On January 15, 2021, at approximately 5:52 pm, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch received a 911 call reporting a stabbing that occurred on E Little Albany Loop, Tidewater, Oregon. The reporting party told Dispatch the victim was able to get away from the suspect and seek help from a neighbor. Dispatch received multiple calls during the response including one reporting the suspect’s location.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and detained Branden Michael Gross, 29, of Tidewater. After Mr. Gross was detained and the scene was secured, medics with Pacific West Ambulance and Central Oregon Coast Fire/Rescue assessed the adult female victim. The victim sustained multiple stab wounds in the midsection which were determined to be non-life-threatening. She was transported to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital.

Investigation determined the victim arrived home in the evening and found Mr. Gross upstairs, inside her home. The victim was able to wrestle Mr. Gross out of the residence through the back door while screaming for help.  Mr. Gross turned back toward the residence and entered again through the back door. Another physical struggle ensued, and Mr. Gross stabbed the victim with a knife two times in the area of her abdomen.

Neighbors were alerted to the victim’s screaming and responded to the location to find Mr. Gross and the victim in a physical struggle at the back door. Neighbors intervened and got between the victim and Mr. Gross. During this time, the victim was able to escape and go to a neighbor’s residence and Mr. Gross was able to escape the victim’s residence through the front door.

Mr. Gross was located at a nearby residence and arrested for the crimes of Burglary in the first degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Assault in the second degree with a total bail set at $300,000. He was transported and lodged at the Lincoln County Jail. Investigation revealed the suspect was unknown to the victim. It was reported that Mr. Gross suffers from mental health issues.  

An Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) adult in custody (AIC) died January 16, 2021. He was incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution and passed away at a local hospital. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was between 75 and 85 years old. As with all in-custody deaths, the Oregon State Police have been notified, and the Medical Examiner will determine cause of death. Department-wide, this is the thirtieth AIC to die who tested positive for COVID-19.

For more information on COVID-19 cases inside Oregon’s prisons, please visit DOC’s COVID-19 website. The agency is responsible for the care and custody of 13,000 adults in custody who are incarcerated in 14 institutions across the state.

Anyone entering DOC property is required to wear a mask or face covering in any indoor work setting or other indoor premises regardless of distance from others unless they are in a private, individual office not shared by anyone else; or they are actively eating or drinking AND at least six (6) feet of distance can be maintained between other people. Masks are mandatory at all times in many work areas.

Institutions continue to clean and disinfect numerous times a day. DOC asks AICs to report symptoms of COVID to medical staff. Posters are in all DOC institutions encouraging individuals to maintain proper hygiene and to uphold appropriate social distancing to the extent possible. Health screening processes are in place before staff are allowed to enter facilities. This screening includes a temperature check and a screening questionnaire. Visiting remains closed until further notice.

DOC has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations – eventually offering to all DOC staff, contractors, Oregon Corrections Enterprises employees, and adults in custody (AICs). Prioritization of vaccines will be determined by guidance from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Governor’s Office.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, DOC issued a press release when an AIC passed away. This notification would include the person’s name, county of conviction, sentence length, and date of death. However, no cause of death would be listed because the Medical Examiner makes that determination. In order to balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information, we have changed the AIC death notification process when someone dies who has tested positive for COVID-19. DOC is working with the Oregon Health Authority to publish COVID-19 related data and information on the OHA website.

####

Jan. 16, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Updated: OHA is meeting the Governor’s vaccination benchmark and ELR tables corrected

Oregon reports 1,173 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 41 new deaths

Portland, Ore. — There are 41 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,799, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,173 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 132,412.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, OHA reported that 16,117 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 11,332 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 15.

Based on updated totals, OHA is meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal of ensuring 12,000 vaccinations a day. The Governor required the benchmark to be met by the end of the two-week period that began Jan. 4.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 189,190 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 335,075 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 365, which is 22 fewer than yesterday. There are 92 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is five fewer than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (15), Benton (27), Clackamas (75), Clatsop (8), Columbia (18), Coos (7), Crook (20), Curry (1), Deschutes (62), Douglas (16), Gilliam (1), Harney (5), Hood River (14), Jackson (56), Jefferson (12), Josephine (18), Klamath (56), Lake (1), Lane (95), Lincoln (12), Linn (37), Malheur (8), Marion (117), Morrow (6), Multnomah (216), Polk (23), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (70), Union (9), Wallowa (2), Wasco (12), Washington (125), Wheeler (1) and Yamhill (23).

Oregon’s 1,759 COVID-19 death is a 32-year-old man in Marion County who died Dec. 30 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,760 COVID-19 death is a 47-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 8 at Oregon Health and Sciences University. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,761 COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 10 and died on Jan. 13 at St. Charles Medical Center - Bend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,762 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 3 and died on Jan. 15 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,763 COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Jan. 8 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,764 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 11 at Tuality Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,765 COVID-19 death is a 44-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 2 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,766 COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 9 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,767 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died Jan. 8 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,768 COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Jan. 14 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,769 COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 14 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,770 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,771 COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Jan. 1 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,772 COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Jan. 2 and died on Jan. 12 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,773 COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 17 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,774 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,775 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Jan. 6 and died on Jan. 8 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,776 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clatsop County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Jan. 3 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,777 COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 31 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,778 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,779 COVID-19 death is a 51-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 19 and died on Jan. 7 at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1780th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Jan. 7 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,781 COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 27 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,782 COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 10 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,783 COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Crook County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 20 at St. Charles Medical Center - Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,784 COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,785 COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Dec. 30 at St. Anthony Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,786 COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Dec. 31 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,787 COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,788 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 12 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,789 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 11 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,790 COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,791 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Jan. 13 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,792 COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 27 and died on Jan. 13 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,793 COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Jan. 7 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,794 COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Jan. 10 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,795 COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 15 at Bay Area Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,796 COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 8. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,797 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,798 COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Jackson County who died on Jan.  7 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,799 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Marion County who died on Jan. 7 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

1This includes cases confirmed by diagnostic testing and presumptive cases. Presumptive cases are those without a positive diagnostic test who present COVID-19-like symptoms and had close contact with a confirmed case. County of residence for cases may change as new information becomes available. If changes occur, we will update our counts accordingly.

2For additional details on individuals who have died from COVID-19 in Oregon, please refer to our press releases.

ELRs Received 1/8 - Corrected

Total ELRs Received - Corrected

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information

An Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) adult in custody (AIC) died January 16, 2021. He was incarcerated at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution and passed away at a local hospital. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was between 55 and 65 years old. As with all in-custody deaths, the Oregon State Police have been notified, and the Medical Examiner will determine cause of death. Department-wide, this is the twenty-ninth AIC to die who tested positive for COVID-19.

For more information on COVID-19 cases inside Oregon’s prisons, please visit DOC’s COVID-19 website. The agency is responsible for the care and custody of 13,000 adults in custody who are incarcerated in 14 institutions across the state.

Anyone entering DOC property is required to wear a mask or face covering in any indoor work setting or other indoor premises regardless of distance from others unless they are in a private, individual office not shared by anyone else; or they are actively eating or drinking AND at least six (6) feet of distance can be maintained between other people. Masks are mandatory at all times in many work areas.

Institutions continue to clean and disinfect numerous times a day. DOC asks AICs to report symptoms of COVID to medical staff. Posters are in all DOC institutions encouraging individuals to maintain proper hygiene and to uphold appropriate social distancing to the extent possible. Health screening processes are in place before staff are allowed to enter facilities. This screening includes a temperature check and a screening questionnaire. Visiting remains closed until further notice.

DOC has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations – eventually offering to all DOC staff, contractors, Oregon Corrections Enterprises employees, and adults in custody (AICs). Prioritization of vaccines is determined by guidance from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Governor’s Office.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, DOC issued a press release when an AIC passed away. This notification would include the person’s name, county of conviction, sentence length, and date of death. However, no cause of death would be listed because the Medical Examiner makes that determination. In order to balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information, we have changed the AIC death notification process when someone dies who has tested positive for COVID-19. DOC is working with the Oregon Health Authority to publish COVID-19 related data and information on the OHA website.

####

Jan. 16, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Oregon reports 1,173 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 41 new deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 41 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,799, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,173 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 132,412.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, OHA reported that 16,117 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 11,332 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 15.

Based on updated totals, OHA is close to meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal of ensuring 12,000 vaccinations a day. The Governor required the benchmark to be met by the end of the two-week period that began Jan. 4.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 189,190 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 335,075 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 365, which is 22 fewer than yesterday. There are 92 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is five fewer than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (15), Benton (27), Clackamas (75), Clatsop (8), Columbia (18), Coos (7), Crook (20), Curry (1), Deschutes (62), Douglas (16), Gilliam (1), Harney (5), Hood River (14), Jackson (56), Jefferson (12), Josephine (18), Klamath (56), Lake (1), Lane (95), Lincoln (12), Linn (37), Malheur (8), Marion (117), Morrow (6), Multnomah (216), Polk (23), Tillamook (5), Umatilla (70), Union (9), Wallowa (2), Wasco (12), Washington (125), Wheeler (1) and Yamhill (23).

Oregon’s 1,759 COVID-19 death is a 32-year-old man in Marion County who died Dec. 30 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,760 COVID-19 death is a 47-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 8 at Oregon Health and Sciences University. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,761 COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 10 and died on Jan. 13 at St. Charles Medical Center - Bend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,762 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 3 and died on Jan. 15 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,763 COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Jan. 8 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,764 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 11 at Tuality Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,765 COVID-19 death is a 44-year-old man in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 2 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,766 COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 9 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,767 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died Jan. 8 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,768 COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Jan. 14 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,769 COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Malheur County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 14 at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,770 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,771 COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Jan. 1 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,772 COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Jan. 2 and died on Jan. 12 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,773 COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 17 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,774 COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,775 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Jan. 6 and died on Jan. 8 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,776 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Clatsop County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Jan. 3 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,777 COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 31 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,778 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Jan. 11 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,779 COVID-19 death is a 51-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 19 and died on Jan. 7 at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1780th COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Jan. 7 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,781 COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 27 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,782 COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 10 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,783 COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Crook County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 20 at St. Charles Medical Center - Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,784 COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,785 COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Dec. 30 at St. Anthony Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,786 COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Dec. 31 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,787 COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,788 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 12 at Kaiser Westside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,789 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 11 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,790 COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,791 COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Jan. 13 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,792 COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 27 and died on Jan. 13 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,793 COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Jan. 7 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,794 COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Jan. 10 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,795 COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 15 at Bay Area Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,796 COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Linn County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 8. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,797 COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,798 COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Jackson County who died on Jan.  7 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,799 COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Marion County who died on Jan. 7 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.

