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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2020)
BUSINESS Wednesday, July 15, 2020 HeRMIsTOnHeRald.COM • A7 Good Shepherd pilots drive-thru testing Hospital staff hope to offer more testing opportunities in future By JADE MCDOWELL neWs edITOR Good Shepherd Health Care System tried out its first drive-thru testing event on Monday, July 13, and hopes to provide more such opportunities in the future. The event offered 160 slots for anyone interested, regardless of whether they were showing symptoms or had been exposed to a known COVID-19 case. Spokesperson Caitlin Cozad said people pre-reg- istered for all of the slots, and Good Shepherd was able to get everyone who registered swabbed, with the exception of a few no-shows. “Many of the individ- uals are needing to test in order to be able to return to work safely and some sim- ply wanted to confirm their IN THE WORKS suspicion of symptoms and/or recent exposure,” she wrote in an email. “Our staff have worked tirelessly to be able to bring this COVID-19 test- ing event to our commu- nity safely and efficiently, and we hope to offer more drive-thru testing oppor- tunities in the near future as resources and capacity allow.” She said Lab Corp, which Good Shepherd con- tracts with to process the tests, takes anywhere from two to 10 days to return results. People who participated and need a copy of their test results or their test results sent to their employer can request that by visiting gshealth.org/request-med- ical-records or by calling Good Shepherd’s Medi- cal Records Department at 541-667-0621. The preferred way for someone to request test- ing for COVID-19 is to call their primary care pro- vider, but some organiza- tions are starting to offer drive-thru options. Benton-Franklin Health District has been offer- ing COVID-19 testing on a first-come, first-served basis at the Toyota Cen- ter in Kennewick and the HAPO Center in Pasco, Washington. Those testing sites are open Tuesday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. No referral by a doctor is necessary, and testing is free, but patients should bring their medical insur- ance information if they have insurance. The Oregon Health Authority is hosting a live question and answer ses- sion about COVID-19 test- ing and data on Wednes- day, July 15, at 12:30 p.m. on its Facebook page. Frequently asked ques- tions and other test- ing information also are available on the health authority’s website at g o v s t a t u s . e g o v. c o m / OR-OHA-COVID-19. Some restaurants switching back to takeout By NADA SEWIDAN sTaFF WRITeR Staff photo by Jade McDowell A new sign advertises the doughnut shop coming to Umatilla. New businesses coming soon to Umatilla hen I spoke with in Umatilla. The building, Salud Cam- which previously housed pos of the Uma- the Hunny Bunz strip club, tilla Chamber of Commerce was purchased by Kyle recently, she told me the and Heidi Sipe in 2019 and chamber is planning several turned into a space to lease grand openings for for small local busi- nesses. The other new businesses in the two spaces in the Umatilla area. “Things are building now host changing in Uma- the barbecue restau- tilla, and I’m excited rant Lite ‘Em Up to see it,” she said. BBQ and the brand One of the new new Fruteria Piqui businesses is actu- Jade frozen dessert stand. ally an old business McDowell The businesses, neWs edITOR reborn, which the like others in down- town Umatilla, are Hermiston Herald reported on recently. The currently facing construc- former Riverside Sports tion in front of their build- Bar is having a grand ing as the Oregon Depart- reopening as The Bridge ment of Transportation on Saturday, July 25. The completes an overhaul of business is changing from a Sixth Street, but they are sports bar with adult enter- still open. tainment to a more fami- Editor’s Note: In the ly-friendly bistro. Works is a regular column Umatilla residents can discussing new economic also look forward to a new development projects com- doughnut shop in town. ing to west Umatilla County Campos said Raelynn Gal- and north Morrow County. legos, owner of Rae’s Dayz To submit tips, email edi- Diner in Umatilla, is plan- tor@hermistonherald.com, ning on opening the dough- call 541-564-4536 or send nut shop in the original a letter to 333 E. Main St. Rae’s Dayz building at in Hermiston. 