Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2020)
NEWS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2020 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 New Umatilla and Morrow county worksites added to OHA outbreak list OREGON AUTHORITIES REPORT WORKPLACE OUTBREAKS ]The OHA’s latest weekly COVID-19 workplace outbreaks report for Umatilla and Morrow counties were: Lamb Weston, Hermiston, 161 cases Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton, 69 cases Medelez Trucking, Hermiston, 43 cases Shearer’s Foods, Hermiston, 33 cases Columbia River Processing, Boardman, 32 cases Walmart Distribution Center, Hermiston, 28 cases Atkinson Staffi ng, Hermiston, 22 cases Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, 19 cases Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, 17 Walmart store, Hermiston, 15 JM Eagle, Umatilla, 10 cases Smith Frozen Foods, Weston, 10 cases McDonald’s, Hermiston, 10 cases Threemile Canyon Farms, Boardman, 10 cases Marlette Homes, Hermiston, 8 cases Lamb Weston, Boardman East, 8 cases Family Health Associates, Hermiston, 7 cases Home Depot, Hermiston, 5 cases Shutdown: Continued from Page A1 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hermiston Cinema lets the public know with its signs that the theater closed temporarily after Umatilla County returned to baseline status. ble populations? Get us the tools and resources to iden- tify the sick more urgently and let’s work together to overcome this crisis.” Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath- ena, said he would be sup- portive of the state send- ing additional fi nancial aid to Umatilla and Morrow counties in light of the shut- downs, and said that with the Oregon Legislature’s emergency board still meet- ing and a special session of the Legislature planned, there would likely be oppor- tunities to do so. He said it was hard to see businesses that the pan- demic “just keeps hammer- ing them.” “It breaks my heart,” he said. “I know it’s been tough. We’ve lost businesses already.” He said hindsight is 20/20, but he feels that pub- lic health offi cials in Uma- tilla County have been doing the best they know how, with the knowledge and resources they have had. “They’re good people trying to do a good thing,” he said. Oregon Capital Bureau reporter Gary Warner and East Oregonian editor Andrew Cutler contributed to this report. MORE WINNERS. MORE OFTEN AND NOW... MORE FUN TO SPARE! Coming Next Month! QUAKING ASPENS LANES ARCADE FOOD COURT PLAY, WIN, REPEAT PLENTY OF STRIKES TO SPARE QUICK, EASY & SATISFYING l Over 30 New & Classic Games l Rewards Center With Great Prizes | 24 Lanes l 8 Boutique Lanes with 2 Party Rooms l Full Service Food & Drink l Bowling Lockers & Ball Fitting l Advanced Scoring Technologies l 3 Delicious New Food Venues l Tasty Sweet Shop l Dine-In or Take Out l Fun For All Ages CORONAVIRUS During this serious time, Burns Mortuary of Hermiston encourages everyone to follow the guidelines of CDC to help protect themselves and our communities from the COVID-19 virus Please heed this advice. DRAWINGS Every Friday and Saturday, 7–9:30pm Prize amounts increase the later you play! BURNS MORTUARY VISTA 10:30pm RIVER 10pm $500 CASH of Hermiston & Hermiston Crematory $700 CASH VIP 11pm $1,000 CASH THE HOTTEST grand prizes THREE WINNERS DRAWN - SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 685 W. Hermiston Ave. Hermiston, Oregon (541) 567-6474 ! UES N I NT 10pm www.burnsmortuaryhermiston.com CO RIVER GRAND PRIZE $3,000 CASH $ 35 PER PERSON INCLUDES 9 HOLES, CART, BURGER & A BREW Monday - Thursday 1-4pm WILDHORSE GOLF COURSE BURGERS “Honestly, I have been in contact regularly with the local county commissioners. I would prefer to do things collaboratively, but in this case, it has become a crisis,” Brown said. As local government leaders reacted to the deci- sion, Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann pub- lished a copy of a letter he sent to Brown, telling the governor that closing, open- ing and then reclosing busi- nesses caused serious harm to them. He said in some cases those jobs would not come back, causing “lasting adverse consequences for years to come.” Drotzmann said he had spoken with the governor previously about the fact that cases would rise after more things opened up. “However, if you drill down on the data, you will see we only have 314 active cases, 13 hospitalizations and a total of 23 deaths, most elderly with preexist- ing conditions,” he wrote. “Also, the data demon- strate the highest prevalence among the 20-40 (year old) age groups.” He went on to say that the door-to-door testing samples conducted by Oregon State University on July 25-26 showed a large number of people were not showing symptoms at the time of their test, which proved the need for widespread testing with rapid turnaround times to help get the virus under