You are subscribed to Oregon Health Authority News Releases. View all OHA news releases. 

An Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) adult in custody, Daniel R. Clinebell, died the evening of January 15, 2021. Clinebell was incarcerated at Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI) in Ontario and passed away while on hospice care. As with all in-custody deaths, the Oregon State Police have been notified.

Clinebell entered DOC custody on February 15, 2007, from Marion County with an earliest release date of December 7, 2055. Clinebell was 66 years old.

DOC takes all in-custody deaths seriously. The agency is responsible for the care and custody of approximately 13,000 individuals who are incarcerated in 14 institutions across the state. While crime information is public record, DOC elects to disclose only upon request out of respect for any family or victims.

SRCI is a multi-custody prison in Ontario that houses approximately 3,000 adults in custody. SRCI has multiple special housing units including disciplinary segregation, intensive management, infirmary (with hospice) with 24-hour nursing care, and an administrative segregation unit. SRCI participates in prison industries with Oregon Corrections Enterprises including a contact center, laundry, and sign shop. SRCI specializes in incentive housing, specialized housing, individuals with mental health/medical vulnerabilities, education and trades programs, cognitive and parenting programs, and institution work programs. SRCI opened in 1991 and is the largest correctional institution in the state.

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Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 16, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Saturday, January 16, 2021, there are SEVEN (7) people with new positive test results and THREE (3) to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,669.  Currently, there are EIGHT (8) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, six locally and two out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

Reminder: Vaccine Distribution to Local Public Health

The latest round of vaccines that we received this week have all been deployed to our approved local health care providers (vaccinators) in Douglas County.  They are quickly working to vaccinate the current identified list of ELIGIBLE Douglas County residents in accordance with the priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  Right now, they are still working through the identified priority populations in the first group; which include health care workers, long term care workers, home care workers, EMS and first responders. (Click here Oregon's most up-to-date list of eligible residents).  To date, we have not received enough vaccines to move to the next phase or wave, or to hold a large community event. But, that does not mean that we are not prepared for a local vaccination event.  Our team is ready, able and willing to do an event, all we need is the vaccine. We ask for your continued patience, as we work through the maze of changes, logistic issues and limited vaccine distribution.

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. There will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted. We added a new line to provide an accurate total of the number of vaccines that Local Public Health has received to date, as well as the number we have deployed to local vaccinators.  Our numbers do NOT include other sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe and local care facilities that received their vaccines directly from the Federal and State Government in order to begin direct vaccinations to the first priority group. 

Reminder: COVID-19 Vaccine: High Demand and Low Supply

We know that you may have heard reports that the CDC and OHA are making changes to the vaccine eligibility guidelines, it does not mean that the vaccine is available for everyone that is eligible in Douglas County at this time.  We have NOT received new guidelines or rules on the changes yet, so we are continuing with the current prioritization levels until we receive those new rules and guidelines.  It is a supply and demand issue, that we have no control over.  While there is demand, and far more people that are eligible and want to get the vaccine, unfortunately the supply chain of vaccines has not caught up to the current demand for them.  We continue to submit requests to OHA daily for more vaccines to be sent to Douglas County, so we can move forward with vaccinations for everyone that is eligible.  Please know that if you want the vaccine, we want you to have it, and are working 24/7 to make that happen.  Rest assured, that when the new rules are finalized, and we start to receive more vaccines, we will begin to systematically offer them to additional eligible populations in an orderly, fair and equitable manner.  DPHN, through our Local Public Health Authority and Administrators, our Douglas County Board of Commissioners, have set up a new email address for questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Douglas County.  DPHN will do their best to respond with the most current information we have, sign up vaccinators and volunteers, and connect those that are eligible for the vaccine with those that have the vaccine, as soon as the vaccine becomes available. For answers to questions about vaccine eligibility, availability and volunteer opportunities, please email vaccines@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

COVID-19 Vaccine Information in Oregon

Again it is important to note that we are not the ones setting the guidelines for vaccines eligibility or distribution.  We are following the current priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  We understand that our residents have many questions, so do we.  Like you, we are patiently awaiting more vaccines and more information.  If you have questions or need more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, check out the resources listed below.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID health and safety. 

• OHA COVID-19 Vaccine website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/
• General Questions: COVID19.vaccine@dhsoha.state.or.us or call 211 or (971) 673-2411
• COVID-19 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon

Please Continue to Protect You and Your Family

We will continue to encourage everyone, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, to gauge your risk level, and make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you.  We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick, and wear face coverings where recommended.  Click here, for a graphic on how to protect you and your family from COVID-19 spread.  We know how important family, businesses and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities in order to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 169 cases in isolation, as well as another 353 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 522 total contacts and cases in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Information in Oregon

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 6:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

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ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

###

Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

Jan. 15, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Testing reveals first case of U.K. variant of COVID-19 in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Health Authority has been notified today that a person in Oregon, identified as a Multnomah County resident, has tested positive with the variant COVID-19 virus strain originally detected in the United Kingdom.

This is the first identification in Oregon of the United Kingdom variant strain, also called strain B.1.1.7 or SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01. The individual has no known travel history. Health officials are still investigating the possible sources of infection. The strain has been detected in several states, including California.

“The detection of the first case of this variant strain is a concern, and we have been monitoring movement of this strain,” said Dean Sidelinger, M.D., health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA. “As we learn more about this case and the individual who tested positive for this strain, OHA continues to promote effective public health measures, including wearing masks, maintaining six feet of physical distance, staying home, washing your hands, and avoiding gatherings and travel.”

Information about the characteristics of COVID-19 variants is rapidly emerging, for the U.K. strain and another variant first found in South Africa.

Viruses constantly mutate, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and globally during this pandemic. Most variants do not change how the virus behaves, and many disappear. 

Scientists are working to learn more about how easily they might spread, and currently there is no evidence that these variants cause more severe illness or increased risk of death, or affect vaccine effectiveness, according to the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Multnomah County public health staff is working tonight and through the weekend to go back over details with this individual related to their isolation plan, contacts and any possible exposures.

“Confirming this strain locally is distressing,” said Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Vines. “Until we have enough vaccine, we must continue using face masks, distancing, and limiting our social interactions.”

The CDC provides case data information in the United States.

Oregonians can continue to work together to prevent more lives being lost to the virus by doing the following:

• Maintain six feet of physical distance;
• Wear a face covering when outside the house;
• Practice good hand hygiene;
• Avoid any gatherings with people you don’t live with;
• If you start to have symptoms — even mild ones — consult with a medical provider quickly to get instructions on how to care for yourself and your household members and also whether to get tested;
• And finally, if you get a call from public health, answer it, and take their advice on how to protect yourself and those around you.

Jan. 15, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Updated: Oregon reports 1,037 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 21 new deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 21 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,758, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,037 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 131,258.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, OHA reported that 26,936 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 10,618 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 14 and 16,318 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 14.

Based on updated totals, OHA is meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal of ensuring 12,000 vaccinations a day. The Governor required the benchmark to be met by the end of the two-week period that began Jan. 4.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 173,073 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 326,300 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 387, which is 28 fewer than yesterday. There are 97 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four fewer than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (2), Benton (21), Clackamas (54), Clatsop (4), Columbia (11), Coos (3), Crook (4), Curry (1), Deschutes (43), Douglas (21), Grant (31), Harney (1), Hood River (4), Jackson (52), Jefferson (14), Josephine (48), Klamath (14), Lake (1), Lane (86), Lincoln (5), Linn (16), Malheur (5), Marion (95), Morrow (5), Multnomah (155), Polk (23), Umatilla (111), Union (7), Wallowa (2), Wasco (14), Washington (141) and Yamhill (43).

Oregon’s 1,738th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 31 and died on Jan. 8 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,739th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 13 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,740th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 11 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,741st COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Jan. 7 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,742nd COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 26 and died on Jan. 10 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,743rd COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 10 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,744th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 11 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,745th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Morrow County who tested positive on Nov. 13 and died on Nov. 17 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,746th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 28 and died on Oct. 29 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,747th COVID-19 death is a 52-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 14 and died on Nov. 10 at Adventist Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,748th COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 9 and died on Nov. 12 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,749th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 11 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,750th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 12 at her residence. She had no underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,751st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 24 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,752nd COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 12 at Providence Portland Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,753rd COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 8 and died on Jan. 12 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,754th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 11 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,755th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Dec. 20 at her residence. She had underlying conditions. 

Oregon’s 1,756th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 10 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,757th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Curry County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Dec. 18 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,758th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Harney County who tested positive on Jan. 8 and died on Jan. 8 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.

Douglas County Board of Commissioners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2021

NOTICE OF HOLIDAY CLOSURE

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

            (Douglas County, Ore.) The Douglas County Board of Commissioners would like to remind citizens that government offices in the Douglas County Courthouse, located at 1036 SE Douglas Avenue in Roseburg, as well as the Douglas County Justice Building, Douglas County Courthouse Annex, Douglas County Museum, Douglas County Landfill and Transfer Stations, Douglas County Fairgrounds and All External Douglas County Government Offices will be closed to the public on Monday, January 18, 2021, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

            As always, even when Douglas County government offices are closed, many officials and public employees are still working. Our Sheriff’s Deputies, 911 communications and DCSO staff will continue to provide law enforcement protection and emergency assistance for our residents.  If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1.  If you need to reach dispatch for a non-emergency, call the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number at (541) 440-4471.   

            The Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Public Health Officer, DPHN staff, the DCCRT’s Joint Information Center staff and the Douglas County Commissioners will continue to work on the COVID-19 response regardless of the holiday.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners understand that all of our holiday and memorial days will be decidedly different during this worldwide pandemic, but we hope you will join us in honoring this day, while continuing to make safe and healthy choices, and taking measures to protect those you love in order to keep Douglas County a wonderful place to live, work and play.

PORTLAND, Oregon (January 15, 2021): While looking forward to the year ahead, Sunshine Division and Kaiser Permanente remain aware of the many families and individuals within our community who are in need of food. They have joined together to do something special on this important holiday to help offer healing for our community.

As such, Sunshine Division and Kaiser Permanente are proud to announce their upcoming free food box distribution day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021.