1290 Sixth St. in Umatilla. After its opening at that location in 2017, the diner has since moved next door to 1226 Sixth St. Campos said the date for a grand opening for the doughnut shop hasn’t been set in stone yet, but look for a story on the new business in the Hermiston Herald once that date is set. Campos said the cham- ber of commerce is also working with Evangeline, a new gift shop, to set up a grand opening celebration. The gift shop is one of three new businesses in the building at 1201 Sixth St. W Some restaurants in Hermiston, Umatilla and Pendleton have voluntarily halted dine-in options in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Uma- tilla County. Restaurants, such as Lawan’s Thai Garden in Hermiston, Rae’s Dayz Diner in Umatilla, and Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery in Pend- leton, have closed down or switched back to takeout only. Lawan’s Thai Garden announced on June 29 via their Facebook page that they plan to reopen their dining room with limited seating. However, on July 3 they announced they would be scaling back to takeout only. “Due to the growing COVID-19 cases, we will continue doing to go order only,” the post stated. Some Hermiston restau- rants have let custom- ers know via Facebook that they were temporar- ily shutting down out of an abundance of caution after being notified employ- ees had been exposed to the virus. Ixtapa posted on June 23 that they were closing down to clean and to test employees after being notified their staff had been exposed to some- one who had tested posi- tive for COVID-19. They reopened on July 5. “Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the Umatilla County, we took a break to try and ensure the health of our customers and employees,” they wrote. “Our team here at Ixtapa strongly urge you all to stay at home if you are not feeling well, caring for the safety of yourself and others.” Restaurants in other parts of the country have also begun to voluntarily close their doors or switch back to takeout only. Staff photo by Jade McDowell Rae’s Dayz Diner in Umatilla was one of several Umatilla County restaurants that briefly closed out of caution after finding out that an employee had possibly been exposed to COVID-19. In some cases, it’s a result of staff mem- bers testing positive for COVID-19, according to the online publication Restaurant Hospitality. In other cases, the clo- sures are temporary while they test employees, sani- tize facilities and increase health and safety proto- cols. Some restaurant own- ers are limiting foot traffic in hopes of preventing any staff member from con- tracting the virus. This is the case with Rae’s Dayz Diner in Uma- tilla. The restaurant had closed down because an employee’s family mem- ber had tested positive for COVID-19, according to owner Raelynn Gallegos. Gallegos said that she decided to shut down her business to sanitize and test all of her employees, but said she later found out that there had been a mis- take, and the person noti- fied that they had tested positive had not tested pos- itive after all. Come enjoy some delicious homestyle cooking and friendly service! • Burgers • Wraps • Salads • Sandwiches • Smoked Baby Back Ribs • Prime Rib & More! “We took a few days to sanitize and make sure it was safe for us and safe for the public,” she said. “We take this very seriously and care about our community and we would not want to take a chance in any shape or form to hurt anybody.” Rae’s Dayz Diner will reopen Friday, July 17. Kelli Bullington, a rep- resentative at Oregon Grain Growers, said the company decided to close their dine-in service on July 3 following increasing COVID-19 cases in Umatilla County. “We decided with the uptick of COVID-19 cases in our county and number of travelers we were seeing for the holiday weekend that it was in the best inter- est of our staff and our cus- tomers to reduce risk and roll back to curbside and takeout only,” she said. Bullington said the company feels it is best to roll back to curbside and takeout only instead of remaining open for dine-in services and risking a staff member contracting COVID-19. “From a financial stand- point, being open for curb- side and takeout is a bet- ter solution than having to shut down the restau- rant completely,” she said. “This was a group decision at the Distillery to put the health of our staff, custom- ers, and community first.” Oregon Grain Grow- ers does not currently have a dine-in reopening date planned. DID YOU KNOW... In just TEN minutes a car can heat up by TWENTY degrees and become DEADLY!? From 1998-2019 849 children died due to vehicular heatstroke 149 E. Main St., Hermiston • 541-567-3022 Hours: Tues & Wed 7am-10pm • Thurs-Sat 7am-12am Sun 7am-9pm • Closed Monday MILITARY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE RUGGED, RELIABLE, RED... AND THAT’S NO BULL!!! FARM EQUIPMENT www.BonneysAg.com UP TO 4000 CASH REBATE $ $ OR 0% INTEREST ON MOST MODELS