control. “We don’t have a lot of white collar or govern- ment-based jobs that allow for telecommuting,” he wrote. “When our work- force gets shut down, the rest of the state (and the world) doesn’t eat. So out of necessity people can’t wait 7-14 days on a maybe. We need more certain/rapid answers. Returning to base- line won’t work. How many outbreaks are we seeing at restaurants, barbershops and bowling alleys?” “You want to slow the spread and protect vulnera- Umatilla County would be placed back to “stay home, save lives” shutdown sta- tus starting at noon on July 31. In a statement in OSU’s news release she said that the results of the study “confi rms what we have feared based on weeks of troubling data from the Oregon Health Authority.” One of several met- rics that Brown cited in her announcement of the shutdown was that 45% of Umatilla County’s cases in the past week were “spo- radic” cases that con- tact tracers were not able to trace back to a specifi c person, suggesting a high rate of community spread rather than a few isolated pockets. State epidemiol- ogist Dean Sidelinger said the OSU study — which found that half of the 30 neighborhoods visited had at least one positive res- ident — confi rmed that Hermiston has “wide com- munity spread.” Ben Daziel, a co-direc- tor of TRACE COVID-19, said the results were cause for concern because efforts to test and isolate people when they show symptoms will not be enough. Hermiston’s results are signifi cantly higher than the fi rst round of test- ing in other cities where TRACE has been con- ducted. In Corvallis, OSU estimated two in every 1,000 people had COVID- 19 during the weekend in question. In Bend, that number was one in every 1,000. In Newport, it was 34. In Hermiston, it is an estimated 169 out of every 1,000 people. 11pm VIP GRAND PRIZE 10:30pm $10,000 CASH VISTA GRAND PRIZE CASINO • HOTEL • GOLF • CINEPLEX • RV • MUSEUM • DINING • TRAVEL PLAZA 800.654.9453 • PENDLETON, OR • I-84, EXIT 216, wildhorseresort.com. Owned and operated by CTUIR Management reserves all rights to alter, suspend or withdraw promotions/offers at any time. Gaga.6.18 WH062022 BIRDIES The COVID-19 virus con- tinues to make its way into new worksites and long-term care facilities in Hermiston. According to the Oregon Health Authority’s weekly report, which contains data up to July 26 and was released on Wednesday, July 29, Sun Terrace in Hermis- ton was added to the list of congregate care facilities in Oregon that have had three or more confi rmed COVID- 19 cases. The report listed six cases linked to the facility. Pam Carrier, who is the community relations direc- tor for the assisted living facility, said they are work- ing with the county health department and other agen- cies to address the outbreak, including regularly checking residents’ temperatures and carefully monitoring them for symptoms. She said for now residents are being kept to their rooms other than nec- essary trips, such as doctor’s appointments. “Our residents are being troopers, they truly are,” she said. “But it’s been hard on them.” OHA also reported worksite outbreaks for the week. The list covers work- places with 30 or more employees that have had at least fi ve cases linked to them through employees testing positive or close contacts of those employees testing pos- itive after being exposed to the employee while they were ill. At 44%, Hermiston also had much lower participa- tion rates than the other cit- ies, which ranged between 68-80%. In addition to the test results, OSU also released information about what Umatilla County residents can do to slow the spread of the virus to a level where businesses and schools can reopen. Staying home while sick is important, research- ers said, but the high rate of asymptomatic carri- ers also shows why it is important to strictly follow guidelines about wearing masks and staying six feet apart from all non-house- hold members, and avoid being around other people more than necessary. Peo- ple should also quaran- tine if they were exposed to a confi rmed case of COVID-19. Miguel Ascencio, a community health worker with the ConneXions pro- gram at Good Shepherd Medical Center, said vol- unteering as TRACE team member was eye-open- ing to see how widespread misinformation and mis- conceptions about the virus were in Hermiston. He urged people to do their part to help protect the community from a virus they might not even know they were spreading. “The biggest thing they can do is to wear their face coverings,” Ascencio said. “It might be annoy- ing to wear it, but they have got to think of their family members — their kids, their grandparents — because they are putting their lives at risk. Wearing a mask can go such a long ways when out in public or in the stores.” Continued from Page A1 BREWS & By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Testing: $5,000 CASH