Kaiser Permanente’s donation of $90,000 will provide 90,000 meals. That equates to 1,000 food boxes delivered through Sunshine Division’s home delivery program, another 1,000 bulk food deliveries to partnering agencies and organizations in the Longview, Vancouver, Clackamas, Cornelius and Salem areas. Plus another 1,000 drive-up food boxes made available for families and individuals needing to safely pick up a food box at the two locations described in further detail below.

“Continuing Dr. King’s vision of giving back and honoring diversity, equity and inclusion is an essential part of Kaiser Permanente’s mission,” said Jeff Collins, President of Kaiser Permanente’s Northwest region. “We know that connecting people who are food insecure with the resources they need to achieve total health is crucial. In a year that has been marked with so much unrest and uncertainty, the role that each of us plays to foster healthy, inclusive communities is more important than ever.”

Volunteers from Kaiser Permanente will also help to home deliver food boxes and place food boxes inside the cars of families and individuals who drive-up to either of the two locations to receive their food box.

"With this $90,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente, we will be able to provide free food to more than 3,000 families and individuals. This partnership is one we are looking forward to expanding in the future," said Kyle Camberg, Executive Director of Sunshine Division. "We share a similar philosophy with Kaiser Permanente in that we believe no one should go hungry. On an important holiday such as this, which honors the amazing legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., we hope this event offers needed healing within the communities we serve, given the difficult year we have endured."

The safety of Sunshine Division’s clients and Kaiser Permanente volunteers remains a top priority. As such, all food boxes provided at either location will be loaded into client’s cars in a socially distanced manner by Sunshine Division staff and Kaiser Permanente volunteers. Masks will be required to be worn by all parties present in the client’s cars when interacting with staff and volunteers, and masks will be worn at all times while volunteers make deliveries to food box recipients.

Families and individuals in need are invited to come to either Sunshine Division’s North Thompson food pantry location, or Sunshine Division’s vacant Safeway store location, where they run their emergency home delivery program, on Monday, January 18, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. to receive a free food box; no questions asked.

Sunshine Division’s two locations for drive-by food box pick-up are provided below:

• 687 N. Thompson St. Portland, OR 97227 (N Thompson food pantry location)
• 221 NE 122nd Ave. Portland, OR 97230 (Vacant Safeway store – Sunshine Division’s food delivery program)

The home deliveries and bulk food deliveries have already been claimed.

Media is invited to attend the following event:

What: Food box packing and distribution
When: 11 a.m.-noon on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021
Where: 221 N.E. 122nd Ave. (corner of N.E. 122nd and Glisan St.)

Visuals: Volunteers packing food and loading into cars; vehicles pulling up to get their boxes; Kaiser Permanente President, Jeff Collins, packing food boxes.

ABOUT SUNSHINE DIVISION

Since 1923, Sunshine Division has provided free emergency food and clothing to families and individuals in times of crisis. During the year 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Sunshine Division launched their expanded emergency food delivery program. With the help of the Portland Police Bureau, and numerous local supporters, Sunshine Division provided more than 4.8 MILLION meals to over 180,000 households through their two food pantries, home deliveries, and bulk food distribution program. In the new year, Sunshine Division’s ongoing food delivery model continues to help them meet the growing need thousands of local families are experiencing by providing free food so that no goes hungry.  

For more information, please visit: www.sunshinedivision.org

ABOUT KAISER PERMANENTE

For 75 years, Kaiser Permanente has been committed to shaping the future of health and health care — and helping our members, patients, and communities experience more healthy years. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Since July 21, 1945, Kaiser Permanente’s mission has been to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.4 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

For more information, please visit: about.kaiserpermanente.org

(Salem, Ore.) - The Oregon Department of Human Services’ Office of Developmental Disabilities Services and Office of Aging and People with Disabilities are seeking public comment regarding the 1915 (k) state plan amendment.

The 1915 (k) State Plan amendment is requesting to:

• Add an acute care hospital as an approved setting in the 1915 (k) State Plan.
• Remove the prohibition of using physical therapists and occupational therapists.
• Allow long-term care community nursing services in settings in which nursing services are currently restricted by rule, contract, or K Plan language.
• Allow two Medicaid home-delivered meals per day.
• Increase local approval limit for electronic devices from $500 to $1,200.
• Update Group Care Homes for Children (GCH) rate methodology.

The proposed 1915 (k) amendment is online at https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/SENIORS-DISABILITIES/DD/Compass/20-xxx-K-plan-draft.pdf.

Print versions of the waiver amendments are posted in local offices:

• Community Developmental Disabilities Programs (http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/SENIORS-DISABILITIES/DD/Pages/county-programs.aspx)
• Developmental Disabilities Support Services Brokerages (https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/SENIORS-DISABILITIES/DD/Pages/Support-Services-Brokerages.aspx).
• Aging and People with Disabilities/Area Agencies on Aging offices (https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/Offices/Pages/Seniors-Disabilities.aspx)
• Print versions may also be obtained from Joli Schroader, ODDS Medicaid Waiver/State Plan Analyst, 503-507-2083, .schroader@dhsoha.state.or.us">joli.r.schroader@dhsoha.state.or.us or from Beth Jackson, APD Medicaid State Plan and Waiver Policy Analyst, eth.Jackson3@dhsoha.state.or.us">Beth.Jackson3@dhsoha.state.or.us

Members of the public are invited to provide any comments, suggestions or questions related to individuals receiving services through the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services to Joli Schroader; Department of Human Services, 500 Summer St. NE, Salem, OR 97301-1079 or .schroader@dhsoha.state.or.us">joli.r.schroader@dhsoha.state.or.us. 

Comments, suggestions or questions related to individuals receiving services through the Office of Aging and People with Disabilities should contact Beth Jackson; Department of Human Services, 500 Summer St. NE, Salem, OR 97301-1079 or  eth.Jackson3@dhsoha.state.or.us">Beth.Jackson3@dhsoha.state.or.us

The deadline for comments is Feb. 17, 2021. Mail responses must be received by this date in order to be considered.

Jan. 15, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Oregon reports 1,037 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 21 new deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 21 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,758, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,037 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 131,258.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, the Oregon Health Authority reported that 26,936 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 10,618 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 14 and 16,318 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 14.

Based on updated totals, the Oregon Health Authority is meeting Gov. Kate Brown’s goal of ensuring 12,000 vaccinations a day. The Governor required the benchmark to be met by the end of the two-week period that began Jan. 4.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. The Oregon Health Authority has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 173,073 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 326,300 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

Cases and deaths

NOTE: Death details are being reviewed and will be posted in an updated version of this press release.

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (2), Benton (21), Clackamas (54), Clatsop (4), Columbia (11), Coos (3), Crook (4), Curry (1), Deschutes (43), Douglas (21), Grant (31), Harney (1), Hood River (4), Jackson (52), Jefferson (14), Josephine (48), Klamath (14), Lake (1), Lane (86), Lincoln (5), Linn (16), Malheur (5), Marion (95), Morrow (5), Multnomah (155), Polk (23), Umatilla (111), Union (7), Wallowa (2), Wasco (14), Washington (141) and Yamhill (43).

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.

Following Governor Brown’s decision to postpone the expansion of the group eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to include educators and those aged 65 and over, OAHHS President and CEO Becky Hultberg issued the following statement:

“When the federal government announced this week that the full reserve of vaccine would be released to states and that Oregon would be offering doses to educators and those aged 65+, we were supportive but skeptical that the supply would meet this massive increase in the number of Oregonians who would become eligible.

Now we all have learned that there will be no increase in the number of vaccine doses delivered to Oregon. We support Governor Brown’s decision to delay the expansion until we can be sure that the doses are in hand to meet this demand.

It is unfortunate that the news on Monday set unrealistic expectations about the available supply of vaccine.

Until more vaccine is delivered, Oregon’s hospitals will continue their work to administer the vaccine to as many members of the Phase 1a group as possible. Many of our hospitals have scheduled large scale vaccination events to continue their progress with the Phase 1a cohort.

From the beginning, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been unpredictable. At the 11th hour, hospitals shouldered a huge part of the burden for distribution of the doses, with little outside support. The fact that the playing field keeps changing makes this work even more difficult in the midst of a pandemic, as our overburdened staffs take care of a surge of patients. 

When the COVID-19 vaccines became available, the state of Oregon directed hospitals to administer the first doses to their frontline caregivers and others with patient contact. Many of our hospitals have finished this step. Then in early January hospitals were asked to expand their reach to vaccinate the rest of Phase 1a, and our facilities have leaned into this work.

We are grateful to all of the Oregonians who have worked so hard to help bring us through the pandemic, especially our frontline health care workers. This is a team effort, and Oregon’s hospitals will continue to do whatever it takes to help us beat COVID-19.”

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About OAHHS: Founded in 1934, OAHHS is a statewide, nonprofit trade association that works closely with local and national government leaders, business and citizen coalitions, and other professional health care organizations to enhance and promote community health and to continue improving Oregon’s innovative health care delivery system.

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University (WOU) Board of Trustees Executive, Governance and Trusteeship Committee (EGTC) on Thursday met to consider language for a new presidential search policy. As part of the discussion, the group affirmed its intention, pending full board approval, to search for an interim president to replace retiring President Rex Fuller.

The committee worked to craft a WOU-specific policy governing presidential searches, a process that previously had been managed through the Oregon University System (OUS). When the state’s seven public universities were made independent in 2015, they were at liberty to create their own presidential hiring policies; this is the first time WOU has needed its own policy as Fuller has been in his position since 2015.

The full Board of Trustees had indicated that a search for an interim president made more sense at this time for a number of reasons. On Thursday, the EGTC drafted guidelines for both interim and regular presidential searches, including potential timelines.

“We want to ensure all constituents are involved in the search for the next long-term WOU president, and we will begin that process in fall 2021,” said Board of Trustees Chair Betty Komp. “The proposed policy will go to the full board at its regular meeting on Feb. 17 with the recommendation of completing an interim hiring process in the next five months.”

Board of Trustees Secretary and University General Counsel Ryan Hagemann underscored that the search for a university president will be transparent, involve voices from across campus, and will include opportunities for constituent participation. The university does not intend to hire a consultation firm if it chooses the interim route, and no candidates have been identified, Hagemann said.

About Western Oregon University

Western Oregon University, founded in 1856 and located in Monmouth, is the state’s oldest public university. Serving approximately 4,500 students, WOU is a mid-sized, NCAA Division II institution with nearly 75 percent of the student population being from Oregon. A significant portion of attendees are members of under-represented groups, veterans or non-traditional students. WOU is Oregon’s campus of choice for those seeking a transformative education in a supportive, student-centered learning community where classes are taught by faculty. Together we succeed.

