NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Second Umatilla County
resident dies from COVID-19
HERMISTON HERALD
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Construction equipment clears ground at the site of MonteVista Homes’ Theater Park
development on Monday morning.
Hermiston Housing projects
not derailed by pandemic, yet
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
COVID-19 has put a halt
to many things, but housing
development is still going
strong.
Steve Wilson, princi-
pal broker for MonteVista
Homes, said the company is
still making good progress
on its current developments
in Hermiston.
“We’ve got about 170
homes we anticipate build-
ing in the near future, and
we’re not slowing down,” he
said.
The company continues
to add homes to its long-
standing Highland Summit
project, and is currently pav-
ing the streets for the The-
ater Park community, which
will feature 53 new homes
off West Theater Lane near
Geer Road. They are also
in the engineering phase for
Legacy, a 100-lot develop-
ment off Punkin Center and
Northeast Sixth Street.
Construction has been
labeled an essential busi-
ness in Oregon and allowed
to continue during the pan-
demic. Wilson said cus-
tomers who had prepaid for
MonteVista homes were
“thrilled” that the company
had been able to maintain its
construction schedule and
fi nish their houses on time.
The company has had
to make some adjustments,
such as trading open houses
for appointments with one
family at a time, and sani-
tizing everything between
each tour. Wilson said while
fewer people are touring
homes, sales are still steady.
“We’ve had very few
lookers, and mostly peo-
ple who just want to buy a
house,” he said.
It might seem surpris-
ing that people are still mak-
ing such a major purchase
during a time of mass lay-
offs and economic uncer-
tainty. But Wilson said inter-
est rates have dipped so low
they have put home owner-
ship into reach for people
who had previously felt it
was out of their budget.
It has also made upgrad-
ing to a larger, newer home
more tempting.
“People are being forced
to spend a majority of their
time at home with their fam-
“HERMISTON IS
A VERY STRONG
MARKET RIGHT
NOW, IT’S
SEEING A LOT
OF GROWTH IN
THE PRIVATE
AND PUBLIC
SECTOR”
— Tanner Wideriksen, founder
of VestCapital
ily, and are recognizing that
their current home doesn’t fi t
their needs,” he said.
Another planned develop-
ment in Hermiston, Cimar-
ron Terrace, is also moving
ahead despite the pandemic.
Tanner
Wideriksen,
founder of VestCapital, said
the newest phase of the
development has built 38 of
the 99 lots so far.
“COVID-19 has been an
absolutely game-changer,
and everyone has had to be
innovative, but it has not pre-
cluded us from development
of all of our lots as planned,”
he said.
He doesn’t see the need
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CAPECO
Is Here to Help
CAPECO IS STILL WORKING TO HELP
THOSE IN OUR COMMUNITY WITH THEIR
ENERGY BILLS .
We are working from our home offices to assist
you. We can still process your energy application
through the mail, email, fax and phone.
CAPECO strives to deflect some of your energy
costs for income eligible residents of Umatilla,
Morrow, Gilliam, and Wheeler counties by
delivering the Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Oregon
Energy Assistance Program (OEAP). Income
eligible households may receive a one-time
payment, which is paid to the utility vendor.
Eligibility is based on the household total
gross income for the last 30 days. For example,
a household of four with income at or below
$4,163.92 will qualify for assistance.
for more housing in the
greater Hermiston area
going away any time soon,
even with the pandemic.
“Hermiston is a very
strong market right now,”
he said. “It’s seeing a lot of
growth in the private and
public sector.”
Lloyd and Lois Piercy
received approval from the
Hermiston City Council in
November for annexation
and zoning changes needed
for a planned 150-lot devel-
opment on 36 acres at the
intersection of Elm Avenue
and Diagonal Road.
They’re
planning
a
multi-use, walking-friendly
planned neighborhood with
single family homes, a few
commercial buildings and
duplexes and triplexes built
to be accessible to senior cit-
izens and others with mobil-
ity challenges.
