WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
County’s new COVID-19 cases decrease
Umatilla health offi cials say new caseload in single digits
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Umatilla County announced
nine new confi rmed cases of
COVID-19 on Tuesday, Aug. 18,
marking the fi rst time in nearly two
months that the county’s new cases
were in single digits.
The last time the county reported
fewer than 10 cases in a day was
on June 24. The Aug. 18 news
release from Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health listed 2,335 confi rmed
cases in the county since the pan-
demic began and 32 deaths of indi-
viduals diagnosed with COVID-
19. As of Aug. 18, the county also
had 11 COVID-19 patients hospi-
talized and 142 presumptive cases.
While it is hard to draw defi n-
itive conclusions from a single
day of testing, Umatilla County’s
cases have been trending down-
ward overall. During the week of
Aug. 9-15, the county reported its
lowest number of confi rmed cases
(145) and recorded its lowest sev-
en-day average of newly reported
cases (20.7) since the end of June.
“The trends, particularly over
the last week or so, in Umatilla
County, have been very encour-
aging,” Oregon Health Authority
Director Patrick Allen said during
a Friday, Aug. 14, call with the
media. “The case numbers are still
high, but they’ve come down from
where they were previously.”
Counties pushed back to a
lower level of their reopening
schedule by the state must wait at
least 21 days before being cleared
to advance to a later phase. Uma-
tilla County was fi rst sent to base-
line on July 31.
The state takes into account
not only the number of confi rmed
cases and hospitalizations each
day, but also the percentage of tests
coming back positive and the per-
centage of cases that are able to
See Cases, Page A10
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
Umatilla County reported its lowest number of confi rmed cases and its
lowest seven-day average since the end of June during the week of Aug.
9 through 15.
UPDATES
Local
school
districts
receive
broadband
funding
HERMISTON HERALD
Two local school dis-
tricts are set to receive
grants from Business
Oregon to help boost
students’ access to
broadband internet.
Umatilla
School
District will receive
$120,879 in funds to
support online learning,
and Morrow County
School District will
receive $119,598 to
bring internet access
to more students in the
district.
Both districts will
be starting their school
year in an online-only
format as Umatilla
and Morrow counties
remain well above the
levels of new COVID-
19 cases to gain
approval for in-person
learning.
“Learning will look
different as we fi ght
the spread of COVID-
19,” Business Oregon
Director Chris Cum-
mings said in a news
release. “Whether there
is access to buildings or
not, students through-
out Oregon will cer-
tainly need access to
online resources and to
engage with their teach-
ers and classmates.”
According to the
news release, schools
around the state will
receive a total of $1.61
million in grants as
part of the CARES Act
stimulus funding from
the federal government
sent to the states.
Umatilla School Dis-
trict will have Chrome-
books available for stu-
dents to pick up through
Aug.
22.
Students
will be mailed a copy
of their schedule and
information about their
teachers, and are asked
to log in to their device
sometime between Aug.
24-28 to make sure it is
working properly and
review welcome mes-
sages about what to
expect when school
begins.
INSIDE
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Emersyn Aitkin, 11, takes a moment with her steer before entering the livestock barn at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center to have her picture
taken on the second day of the 2020 Umatilla County Fair Modifi ed Youth Livestock Show on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.
A show of support
Youth Livestock Auction on
track to raise money for students
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
A Hermiston FFA member departs after dropping off their animal at the
2020 Umatilla County Fair Modifi ed Youth Livestock Show on Tuesday,
Aug. 11, 2020. Those entering animals for auction weighed their animals
and had their photos taken before departing to comply with COVID-19
safety precautions.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Volunteers lead steers into the arena to be judged on the second day of the
2020 Umatilla County Fair Modifi ed Youth Livestock Show on Wednesday,
Aug. 12, 2020.
A3 Car club renovates 1955
tractor for Funland playground
A6 Library contest winner hopes
to become a librarian
The 2020 Umatilla County Fair
may be over, but the money keeps
rolling in for area youths.
The Youth Livestock Auc-
tion on Saturday, Aug. 15, raised
$488,311 in direct sales, but bump
and add-on money is still accepted
through Aug. 25, and local busi-
nesses are piling on more money
for the FFA and 4-H students who
chose to sell their animals at auc-
tion after the judging was over.
Auction coordinator Marie
Linnell estimated on Monday,
Aug. 17, the auction’s total would
pass $510,000. Although that’s a
lower total than the record-break-
ing totals of the past couple of
years, she said, the number of ani-
mals being auctioned off was also
smaller, at 208 lots compared with
265 in 2019.
“Overall, it went very well,”
she said.
Linnell keeps adding new thank
yous to the Umatilla County Fair
Youth Livestock Auction page.
First was Les Schwab of Herm-
iston and Pendleton for adding
$50 to every animal at the auc-
tion. Beef Northwest, G-2 Farm-
ing, Anderson Land & Livestock/
Terry Anderson and Buttercreek
A7 Doughnut delivery service
hopes to expand to a storefront
INSIDE
A list of Umatilla County Fair
Champions, Page A10
Sod/Jordan Bennett Family each
added an extra $50 to each steer.
And Simplot Grower Solutions
added $100 to each of the 15 tur-
keys. Students can use the money
for what they wish, from college
funds to a new goat.
Prices per animal were mixed,
with goats and steers going for a
lower average price per pound
than in 2019, while swine and
sheep were higher. Rabbits went
for $825 — a $500 increase from
the average price of rabbits sold
the previous year.
Linnell said some businesses
that have been heavily impacted
by the pandemic were not able to
commit as much money to buy-
ing an animal, but there were
other businesses that were able to
step up and give more than usual.
Some people placed bids online,
but others simply let the auction
committee know what they were
looking for and gave the commit-
tee the power of proxy to bid for
them.
See Fair, Page A10
A9 CareVan among the recipi-
ents of a grant to increase veteran
mobility