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Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 15, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Friday, January 15, 2021, there are TWENTY-THREE (23) people with new positive test results to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,659.  Currently, there are ELEVEN (11) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, eight locally and three out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

Vaccine Distribution to Local Public Health

The latest round of available vaccines (500) that were sent to Local Public Health less than 48 hours ago, have been deployed to our approved local health care providers (vaccinators) in Douglas County.  They are quickly working to vaccinate the current identified list of ELIGIBLE Douglas County residents in accordance with the priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  Right now, they are still working through the identified priority populations in the first group; which include health care workers, long term care workers, home care workers, EMS and first responders. (Click here Oregon's most up-to-date list of eligible residents).  To date, we have not received enough vaccines to move to the next phase or wave, or to hold a large community event. But, that does not mean that we are not prepared for a local vaccination event.  Our team is ready, able and willing to do an event, all we need is the vaccine.  So, we ask for your continued patience, as we work through the maze of changes, logistic issues and limited vaccine distribution.  

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. There will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted. We added a new line to provide an accurate total of the number of vaccines that Local Public Health has received to date, as well as the number we have administered to eligible residents.  Our numbers do NOT include other sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe and local care facilities that received their vaccines directly from the Federal and State Government in order to begin direct vaccinations to the first priority group. 

COVID-19 Vaccine: Low Supply vs High Demand

We wanted to let you know that even though you have heard reports that the CDC and OHA are making changes to the vaccine eligibility guidelines, it does not mean that the vaccine is available for everyone that is eligible in Douglas County at this time.  It is a supply and demand issue, that we have no control over.  While there is demand, and far more people that are eligible and want to get the vaccine, unfortunately the supply chain of vaccines has not caught up to the current demand for them.  We continue to submit requests to OHA daily for more vaccines to be sent to Douglas County, so we can move forward with vaccinations for everyone that is eligible.  

Additionally, as Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Official stated yesterday, “We do NOT have guidelines or rules on the changes yet, so we are continuing with the current prioritization levels until we receive those new rules and guidelines.  Our focus remains on our most vulnerable populations, including first responders, those who live in nursing homes and health care workers that serve vulnerable populations.  We want to distribute vaccine quickly, fairly and in a manner that prioritizes those who are most at risk for serious illness and death from COVID, especially our senior population.  But, we also recognize that eligibility for a vaccine, and availability of the vaccine, are not yet aligned.   We are working diligently with our state health partners to find a remedy for that.  If you want the vaccine, we want you to have it, and are working 24/7 to make that happen.”

Rest assured, that when the new rules are finalized, and we start to receive more vaccines, we will begin to systematically offer them to additional eligible populations in an orderly, fair and equitable manner.  DPHN, through our Local Public Health Authority and Administrators, our Douglas County Board of Commissioners, have set up a new email address for questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Douglas County.  DPHN will do their best to respond with the most current information we have, sign up vaccinators and volunteers, and connect those that are eligible for the vaccine with those that have the vaccine, as soon as the vaccine becomes available. For answers to questions about vaccine eligibility, availability and volunteer opportunities, please email vaccines@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

COVID-19 Vaccine Information in Oregon

Again it is important to note that we are not the ones setting the guidelines for vaccines eligibility or distribution.  We are following the current priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  We understand that our residents have many questions, so do we.  Like you, we are patiently awaiting more vaccines and more information.  If you have questions or need more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, check out the resources listed below.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID health and safety. 

• OHA COVID-19 Vaccine website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/
• General Questions: COVID19.vaccine@dhsoha.state.or.us or call 211 or (971) 673-2411
• COVID-19 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon

Reminder: All Douglas County Businesses Have the Ability to Be Open

We announced earlier this week that Douglas County residents and businesses would remain in our current State mandated risk level.  The State of Oregon notified Douglas County that Douglas County will remain in the High Risk Level for the next two-week period, beginning today, Friday, January 15, 2012, and continuing through Thursday, January 28, 2021. This risk level allows ALL of our local business the opportunity to be OPEN, with some limitations on capacity. We want to continue to thank our residents and businesses for staying within the recommended guidelines, and for making good decisions in order for our communities to continue to stay open.  The new risk level does not affect the ability of faith based organizations and local school districts to offer in-person services and classes.  They are able to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. 

Reminder: Please Stay Safe

We will continue to encourage everyone, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, to gauge your risk level, and make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you.  We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick and wear face coverings where recommended.  We know how important family, businesses and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities in order to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 163 cases in isolation, as well as another 330 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 493 total contacts and cases in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Information in Oregon

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Today, Friday, January 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

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ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

Jan. 15, 2021 - Salem, Ore. – When most people stop on the way to work, they pick up coffee, tea or a soda. Diana C. of Salem decided to pick up something a little more substantial, a $50,000 Powerball prize. 

“I normally don’t buy tickets,” Dianna said when she claimed her prize, “but I saw that the jackpots were so big, I decided to get $10 of Powerball.” 

Thursday morning, back at work at the Marion County Juvenile Department, she noticed the ticket in her purse and decided to check the numbers. 

“I saw I hit the Powerball, so I knew I won some money,” she said. “When I looked at the other numbers, I almost fainted. I’m not going to lie.” 

She couldn’t contain her excitement and decided to share the news with some co-workers, and then called to make her appointment to claim that prize at the Oregon Lottery that same day. She had hit four out of five numbers and the Powerball on her quick pick ticket.  

“I am going to play some more, the big prize is still out there,” she said. “I am going to use this to pay off some bills and it’s nice to have that peace of mind.” 

Saturday’s Powerball drawing is an estimated $640 million, which would be a $478.7 million cash value. If won, it will be the fifth largest jackpot in Powerball game history and the ninth largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. This is the highest the Powerball jackpot has been since March 2019, and it’s causing an increase in sales in lottery tickets all around Oregon. 

Diana purchased her winning ticket at the US Market on Cherry Avenue in Keizer. Sam Singh, owner of the store, said that as the jackpots for both Powerball and Mega Millions have been growing, he has seen more and more customers add lottery tickets to their purchases. 

“It’s always this way when the jackpots get this big,” he said. “Having a winner like this will help sales, because they think it could happen to them.” 

Before Diana’s $50,000 win, Singh said the biggest winning ticket he had sold was in the $30,000 to $40,000 range. 

“This is very exciting and I feel great,” he said. “We hope to sell more, and even the big one. My advice to players is to buy more tickets. As much as you play, it increases your chances to win.” 

Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned more than $12 billion for economic development, public education, Outdoor School, state parks, Veteran Services and watershed enhancements. For more information on the Oregon Lottery visit www.oregonlottery.org 

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Salem, Oregon – Relief grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 will be awarded to 646 diverse artists across Oregon through an Artist Relief Program created by the Oregon Arts Commission in partnership with Oregon Community Foundation and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. The awards expend the $1.25 million available for the program.

“Artists are the creative core of our communities and help define who we are. They inspire us to innovate, to learn and grow,” said Brian Rogers, executive director of the Oregon Arts Commission. “We are thankful to be able to provide support as our artists continue to suffer great losses due to the pandemic.

“While the requests far exceeded available funds,” Rogers added, “we hope the awards will help artists sustain their practice until better times arrive. We are extremely grateful to our partners at Oregon Community Foundation and the Miller Foundation for making this program possible.”

A total of 1,158 eligible applications reporting more than $18 million in revenue loss were received. Twenty-nine panelists from around the state served on five discipline-based panels that reviewed and evaluated applications based on published review criteria: professional artistic practice; impact of cancellations and loss of revenue on artistic practice; and need and access to other resources. A geographic distribution model ensured artists were funded in every region of the state. An average of 65% of applications were funded from each of the state’s 12 regions.

“The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation has been supporting Oregon artists for two decades through funding the visual, literary and performing arts organizations that employ Oregon’s creative workers,” said Martha Richards, executive director of the Miller Foundation. “In light of the impacts of both the pandemic and 2020 wildfires, we felt it critical to offer our support directly to artists for the first time. Together with our partners in the Artist Relief Program, we hope these grants help our state’s artists through this crisis. Now more than ever, we recognize artists’ vital role in our communities and consider their creativity and contributions as vital to our state’s recovery.”

“The relief applications submitted by working artists across Oregon demonstrated both the deep need and courageous resilience in our arts communities,” added Jerry Tischleder, Oregon Community Foundation’s program officer for arts and culture. “It’s crushing to recognize all that has been lost and I’m humbled that OCF could play a role in mending a portion of the damages. I applaud the review panels across the state who dug in to direct how funds would be allocated – it was hard work that couldn’t have been done without broad community input.”

The awarded artists represent a wide array of artistic disciplines including: Literature (creative non-fiction, fiction, play writing and poetry); dance (including choreography); music (composition and music performance); theatre and performance art; folk and traditional arts; visual arts (crafts, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media and new media); design arts; and media arts.

See a full list of artist awards by county: https://bit.ly/3nNdfD1

The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, special initiatives and services. Nine commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts. The Arts Commission became part of Business Oregon (formerly Oregon Economic and Community Development Department) in 1993, in recognition of the expanding role the arts play in the broader social, economic and educational arenas of Oregon communities. In 2003, the Oregon legislature moved the operations of the Oregon Cultural Trust to the Arts Commission, streamlining operations and making use of the Commission’s expertise in grantmaking, arts and cultural information and community cultural development. 

The Arts Commission is supported with general funds appropriated by the Oregon legislature and with federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. More information about the Oregon Arts Commission is available online at: www.oregonartscommission.org.

Jan. 15, 2021

(Salem) – Oregon’s workers’ compensation rates remain among the lowest in the nation as shown by the 2020 edition of the Oregon workers’ compensation rate ranking study. This reflects the state’s success in making workplaces safer and keeping costs under control.

The biennial study, released today by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), ranks all 50 states and Washington, D.C., based on premium rates that were in effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Oregon had the seventh least expensive rates in 2020, a slight drop from its ranking in a tie for the sixth least expensive state in 2018, the last time the study was done. Oregon workers’ compensation rates are declining further – an average of 5.6 percent – in 2021, marking eight straight years of declining premiums. In fact, average rates have fallen 48 percent during the 2013 to 2021 time period. Workers’ compensation pays injured workers for lost wages and medical care for job-related injuries.

“Oregon continues to demonstrate that it’s possible to maintain low employer costs while providing strong benefits,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said. “We must remain committed to working together to balance worker health, safety, and benefits with employer rates, and to help workers who are injured heal and return to work quickly.”

