink
customers, the company is
suspending limits on data
usage, waiving late fees
and holding off on termi-
nating service for people
who are struggling to pay
their bill.
Eastern Oregon Tele-
com recently extended Ath-
ena, Weston and Adams
their fi rst broadband inter-
net service, and is offering
customers in those areas
free installation and their
fi rst two months of service
free. Customers who have
already signed up can get
two months of internet free
if they refer a friend. Ser-
vice can be set up by calling
541-289-7000.
Pendleton Fiber Co.
posted to its website that
Wtechlink is waiving instal-
lation fees for new cus-
tomers in the next 60 days
who need internet installed
to participate in school or
work from home, and is
encouraging customers who
are struggling to pay their
bill because of COVID-19
to call the offi ce at 541-276-
2887 to discuss payment
plans.
School districts providing
internet options
Some school districts are
also working to provide their
own internet options for stu-
dents, in addition to making
Chromebooks available for
students to check out.
Umatilla School District
has set up Wi-Fi hotspots in
its school parking lots and in
neighborhoods around the
city, and in some cases pro-
viding individual students
with internet if they are not
within walking distance of a
hotspot.
Pendleton School District
sent a letter to parents detail-
ing options for students,
including Wi-Fi hotspots
at Washington and McKay
Creek elementary schools.
Stanfi eld School District
is working to procure inter-
net hotspot devices that can
be checked out to families
in need.
Families without internet
access are asked to reach out
to Superintendent Beth Bur-
ton at 541-449-8766.
Echo School District
families without internet
are asked to contact Super-
intendent Raymon Smith at
rsmith@echosd5.org.
Cellphone carriers
The nation’s largest cell-
phone carriers have all
signed a pledge to increase
access during the COVID-
19 crisis, including waiv-
ing late fees and not disrupt-
ing service for people who
contact the carrier to show
they’re experiencing fi nan-
cial hardship because of
COVID-19.
AT&T and T-mobile have
both launched $15 monthly
plans. T-mobile is giving
current customers unlimited
data and AT&T is giving
current customers an addi-
tional 10GB of data.
Sprint is giving unlim-
ited data to capped plans for
the next 60 days and add-
ing 20GB of hotspot data
for those who have Wi-Fi
hotspot capability.
Through April 30, Veri-
zon is adding 15GB of data,
free international calling and
unlimited domestic minutes
to most plans.
Umatilla County announces new cases of COVID-19
HERMISTON HERALD
Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health announced two
new cases of the novel coro-
navirus on Monday, bring-
ing the county’s total to 16,
and released a map Tuesday
indicating most of the coun-
ty’s cases are in the Hermis-
ton area.
According to a press
release, both of the people
diagnosed with COVID-
19 on Monday were in
close contact with previ-
ous confi rmed cases and are
recovering from home in
self-isolation.
As with previous cases,
the county is declining to
include demographic infor-
mation like city of resi-
dence, age range and gender
with these new announce-
Centers for Disease Control Photo
COVID-19
ments. However, on Tues-
day, the department released
a map at www.co.umatilla.
or.us/health/covid_map/
showing a range of cases by
zipcode. The map indicates
a majority of the county’s
cases are in Hermiston and
Umatilla.
Of the 16 reported diag-
noses, the county health
department says 11 are still
actively sick, with the rest
considered recovered com-
pletely. None of the active
cases are hospitalized and no
one in the county has died.
The Umatilla County
Public Health website states
that 400 tests have been
conducted, of which 16
have tested positive.
Morrow County now has
fi ve positive cases, which
the county says includes
cases in both the northern
and southern parts of the
county.
The statewide report put
out by the Oregon Health
Authority on Tuesday
noted a total of 1,633 con-
fi rmed cases in the state, and
30,730 tests that had come
back negative. Fifty-fi ve
people in the state have
died from complications of
COVID-19, and investiga-
tive reporting by The Ore-
gonian and other Oregon
news outlets revealed last
week that roughly half those
deaths have happened in a
handful of nursing homes.
Based on the report,
56% of confi rmed cases
are female, at least 49% are
white (25% of patients are of
unknown race), and 47% are
under the age of 50. At least
17% are health care work-
ers, 59% are not, and 25%
are unknown. At least 23%
were hospitalized during
their illness, 68% were not,
and 9% are unknown.
The state currently has
328 of a total 751 adult
intensive care unit beds
available, and 85 of its 198
pediatric ICU beds open.
The New York Times
database of confi rmed cases
nationwide showed 587,834
cases and 25,191 deaths.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control, the 2009
swine fl u infected 60 mil-
lion Americans and killed
between 8,868 and 18,306
people over the course of 12
months.
Umatilla County Health
director Joseph Fiumara
said in a news release that
the department encourages
healthy individuals to con-
tinue essential functions,
but to avoid all non-essen-
tial trips outside of home
and maintain six feet of dis-
tance from other people
when they do go out.
“To minimize the spread
of COVID-19 between
communities, we strongly
encourage all residents to
utilize essential services
within the communities
where they live,” he said.
Employers are encour-
aged to enforce social dis-
tancing in the workplace,
give employees time off for
illness and send them home
if they are ill. Anyone who
knows they are sick should
isolate themselves in their
home until 72 hours after
their symptoms subside.
“Both the short-term
and long-term success of
containing COVID-19 in
Umatilla County hinges
on every single resident
of Umatilla County adher-
ing to the ‘Stay Home Save
Lives’ order from Gover-
nor Brown,” Fiumara said.
“Maintain social distanc-
ing, stay home unless abso-
lutely necessary and help
fi ght the spread with proper
hand-washing and hygiene
techniques.”
BENEFITS OF
TREE TRIMMING
Clearing trees and overgrown
vegetation is vital to provide safe,
reliable power to our
consumer-members.
We clear certain areas in our service
territory, known as rights of way, to:
• Keep power lines clear of tree limbs
• Restore power outages more quickly
• Keep crews and members of our
community safe
• Reduce unexpected costs for repairs
Hermiston Office
750 W. Elm Ave.
Hermiston, OR 97838
(541) 567-6414
Boardman Office
400 N.E. Eldrige Drive
Boardman, OR 97818
(541) 481-2220
www.UmatillaElectric.com
Vegetation management improves
service reliability for you – our members!