WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
HOLIDAY
FREEZE
Restaurants move back to
takeout only as of Nov. 18
By JADE MCDOWELL
and ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITERS
TRACKING COVID-19
This week was déjà vu for
Hermiston restaurants as they
trotted out the same signs and
Facebook posts they have used
multiple times this year.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions,
the notices state, the restaurant is
returning to takeout only.
This time it’s not just Umatilla
County being put in a timeout to
curb rapidly rising COVID-19
cases. The entire state of Ore-
gon is being put on a “two-week
freeze” from Wednesday, Nov.
18, to Wednesday, Dec. 2. Gov.
Kate Brown said some coun-
ties may be frozen longer if their
cases are still going up at the end
of the two weeks.
During that time, restaurants
and bars must close their dining
areas and offer delivery or take-
out only.
Gyms and other fi tness facil-
ities, indoor and outdoor recre-
ation facilities and event venues
are closed entirely.
Grocery stores must limit
capacity to 75% of the shop-
pers they are usually allowed.
Churches and other faith-based
organizations are limited to gath-
erings of 25 people indoors or 50
outdoors.
Everyone is asked to work
from home to the greatest extent
possible.
And all social gatherings
involving more than one house-
hold are limited to no more than
six people from no more than two
households — including Thanks-
giving gatherings.
Luz Escalante, of Ixtapa Mexi-
can Restaurant in Hermiston, said
closing their dining area is hard
on the business, but they will fol-
County, state and federal health
departments provide daily
updates on COVID-19 data to
the public.
On a county level, information
about COVID-19 cases, hospi-
talizations, demographics, ZIP
codes and the “epi-curve” that
tracks the onset of symptoms
can be found for Umatilla,
Morrow, Union, Baker and Mal-
heur counties on the Regional
COVID-19 Dashboard at co.uma-
tilla.or.us/health/COVID_Re-
gion9_Dashboard.
On a state level, the Oregon
Health Authority has set up
a website tracking COVID-19
cases, workplace outbreaks,
school metrics and other data
at https://govstatus.egov.com/
OR-OHA-COVID-19.
Nationally, the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion tracks cases and deaths at
https://covid.cdc.gov/
covid-data-tracker.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A sign advises pedestrians to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing in downtown Hermiston on Oct.
24, 2020.
low the rules and revert to take-
out only.
The restaurant installed a
drive-thru window in its build-
ing during the last shutdown, she
said, so people don’t even have
to get out of their car now when
picking up the orders they phoned
in.
Luckily, she said, the people
of Hermiston have been gener-
ous and supportive to the restau-
rant during times of takeout only
in the past, even if sales have
dropped off some.
“Hopefully people continue to
support our business,” she said.
See Freeze, Page A11
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
A sign along Southgate in Pendleton advertises takeout and delivery only following Gov. Kate Brown’s ban on
dine-in restaurants in March 2020. Oregon is being put on a “two-week freeze” in an attempt to curb the rapid
spread of COVID-19, Gov. Kate Brown announced at a press conference on Nov. 13, 2020.
Good Shepherd improves COVID-19 handling, administrators say
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
As shutdowns rippled across
the world in the spring, they were
implemented under the rallying
cry of “fl attening the curve” of
new infection rates to keep hospi-
tals from being overwhelmed and
buy health care providers time to
learn how to treat the virus’s sick-
est patients.
That time has been valu-
able, say administrators at Good
Shepherd Health Care System in
Hermiston.
“(Health care workers) were
doing the best we could when this
started, and the inroads that health
care has made in the last seven,
eight, nine months has just been
amazing,” CEO Brian Sims said.
“The science has really caught up
and we have learned to really use
what’s there and available, and as
of this morning it was announced
there’s another vaccine that shows
potential that’s shown a 95% suc-
cess rate. I think as we continue
to go down this road we’re just
going to continue to get better.”
Brian Patrick, vice president of
nursing, said the Good Shepherd
has used what it has learned to
put together a physically shielded,
well-ventilated COVID-19 area
that can quickly add and subtract
beds as needed.
“This is how we’re managing it
INSIDE
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A sign advises visitors of limited visitation at the Good Shepherd Health Care System campus in Hermiston on
Monday, Nov. 16, 2020.
now and it’s working very well,”
he said.
Patrick came to Good Shepherd
from a southern California hospi-
tal in September, and Sims came
to Good Shepherd from Iowa in
October. Both said Good Shep-
herd, and Oregon in general, v in
comparatively good shape com-
pared to the situation in other parts
of the country.
Patrick said Good Shepherd
A3 Umatilla and Umatilla
County grant 15-year tax breaks
to new Amazon data centers
hasn’t faced the level of personal
protective equipment shortages
many hospitals have, for exam-
ple. One innovation the hospital
adopted early on was using P100
respirator masks instead of N95
masks. The P100 mask fi lters don’t
need changed nearly as often as an
N95 mask would need replaced,
Patrick said, allowing supplies to
last longer.
According to the Centers for
A7 New reporter Bryce Dole
joins the East Oregonian team
Disease Control, P100 masks are
also more effective at fi ltering out
viruses than the N95 masks typi-
cally used in health care.
“I can tell you, because I have a
new perspective from the outside,
as Brian (Sims) does too, the posi-
tion we’re in here at Good Shep-
herd is outstanding compared to a
lot of other places,” Patrick said of
the hospital’s PPE supply.
He said the hospital has also
A8 The Cigarette Shop to close
in Umatilla after passage of tax
increase
been able to maintain needed staff-
ing levels by utilizing Premium
Staff, which supplies registered
nurses to backfi ll gaps in staffi ng.
Good Shepherd hasn’t been
immune to the challenges of main-
taining a large workforce during
the pandemic. According to the
Oregon Health Authority’s track-
ing of workplace outbreaks, since
the start of the pandemic Good
Shepherd Health Care System as a
whole has had 64 cases of COVID
linked to it, most recently on Nov.
3, either through staff testing pos-
itive or close contacts of those
staff, such as family members
whose cases were traced back to
the positive employees. The health
care system has more than 700
employees.
Earlier in the year, the Orego-
nian quoted nurses at Good Shep-
herd who were unhappy that Good
Shepherd was moving away from
handling contact tracing and noti-
fi cations of exposure internally.
They said the change put them at
additional risk of spreading the
virus to others before they knew
they were exposed.
Patrick said some people came
away from that with the impres-
sion that Good Shepherd employ-
ees weren’t being notifi ed at all
about contacts with the virus, but
See Hospital, Page A11
A9 The Arc of Umatilla County
discusses revenue losses from
suspension of bingo nights