The study shows New Jersey had the most expensive rates, followed by New York. Meanwhile, the least expensive rates are those of North Dakota. In the west, California’s rates were the fourth most expensive, while Washington’s rates were the 22nd most expensive and Idaho was the 19th most expensive.

Oregon researchers also compared each state’s rates to the national median (that of the 26th ranked state) rate of $1.44 per $100 of payroll. Oregon’s rate of $1.00 is 69 percent of the median.

In order to have a valid comparison between states that have various mixes of industries, the study calculates rates for each state using the same mix of the 50 industries with the highest workers’ compensation claims costs in Oregon.

A summary of the study was posted today; the full report will be published later this year.

Oregon has conducted these studies in even-numbered years since 1986, when Oregon’s rates were among the highest in the nation. The department reports the results to the Oregon Legislature as a performance measure. Oregon’s relatively low rate today underscores the state’s workers’ compensation system reforms and its focus on workplace safety and health. 

Oregon has long taken a comprehensive approach to making workplaces safer, keeping business costs low, and providing strong worker benefits. This approach includes enforcing requirements that employers carry insurance for their workers, keeping medical costs under control, and helping injured workers return to work sooner and minimize the effect on their wages.

“Through collaboration and hard work, Oregon continues to prove we know how to keep workplaces safe and costs down,” said Andrew Stolfi, DCBS director. “DCBS will keep doing its best to hold costs down for businesses and ensure workers are kept safe and receive the benefits they are due.”

Here are some key links for the study and workers’ compensation costs:
• To read a summary of the study, go to https://www.oregon.gov/dcbs/reports/Documents/general/prem-sum/20-2082.pdf.
• Prior years’ summaries and full reports with details of study methods can be found at https://www.oregon.gov/dcbs/reports/protection/Pages/general-wc-system.aspx  
• Information on workers’ compensation costs in Oregon, including a map with these state rate rankings, is at https://www.oregon.gov/dcbs/cost/Pages/index.aspx

Learn about Oregon’s return-to-work programs, workers’ compensation insurance requirements, and more at https://wcd.oregon.gov/Pages/index.aspx

Request a no-cost workplace safety or health consultation, and learn about workplace safety and health requirements and resources at https://osha.oregon.gov/Pages/index.aspx

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The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. Visit www.dcbs.oregon.gov.

PORTLAND, Ore.—Billy. J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, released the following statement on recent political violence:

"Like most Americans, I watched in disgust and anger as radical insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol in a shocking display of political violence. There is no question these violent acts were domestic terrorism aimed at disrupting Congress’ Constitutional duty to certify the electoral victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country are working tirelessly to investigate and prosecute all forms of domestic terrorism including this attack on our government, and those responsible will be brought to justice.

As we approach next week’s inauguration, the threat of similar political violence around the country and here in Oregon remains. Our office is working closely with the FBI, Federal Protective Service, Oregon State Police, Portland Police Bureau, and other local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt anyone intent on engaging in violence here in Oregon.

We need the public’s help to keep our communities safe and protect all Oregonians’ First Amendment rights. We urge you to submit any information you have about real or potential threats of violence at any upcoming demonstrations or events throughout the state. Tips can be submitted directly to the FBI by calling (503) 224-4181 or by visiting tips.fbi.gov.”

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An Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) adult in custody (AIC) died January 14, 2021. He was incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution and passed away at a local hospital. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was between 65 and 75 years old. As with all in-custody deaths, the Oregon State Police have been notified, and the Medical Examiner will determine cause of death. Department-wide, this is the twenty-eighth AIC to die who tested positive for COVID-19.

For more information on COVID-19 cases inside Oregon’s prisons, please visit DOC’s COVID-19 website. The agency is responsible for the care and custody of 13,000 adults in custody who are incarcerated in 14 institutions across the state.

Anyone entering DOC property is required to wear a mask or face covering in any indoor work setting or other indoor premises regardless of distance from others unless they are in a private, individual office not shared by anyone else; or they are actively eating or drinking AND at least six (6) feet of distance can be maintained between other people. Masks are mandatory at all times in many work areas.

Institutions continue to clean and disinfect numerous times a day. DOC asks AICs to report symptoms of COVID to medical staff. Posters are in all DOC institutions encouraging individuals to maintain proper hygiene and to uphold appropriate social distancing to the extent possible. Health screening processes are in place before staff are allowed to enter facilities. This screening includes a temperature check and a screening questionnaire. Visiting remains closed until further notice.

DOC has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations – eventually offering to all DOC staff, contractors, Oregon Corrections Enterprises employees, and adults in custody (AICs). Prioritization of vaccines will be determined by guidance from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Governor’s Office.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, DOC issued a press release when an AIC passed away. This notification would include the person’s name, county of conviction, sentence length, and date of death. However, no cause of death would be listed because the Medical Examiner makes that determination. In order to balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information, we have changed the AIC death notification process when someone dies who has tested positive for COVID-19. DOC is working with the Oregon Health Authority to publish COVID-19 related data and information on the OHA website.

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PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE: 

ROSEBURG, Ore. - The Douglas County Dog Advisory Control Board will hold a meeting on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office (Justice Building - Room 210), located at 1036 SE Douglas Avenue, Roseburg, Oregon 97470.

The agenda meeting agenda can be located at: www.dcso.com/dogboard

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What: A regular public meeting of the Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board.

When: Jan. 21, 1-4 p.m.

Where: The meeting will be held via free conference line at 971-277-2343, access code 51340644#.

Agenda: After the public comment period, topics will include updates on the charter for meaningful involvement; diversity; supervisor phone trees; the hospital’s COVID-19 response; court findings; and membership.

Details: The Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board advises the superintendent, Oregon Health Authority director, and legislators on issues related to the safety, security and care of patients. Members include consumers, providers, advocates, legislators, community members, consumer families and OSH union members.

For more information, see the board’s website at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/osh/Pages/advisory-board.aspx.

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Everyone has a right to know about and use Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide:

• Sign language and spoken language interpreters.
• Written materials in other languages.
• Braille.
• Large print.
• Audio and other formats.

If you need help or have questions, please contact Jacee Vangestel at 503-945-2852, 711 TTY or jacee.m.vangestel@state.or.us at least 48 hours before the meeting.

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 29 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,737, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,152 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 130,246.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, the Health Authority reported that 16,355 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 10,172 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 13 and 6,183 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 13.

Based on updated totals, the Oregon Health Authority announced that vaccination sites across the state met Gov. Kate Brown’s goal of ensuring 12,000 vaccinations a day at the end of last week. Vaccine providers in Oregon administered 12,039 total doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines on Jan. 8, 2021. The Governor required the benchmark to be met by the end of the two-week period that began Jan. 4.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72-hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. The Health Authority has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

“While we hit the Governor’s goal of hitting 12,000 vaccines administered in a day last week,” said OHA Director Patrick Allen, “we want to sustain and expand our daily totals. The state can’t achieve our goal to deliver vaccinations quickly, efficiently and equitably, all on our own. I’m grateful for the hard work that staff in hospitals, local health clinics and other sites have put into ramping up vaccinations for Oregonians. Vaccines are the safest and most effective way we can end this pandemic.”

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 146,137 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 321,425 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 415, which is 19 fewer than yesterday. There are 101 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two fewer than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

NOTE: Death details are being reviewed and will be posted in an updated version of this press release.

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (7), Benton (23), Clackamas (70), Clatsop (11), Columbia (15), Coos (11), Crook (12), Curry (1), Deschutes (82), Douglas (16), Harney (6), Hood River (9), Jackson (75), Jefferson (12), Josephine (18), Klamath (17), Lake (3), Lane (94), Lincoln (2), Linn (23), Malheur (14), Marion (137), Morrow (9), Multnomah (185), Polk (13), Umatilla (60), Union (19), Wasco (14), Washington (162), Wheeler (2) and Yamhill (30). 

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Salem, Ore. — The Salem Police Department and Oregon State Police are aware of potential demonstrations and civil unrest at the Oregon State Capitol this weekend, January 16-17, 2021, and the following week on January 19-20. Information on these events is limited and rapidly evolving. Based on current information, the protest start times vary between 9 a.m. and noon.

“We are well aware of the potential protests being discussed between now and Inauguration Day,” remarked Police Chief Trevor Womack during a presentation at the January 11 meeting of the Salem City Council about the department’s strategic approach to protests and marches in Salem. “We are closely communicating and coordinating with our partners to make sure we are prepared.”

As a reminder, for events that occur at the state capitol, the Oregon State Police (OSP) has jurisdiction and enforcement responsibility. Additionally, OSP issued a statement on Wednesday, January 13 which announced the utilization of the Oregon National Guard to assist with the expected events at the state capitol. The Salem Police Department will work in a support role to OSP and assist as requested and needed.

About the possibility of additional protest-related impacts to the community, Chief Womack added, “We stand ready and equipped to guard our community and will work to minimize any adverse impacts to our neighborhoods and streets.”

To the extent possible, residents are encouraged to avoid the vicinity of the state capitol on the dates mentioned given enforcement activities and disruptions to traffic flow may occur.

Please monitor the Salem Police Department or OSP’s media platforms for any traffic or police advisories.

# # #

Facebook | Twitter | Nextdoor | FlashAlert Newswire | Subscribe to the Salem Community Alert System

Commonly Asked Questions About Protests in Salem

January 2021

North Bend School District’s Board of Directors is seeking candidates for the District’s Budget Committee.

Interested people should submit a letter of interest by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 28, 2021 to the North Bend School District, Attn: Board of Directors, 1913 Meade Street, North Bend OR 97459 or email letter of interest to info@nbend.k12.or.us. 

The Board will make the appointments at its Regular Board Meeting scheduled for February 4, 2021.

     To be eligible for appointment, the appointive member must:

          1. Live and be registered to vote in the district;

          2. Not be an officer, agent or employee of the district

For further information, please call (541) 751-6797.

01.14.2021 – Lincoln County, Oregon

On January 14, 2021, a Lincoln County Grand Jury indicted 52 year old Waldport resident, Jack E. Sigler, on charges of Murder in the Second Degree, four counts of Burglary in the First Degree and one count of Theft in the First Degree in connection with the death of Mark Campbell on December 6, 2020 in Waldport, Oregon.

On December 6, 2020, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the report of a burglary in progress at 1680 S. Crestline Drive, Apartment #3, Waldport, Oregon.  Upon arrival, deputies found Mark Campbell unresponsive inside the apartment.  Mr. Campbell was subsequently pronounced deceased at the scene.  The cause of death was determined to be severe trauma received from multiple stab wounds.