Lloyd Piercy said May
8 that they still plan to pro-
ceed with the development,
as long as things continue
to work out with fi nancing,
labor and other pieces.
“These things are hid-
eously expensive, and there
are stumbling blocks along
the way that can stop any
development, but our intent
is to go ahead,” he said.
He said they are still plan-
ning to pursue a housing
project targeted more toward
low income families in Stan-
fi eld, too.
Piercy agreed with other
developers that there is still
a need for more housing in
the greater Hermiston area,
and that need is unlikely to
let up. He said no one knows
for sure exactly how the
pandemic and its economic
impacts will continue to play
out, however.
“I don’t have all the
answers,” he said.
The LIHEAP/OEAP program is open to the general public.
Anyone wishing to apply, please call
541-276-1926 or 1-800-752-1139 for Pendleton office,
or 541-289-7755 or 1-800-214-4776 for the Hermiston office.
You can also reach us on the CAPECO website
www.capeco-works.org
tory symptoms may not
have COVID-19, but any-
one who is sick is asked to
stay home until they have
been symptom-free for 72
hours in order to reduce the
number of people they may
infect.
In numbers last updated
on May 5, the county is
reporting that most of the
county’s confi rmed cases
are in Hermiston and
Umatilla.
Offi cial symptoms of
COVID-19 listed by the
CDC include cough, short-
ness of breath, fever, chills,
shaking, loss of taste or
smell, muscle pain, head-
ache or sore throat. Doc-
tors have reported patients
showing other symptoms
while infected, however,
from nasal congestion to
kidney failure. Some peo-
ple do not show symp-
toms at all or do not show
symptoms until days after
infection, but are still
contagious.
People
experiencing
life-threatening symptoms
should call 911. Those
experiencing
nonemer-
gency symptoms should
consult with their physician
by phone before appearing
in person at a clinic or at
the hospital. Good Shep-
herd Health Care System is
offering prescription deliv-
ery to patients as needed.
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Please contact Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531; jjewett@hermistonherald.com
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The stimulus payments from the CARES Act,
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Umatilla
County
reported its second death
of a confi rmed COVID-19
patient on May 10.
According to a news
release from Umatilla
County Public Health, the
patient was a 64-year-old
man who tested positive on
April 29 and died May 9 at
Providence St. Mary Med-
ical Center in Walla Walla,
Washington. He had under-
lying health conditions.
The
county’s
fi rst
COVID-19 death was a
76-year-old woman, who
tested positive on April 14
and died April 30 at Kadlec
Regional Medical Center
in Richland, Washington.
Sunday’s
announce-
ment capped off a week of
steeply increasing numbers
for Umatilla County, but
cases have since slowed.
The health department
only reported one new
confi rmed case May 11, a
patient who was in close
contact with a previous
case and is now recover-
ing from home in self-iso-
lation, and none on May
12, leaving Umatilla Coun-
ty’s total confi rmed case-
load at 84.
The two deaths bring
the county’s fatality rate
for confi rmed cases to
2.4%.
The county also reported
one new presumptive case.
In the early days of
the pandemic, when test
results in the United States
were less reliable than they
are now, a person who had
tested positive through a
state lab but hadn’t been
confi rmed a second time
by the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Preven-
tion was considered a “pre-
sumptive” case.
While Oregon cases no
longer need confi rmation
from the CDC, the Oregon
Health Authority and Uma-
tilla County Public Health
now defi ne presumptive
cases as people who have
been in close contact with
a confi rmed case and are
displaying symptoms but
have not yet been con-
fi rmed through testing. If
their test comes back pos-
itive, they are added to
the number of confi rmed
cases.
According
to
the
county, there are 26 cur-
rently active cases of
COVID-19 in Umatilla
County, 56 recoveries and
two hospitalizations.
Umatilla County has
now surpassed 1,000 tests,
with 92% coming back
negative. Other illnesses,
such as strains of infl uenza,
are still circulating, mean-
ing a person with respira-
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