The Lincoln County Major Crime Team conducted an extensive investigation into the death of Mark Campbell.  Multiple witnesses were interviewed, physical evidence was gathered from several locations and submitted to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab for forensic analysis. On January 13, 2021, the Oregon State Police Crime Lab completed forensic analysis on physical evidence submitted, a Grand Jury proceeding was scheduled for the following day. The Grand Jury returned with an indictment on the listed charges.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office received assistance in the criminal investigation from the Oregon State Police Criminal Investigation Unit (CID), Oregon State Police Forensics, City of Newport Police Department, City of Lincoln City Police Department and the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office.

Sheriff Curtis Landers would like to personally thank all the agencies involved in the investigation leading to the indictment in the tragic death of Mark Campbell. Sheriff Landers expresses his sincere condolences to all those affected by this tragedy in our community.

Further information regarding the investigation/prosecution of this case should be directed to the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office.  

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Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 14, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Thursday, January 14, 2021, there are THIRTEEN (13) people with new positive test results and ONE (1) new presumptive to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,636.  Currently, there are ELEVEN (11) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, eight locally and three out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

Vaccine Distribution to Local Public Health

Good news today, our Local Public Health has received 500 more COVID-19 vaccines, and they have been distributed to approved local health care providers in Douglas County for immediate vaccination of ELIGIBLE Douglas County residents in accordance with the priority group guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  Right now, we are still working through the identified priority populations in the first group (1a). (Click here for the most up-to-date list of eligible residents).  We ask for your continued patience, as we work through the maze of changes, logistic issues and limited vaccine distribution.  

COVID-19 Vaccine: An Issue of Supply and Demand

We wanted to let you know that even though you have heard reports that the CDC and OHA are making changes to the vaccine eligibility guidelines, it does not mean that the vaccine is available for everyone that is eligible in Douglas County at this time.  It is a supply and demand issue, that we have no control over.  While there is demand, and far more people that are eligible to get the vaccine, unfortunately the supply chain of vaccines has not caught up to the demand.  We continue to submit requests to OHA for more vaccines to be sent to Douglas County, so we can move forward with vaccinations for everyone that is eligible. At this time, we have not received enough vaccines to move to the next phase or wave, or to hold a large community event.  DPHN, through our Local Public Health Authority and Administrators, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, have set up a new email address for questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Douglas County.  The new email is for inquiries from residents, businesses, health care workers, medical offices and volunteers.  DPHN will do their best to respond with the most current information we have, sign up vaccinators and volunteers, and connect those that are eligible for the vaccine with those that have the vaccine, as soon as the vaccine becomes available. New Email for Douglas County COVID-19 Vaccine Questions:  For answers to questions about vaccine eligibility, availability and volunteer opportunities, please email vaccines@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. There will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted. We added a new line to provide an accurate total of the number of vaccines that Local Public Health has received to date, as well as the number we have administered to eligible residents.  Our numbers do NOT include other sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe and local care facilities that received their vaccines directly from the Federal and State Government in order to begin direct vaccinations to the first priority group. 

A Message from Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Our Douglas County Public Health Officer

We are very grateful that two safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, have been approved and have begun to arrive in Douglas County.  The two available vaccines have been purchased by the Federal Government, and have been distributed to Federal Agencies based on identified priority populations, and the remaining vaccines have been sent to State Health Authorities for distribution based on their identified priority populations. 

First Round Sent Directly from the Federal Government and their partners:

• Through the Veterans’ Administration for the Roseburg VA Staff, and eventually patients.
• To Lower Umpqua Hospital for their staff
• To Mercy Medical Center for their staff
• To Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians
• Through the Federal Pharmacy Partnership for nursing homes, memory-care facilities and other congregate care sites.

Second Round Sent from OHA and their partners:

• To EMS to vaccinate EMS providers and other first responders
• To Local Public Health to Douglas Public Health Network

Just this week, DPHN has signed up several new vaccinators. Vaccinators are local health care providers that are interested in giving out the public health doses of vaccine in our community, and have been approved to do so. As of noon, January 12, a total of 400 doses had been delivered to Douglas Public Health Network, 100% of those vaccines have already been administered.  This vaccine has been shared among our fabulous community providers in Douglas County and has already been given, mostly to urgent care providers. This distribution has been following the current Phase 1a priority populations as set by the CDC and OHA.  These providers include:

• Aviva
• South River
• Umpqua Health Alliance- Newton Creek
• Nova Urgent Care
• Several small practices

The recent announcement by the federal and state government indicates that there will be a shift in vaccine priorities beginning on January 23, 2021.  However, we do NOT have guidelines or rules on this change yet, so we are continuing with the current prioritization levels until we receive those new rules and guidelines.  We are hopeful that we receive them before January 23. Our focus remains on our most vulnerable populations, including first responders, those who live in nursing homes and health care workers that serve vulnerable populations. We also realize that age is the most potent predictor of bad outcomes, and we desperately want to protect our seniors. We want to distribute vaccine quickly, fairly and in a manner that prioritizes those who are most at risk for serious illness and death from COVID, especially our senior population.  But, we also recognize that eligibility for a vaccine, and availability of the vaccine, are not yet aligned.   We are working diligently with our state health partners to find a remedy for that.  If you want the vaccine, we want you to have it, and are working 24/7 to make that happen.

The Vaccine Plan for Douglas County is to continue to follow the priority guidelines, support our partners that are already providing vaccines, continue to expand the number of vaccinators locally and quickly funnel the local public health vaccines we receive to those providing vaccinations for the widest distribution of vaccine across the county.  We are working to have vaccinators all across the county, including in our coastal communities, like Reedsport. We intend to continue to distribute through our community partners, and are looking at the possibility of occasional large scale community events.  As of today, we have not received enough vaccine for any large community events. These large scale events will likely be by invitation only, to ensure that our most vulnerable and priority populations get vaccinated first, followed by other eligible people, hopefully in the very near future.   We expect to add a number of community vaccine providers to the list possibly including your doctor, your clinic and many local pharmacies.  In order to increase access to the vaccines, we are also planning to include new vaccine providers, like dentists!  Our goal would be to have the vaccine available at 30 or more sites scattered through the county, but of course, that depends on getting enough vaccine from the State and Federal government.

Right now, Local Public Health, DPHN and our partner vaccinators we are working through the priority populations in group 1A.  If you are in group 1A, please send an e-mail to vaccines@douglaspublichealhtnetwok.org, and we will try to match those who are not yet vaccinated with local vaccine providers, once we receive the vaccines.  When the new rules are finalized, and we start to receive more vaccines, we will begin to systematically offer them to additional eligible populations in an orderly, fair and equitable manner.

Reminder: All Douglas County Businesses Have the Ability to Be Open

We announced earlier this week that Douglas County residents and businesses would remain in our current State mandated risk level.  The State of Oregon notified Douglas County Monday, that we would not be moving out of the current level based on our COVID-19 case count over the last two weeks.  Douglas County will remain in the High Risk Level for the next two-week period, beginning Friday, January 15, 2012, and continuing through Thursday, January 28, 2021. This risk level allows ALL of our local business the opportunity to be OPEN, with some limitations on capacity. We want to continue to thank our residents and businesses for staying within the recommended guidelines, and for making good decisions in order for our communities to continue to stay open.  The new risk level does not affect the ability of faith based organizations and local school districts to offer in-person services and classes.  They are able to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. 

Reminder

We will continue to encourage everyone, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, to gauge your risk level, and make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you.  We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick and wear face coverings where recommended.  We know how important family and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities in order to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 164 cases in isolation, as well as another 304 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 468 total contacts and cases in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon

We understand that our residents have many questions, so do we.  Like you, we are patiently awaiting more vaccines and more information.  If you have questions or need more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, check out the resources listed below.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID health and safety. 

• OHA COVID-19 Vaccine website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/
• General Questions: COVID19.vaccine@dhsoha.state.or.us or call 211 or (971) 673-2411
• COVID-19 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon

Oregon COVID-19 Information

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Friday, January 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

SALEM – Crews around the state are beginning to clear roads and private properties of trees damaged in September’s wildfires.

The tree clearing is part of the Oregon Wildfire Recovery Debris Management Task Force’s effort to provide cleanup for homes and businesses in the eight affected counties – Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion. The work paves the way for rebuilding efforts, community recovery and helps revitalize Oregon’s economy.

Before crews begin clearing hazard trees from private property, they will clear remaining logs and debris from roadsides. Drivers in fire-affected areas should keep an eye out for crews and be prepared to stop.

State contractors are marking trees for removal with blue dot and a barcode tracking tag. Many other entities, including utilities and private companies, continue with their own tree removal operations and have their own markings.

On private property, dead or dying trees will be removed if they pose a threat to the safety of cleanup crew or public right of ways. Ash and structural debris removal will soon follow, including concrete and other household and construction materials, from private homes and businesses. A list of what is included in cleanup is available.

Hazard trees and ash and debris cleanup are the focus of Step 2 of the cleanup, and includes homes, mobile home parks, second homes, businesses and other structures. Step 1 involved removal of hazardous household waste and was completed in December.

Home and business owners must sign an All Wildfire Debris Right of Entry Form with their county to allow cleanup crews onto their property. Visit https://wildfire.oregon.gov/ or call 503-934-1700 to submit your form and for more information. Even those who did not join in Step 1 of the cleanup may still opt into the program.

Participating property owners also need to complete a questionnaire about their property, to help with planning and ensure an efficient, safe removal of debris.

The contractors

As the task force’s contract manager, the Oregon Department of Transportation is awarding three types of contracts for Step 2: hazard tree removal, debris and ash removal, and monitoring.

Given the large geographic area and volume of work, ODOT awarded the hazard tree, and ash and debris removal contracts over multiple operational areas and not as a single statewide contract.

A separate company is monitoring the cleanup work, environmental testing, and document completion of Step 2 property by property. The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires an independent company to perform monitoring work. This firm will monitor contractors removing hazard trees, ash, and debris to ensure cleanup and safety protocols and proper accounting. FEMA requires monitoring to control costs, reduce waste, and help eliminate fraud.

ODOT has awarded the following contracts:

Monitoring (1)

CDR Maguire Emergency Management

• Based in Florida 
• Contract: $75.5 million
• Awarded Nov. 19, 2020

Hazard Tree Removal (3)

Ceres Disaster Recovery – Disaster Recovery – Ceres Environmental

• Based in Florida
• Contracts awarded Nov. 25, 2020
  Archie Creek Fire, OR 138, $25.78 million
  Thielson Fire, OR 138, $2.07 million
  Two Four Two Fire, U.S. 97, $1.91 million

ECC – https://www.ecc.net/ecc/

• Based in California
• Contracts awarded: Nov. 30, 2020
  Beachie Creek / Lionshead Fire, OR 22, $17.18 million
  Riverside Fire, OR 224, $71.63 million

Suulutaaq Inc. – suulutaq.com

• Based in Alaska, with an operations office in Eugene
• Contract awarded Nov. 30, 2020
  Holiday Farm Fire, OR 126, $22.94 million

A video describing the OR 126 Holiday Farm Fire hazard tree removal work is available.

Ash and debris removal contracts have been awarded and that work also begins later this month.

Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day fires constitute the largest and most expensive disaster in our state’s history, burning over 1 million acres and destroying over 5,000 structures.

Initial estimates put the debris cleanup from the September 2020 Oregon wildfires at over $600 million, including $326 million for ash and debris removal and $295 million to remove hazard trees.

More information

Wildfire cleanup webpage: https://wildfire.oregon.gov/cleanup 
Wildfire debris cleanup hotline: 503-934-1700 or e@odot.state.or.us">odot.wildfire@odot.state.or.us
Highway travel conditions: TripCheck.com 

Oregon’s Debris Management Task Force, which includes the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, Oregon Department of Transportation, and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, is coordinating federal, state, and local government agencies to clean up debris from the 2020 Oregon wildfires.

You can get this document in other languages, large print, braille or a format you prefer. Contact David Cardona, OEM Language Access Coordinator at 971-719-1183 or email dona@state.or.us">david.cardona@state.or.us. We accept all relay calls or you can dial 711.

Portland, Ore. – The Bonneville Power Administration and its partners report that in 2020, for the 23rd consecutive season, the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program met its annual goal to remove 10% to 20% of pikeminnow, 9 inches or longer, in the Columbia and Snake rivers that prey on juvenile salmon and steelhead.

• Fish removed                              103,114
• Registered anglers                     2,450
• Average angler catch                 6.5 fish/day
• Total paid to anglers                 $839,461
• Top angler
  • Fish removed                     5,579
  • Total earnings                  $48,501

The program, funded by BPA and administered by Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the states of Oregon and Washington, has run for 30 years, typically from May 1 through Sept. 30. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak last spring, governors in Washington and Oregon closed or limited fishing in some areas and curtailed access to some boat ramps. Those facilities were reopened later in May and the sport reward program began 11 days later than usual. To help make up for the delayed start, the season was extended to Oct. 11, 2020. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic presented some unique challenges for implementing a sport-reward fishery that relies on recreational angler participation,” said Eric Winther, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Columbia River Predator Control Program project leader. “We realized in the spring that circumstances would require some flexibility in how we operated the registration stations and that many of our return anglers might have to rethink their own recreation plans. All things considered, despite the late start to the season, anglers were able to spend a full five-month season on the rivers and remove thousands of pikeminnow for the program.”

When the season opened May 11, registered anglers again had the opportunity to make $5 to $8 for each northern pikeminnow at least 9 inches long, and specially tagged northern pikeminnow were worth $500. Program managers temporarily increased the reward to a flat $10 per fish late in the season to spur angler participation – which was a bit lower than normal due to the pandemic – and to take advantage of favorable river conditions during the season’s 11-day extension in October. However, the program will resume its pre-pandemic bounties when the northern pikeminnow season kicks off again in spring of 2021.

The goal of the sport reward fishing program is to reduce the number of larger northern pikeminnow in the Columbia and Snake rivers. Since 1990, anglers paid through the program have removed more than 5.2 million predatory pikeminnow.

“Northern pikeminnow is a native species that eats millions of juvenile salmon and steelhead each year in the Columbia and Snake river systems,” says Eric McOmie, BPA program manager. “When we remove the larger northern pikeminnow, more young salmon and steelhead have a better chance of making it to the ocean and eventually returning to the basin as adults.”

Biologists estimate that the program has reduced predation on young salmon and steelhead by up to 40% from pre-program levels.

The 2021 season is expected to operate from May 1 through Sept. 30, 2021. For more information about the program, call 800-858-9015 or visit www.pikeminnow.org.

About BPA

The Bonneville Power Administration, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit federal power marketer that sells wholesale, carbon-free hydropower from 31 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin. It also markets the output of the region’s only nuclear plant. BPA delivers this power to more than 140 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of consumers and businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and parts of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. BPA also owns and operates more than 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage power lines and 261 substations, and provides transmission service to more than 300 customers. In all, BPA provides nearly a third of the power generated in the Northwest. To mitigate the impacts of the federal dams, BPA implements a fish and wildlife program that includes working with its partners to make the federal dams safer for fish passage. It also pursues cost-effective energy savings and operational solutions that help maintain safe, affordable, reliable electric power for the Northwest. www.bpa.gov  

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Jan. 14, 2021

Media contact: Jonathan Modie, 971-246-9139 PHD.Communications@state.or.us

Conference of Local Health Officials meets January 21 via Zoom

What: The monthly public meeting of the Conference of Local Health Officials (CLHO). 

Agenda:  Communicable disease investigation prioritization; Vaccine Advisory Committee update; COVID-19 Funding; COVID-19 response.

Agenda is subject to change and is posted with meeting materials on the CLHO website at http://www.oregonclho.org/ prior to meeting.

There is no public comment period during this meeting.

When: Thursday, January 21, 9:30-11:00 a.m.

Where: Via Zoom meeting.  All attendees MUST register at

https://www.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIscO2orjosHBpyhZBk_uqQhBEu4yIU5j0

Background: The Conference of Local Health Officials provides recommendations to the Oregon Health Authority on the foundational capabilities and programs and any other public health program or activity under ORS 431.147. (ORS 431.340)

Program contact: Danna Drum, 503-957-8869, um@state.or.us">danna.k.drum@state.or.us

# # #

Everyone has a right to know about and use Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide are:

• Sign language and spoken language interpreters
• Written materials in other languages
• Braille
• Large print
• Audio and other formats

If you need help or have questions, please contact Danna Drum at 503-957-8869, 711 TTY or um@state.or.us">danna.k.drum@state.or.us at least 48 hours before the meeting.

Jan.14, 2021

Contact: Jonathan Modie, 971-246-9139, PHD.Communications@state.or.us

Public Health Advisory Board meets on Jan. 21

What: The Public Health Advisory Board will hold a meeting.

Agenda: Approve November meeting minutes; discuss nominations for chair position; review 2021 subcommittee objectives; hear update on COVID-19 response.

When: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2-3:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public. A public comment period will be held at the end of the meeting.

Where: Zoom conference call: (669) 254-5252; meeting ID: 160 932 6045.

Oregon’s Public Health Advisory Board provides guidance for Oregon’s governmental public health system and oversees the implementation of public health modernization and Oregon’s State Health Improvement Plan.

# # #

Everyone has a right to know about and use Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide are:

• Sign language and spoken language interpreters.
• Written materials in other languages.
• Braille.
• Large print.
• Audio and other formats.

If you need help or have questions, please contact Cara Biddlecom: at 971-673-2284, 711 TTY, or a.m.biddlecom@state.or.us">cara.m.biddlecom@state.or.us, at least 48 hours before the meeting.

Lane County Public Health (LCPH) was notified of at least 61 additional positive cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.This makes a total of  ?eight thousand  and fifty two cases. 

New Vaccine Email Update Sign-Up Available On Lane County COVID-19  Website

8,052 (+61) total cases-  Note that this includes confirmed and presumptive.

Of our cases (confirmed and presumptive): 

Hospitalized: 32 (-1)

·ICU: 9 (of the 32)

Deaths: 107 (+2)

Infectious: 415 (-42)

Persons Under Monitoring: 594 (+17)

Individuals having received at least the first dose of vaccine: 8,556

Testing: OHA is now excluding negative labs from Opera in an effort to improve performance. This includes historic negative labs. 

Data regarding Lane County testing, patient status, case ZIP codes and more is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/localdata

The State of Oregon has created a COVID-19 web page with resources at http://coronavirus.oregon.gov.

High Risk Individuals who had contact with these community members will be contacted by Lane County Public Health so they can work with their health care providers on next steps. Communicable disease investigations are underway. If a public contact exposure point is identified, that information will be shared with the public.

Presumptive cases are people without a positive PCR test who have COVID-19-like symptoms and had close contact with a confirmed case. Though not confirmed by a positive diagnostic test, presumptive cases have a high likelihood of having COVID-19 because of the specific nature of the symptoms and known exposure.

Jan. 14, 2021

Contact: Philip Schmidt, 503-360-7435, philip.schmidt@dhsoha.state.or.us  (media inquiries)

Brian Toups, 503-385-6542, rian.m.toups@dhsoha.state.or.us">brian.m.toups@dhsoha.state.or.us (meeting information or accommodation)

All Payer All Claims Technical Advisory Group to meet January 20

What: The regular public meeting of the Oregon Health Authority’s All Payer All Claims Technical Advisory Group.

When: January 20, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Where: The All Payer All Claims Technical Advisory Group Jan. 20 meeting will be by webinar and conference line only.

The public may join remotely through a webinar and conference line:

• https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2239280069326082306
• Conference line: 1-877-810-9415, Public Listen-Only Code: 1773452#

Agenda: General updates: APAC Vendor Transition; Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 AKA COVID-19 Relief bill; Oregon 2021 legislative session; APAC 2021 goals; Public Comment; adjourn

For more information, please visit the committee's website at https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HPA/ANALYTICS/Pages/All-Payer-All-Claims-TAG.aspx.  

# # #

Everyone has a right to know about and use Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide are:

• Sign language and spoken language interpreters.
• Written materials in other languages.
• Large print.
• Audio and other formats.

If you need help or have questions, please contact Brian Toups at, 503-385-6542, 711 TTY, rian.m.toups@dhsoha.state.or.us">brian.m.toups@dhsoha.state.or.us at least 48 hours before the meeting.

The FBI’s Portland Field Office, working with the Oregon State Police, the Salem Police Department, the Portland Police Bureau, and all of our other local, state, and federal partners, is preparing for any potential violent activity related to the recent unrest in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

Given the unrest at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, we are maintaining a heightened posture to monitor for any emerging threats to our region. We are focused on identifying, investigating, and disrupting individuals who were involved in the siege of the U.S. Capitol and/or those who may continue to incite violence and engage in criminal activity here locally. 

To that end, the FBI in Oregon is running a command post to gather intelligence and coordinate with our law enforcement partners on potential threats. We also have special agents, bomb technicians, the FBI Evidence Response Team, tactical teams, intelligence teams, and others to support investigations and counter any potential threat of violence to the state capitol, federal buildings, and our shared community. 

We need the public’s help to protect our state and the rights of peaceful protesters. We are urging people in Oregon to call us at (503) 224-4181 or go to tips.fbi.gov to submit information regarding any potential violence at any upcoming protest or event. You can also call 1 (800) CALL-FBI. If you know of an immediate emergency, call 911. 

We cannot be successful without the help of the American people as work to fulfill our mission: protect the American people and uphold the U.S. Constitution. 

### 

For Immediate Release                                        

January 14, 2021

Contact:    Mona Riesterer
                 (503) 378-2431

Notice of Regular Meeting

The Telecommunication Policy Committee of the Board on Public Safety Standards and Training will hold a regular meeting on February 3, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. in the Governor Victor G. Atiyeh Boardroom at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training located at 4190 Aumsville Hwy SE, Salem, Oregon. For further information, please contact Mona Riesterer at (503) 378-2431.

The Telecommunication Policy meeting will be live streamed on the DPSST Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/DPSSTOregon

Agenda Items:

1.  Introductions

2.  Approve Minutes of November 4, 2020

3.  Administrative Closures

      Linsay Hale

4.  Proposed Rule Changes for OAR 259-008-0015, 259-008-0290, 259-008-0300 and 259-008-0310; Moral Fitness Standards Relating to Discrimination – Review of Comments

      Presented by Jennifer Howald

5.   Staff Update

6.   Next Telecommunications Policy Committee Meeting May 5, 2021 @ 9:00 a.m.

                                                        Administrative Announcement

This is a public meeting, subject to the public meeting law and it will be recorded. Deliberation of issues will only be conducted by Telecommunication Policy members unless permitted by the Chair. Individuals who engage in disruptive behavior that impedes official business will be asked to stop being disruptive or leave the meeting. Additional measures may be taken to have disruptive individuals removed if their continued presence poses a safety risk to the other persons in the room or makes it impossible to continue the meeting.

Matt McRae has been selected as the long-term disaster recovery manager by Lane County. McRae will lead long-term recovery efforts along the McKenzie Corridor as residents and businesses work to rebuild following the Holiday Farm Fire. He will start on January 25, 2021.

"As a native of Oregon, I have a deep love of the McKenzie River Valley and it is a real privilege to be selected to serve our community in this role," said McRae.

The long-term disaster recovery manager is a two-year position and is responsible for planning and coordinating fire recovery activities and projects; collaborating with partners in the government, private, and non-profit sectors; and preparing and delivering reports and making recommendations in accordance with FEMA disaster recovery guidelines.

McRae has demonstrated skill in bringing large, diverse groups together to work toward a common goal, strong communication skills, and a passion for serving the community.

McRae brings previous experience in emergency planning and hazard mitigation. Most recently, he served as the climate policy strategist for Our Children’s Trust. Prior to this work, he served at the City of Eugene for 13 years in several positions including as the project manager for the Eugene/Springfield Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan where he led the City’s first Climate and Hazards Vulnerability Assessment, as a climate policy analyst where he led the development of the City’s first Climate Action Plan, and as a volunteer coordinator where he led the City’s Stream Team and the Community Gardens Program.

McRae holds a bachelor’s of science in environmental studies from Utah State University.

###

(Salem) – Jan. 1 marked the beginning of the 2021 Medicare Advantage open enrollment period for Medicare beneficiaries with an existing Medicare Advantage plan. Beneficiaries who take advantage of this open enrollment period will have coverage that starts the first day of the month after the enrollment action.

Before March 31, beneficiaries who already have a Medicare Advantage plan can:

• Change to a different Medicare Advantage plan, either with or without drug coverage.
• Enroll in a stand-alone Part D (prescription drug) plan, which returns the beneficiary to Original Medicare.

“This is a helpful time period for beneficiaries that are not satisfied with the new Medicare Advantage plan they chose for 2021 or for beneficiaries currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, but who missed the annual Dec. 7 deadline to compare and change plans,” said Lisa Emerson, program analyst for the Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program.

Beneficiaries can make only one change during this enrollment period and cannot change from one stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan to another stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan.

Other enrollment opportunities if someone missed the Dec. 7 deadline:

• Oregonians have one five-star plan through Kaiser Permanente that will accept enrollments at any time throughout the year.
• Anyone affected by COVID-19 or Oregon’s wildfires may still have time to enroll in a plan under a four-month special enrollment period, which begins the date affected. There are other guidelines to qualify.
• Anyone affected by nonrenewing plans (e.g., Moda Med-Advantage) still has time to choose a plan.

Oregon’s SHIBA program is available to help beneficiaries understand their options. To find free, local Medicare counseling help, go to dcbspage.org/SHIBALOCAL or call 800-722-4134 (toll-free) to speak to a state-certified Medicare counselor.

SHIBA counselors can help Oregonians navigate the Medicare.gov Plan Finder tool to enter prescriptions and compare the cost and benefits of individual drug plans, provide enrollment guidance, and answer any other questions related to Medicare benefits. All of these services are available remotely statewide to ensure the safety of both clients and counselors.

###

Oregon’s Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program is part of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS), Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. Visit dcbs.oregon.gov. Follow DCBS on Twitter: twitter.com/OregonDCBS. Receive consumer help and information on insurance, mortgages, investments, workplace safety, and more.

  TIP OF THE WEEK

Date:  January 14, 2021              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:     Sheriff Curtis Landers

                   541-265-0654

                   s@co.lincoln.or.us">lcsheriff@co.lincoln.or.us

Tie It Down

Thinking of making that annual or semi-annual trip to the dump? Ridding your home of unwanted items and trash is a great way to keep it a healthy, safe, and clutter-free place.

Remember also, that we want to keep our environment and fellow motorists healthy and safe. So, take a moment to inspect your cargo. Are there any light, loose items that can scatter and become unsightly litter or pollution along the roadway?  Or worse, unsecured larger items that may fall out and cause another drive to swerve or crash?

The National Sheriffs' Association Traffic Safety Committee likes to keep awareness of the problem with unsecured loads.  Research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates that road debris played a role in more than 50,000 crashes each year in a four-year period. These resulted in over 9,800 injuries and approximately 125 deaths.

To be secured, loads should be:

• Tied down with rope, netting or straps
• Tied directly to the vehicle or trailer
• Covered entirely with a sturdy tarp or netting
• NOT overloaded
• Packed with lighter weight items at the bottom and evenly distributed to prevent them from sliding.

For more information and tips please visit our website at: www.lincolncountysheriff.net and like us on Facebook at Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office – Oregon.

Oregon reports 1,346 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 41 new deaths

January 13, 2021

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 41 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,708, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,346 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 129,109.

Note: A human error resulted in the loss of a small number of reports submitted through the online portal from 6:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 13.

OHA does not know what types of reports were lost (lab reports, REALD reports or MIS-C reports). Based on recent reporting volume, we estimate that these results were likely negative or pending lab results and that no more than 20 would have been received during the time of the error. We are reaching out to all parties who recently submitted reports through the online portal to request that anyone who submitted from 6:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 13 to resubmit those results.

OHA will continue to review and assess the process.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, 14,722 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 9,071 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 12 and 5,651 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 12.

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 129,782 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 321,225 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 434, which is 31 more than yesterday. There are 103 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is 10 more than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Weekly COVID-19 cases increase, deaths surge

OHA’s COVID-19 Weekly Report was released today and showed sharp increases in daily cases and positive tests.

OHA reported 8,150 new daily cases during the week of Monday, Jan. 4 through Sunday, Jan. 10, a 3% increase over the previous week.

There were 357 persons hospitalized for COVID-19.

COVID-19 related deaths surged to 177, up from 73 the previous week.

There were 113,648 tests for COVID-19 for the week of Jan. 3 through Jan. 9. The percentage of positive tests increased to 8.2%.

People age 20 to 49 have accounted for 55% of COVID-19 cases, while people 70 and older have accounted for 77% of deaths associated with the virus.

Today’s COVID-19 outbreak report shows 202 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed cases or one or more COVID-19 related deaths.

Cases and deaths

The new cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (16), Benton (29), Clackamas (105), Clatsop (10), Columbia (13), Coos (9), Crook (19), Deschutes (89), Douglas (25), Gilliam (1), Grant (8), Harney (2), Hood river (6), Jackson (58), Jefferson (23), Josephine (64), Klamath (32), Lake (2), Lane (98), Lincoln (3), Linn (50), Malheur (24), Marion (97), Morrow (9), Multnomah (307), Polk (28), Tillamook (11), Umatilla (52), Union (7), Wasco (13), Washington (110) and Yamhill (26).

“Every death from COVID-19 is a loss for friends and families,” said Dr. Bukhosi Dube, senior health advisor with the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division. “Today's reported death of a 19-year-old, who had underlying conditions shows, again, that because a person may be younger than the most at-risk groups, they may still suffer life-threatening consequences from the virus.”

While older people are at higher risk of having more severe outcomes, including hospitalizations and death, COVID-19 has led to hospitalizations of persons under the age of 40. State data show that about 5% of patients who have been hospitalized for their illness were between the ages of 10 to 39 years old. In Oregon, this is the fourth COVID-19 related death in individuals younger than 30 since the beginning of the pandemic.

As of Jan. 13, 103 persons between the ages of 10 and 19 have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Oregon.

Oregon’s 1,668th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 25 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,669th COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Jan. 9 and died on Jan. 10 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,670th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 8 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,671st COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man in Columbia County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died on Dec. 12 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,672nd COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Crook County who became symptomatic on Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 8 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,673rd COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Curry County who died on Dec. 20 at Curry General Hospital. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,674th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Douglas County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,675th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Jan. 11 at Providence Medford Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,676th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Jefferson County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 10 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,677th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 19 at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,678th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Jan. 2 and died on Jan. 10 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart—Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,679th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Dec. 3 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,680th COVID-19 death is a 19-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 19 and died on Dec. 6 at Oregon Health Science University. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,681st COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 25 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,682nd COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Jan. 1 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,683rd COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Nov.  30 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,684th COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 23 and died on Nov. 22 at Portland VA Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,685th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Dec. 5 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,686th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Dec. 7 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,687th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 27 and died on Dec. 11 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,688th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 15 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,689th COVID-19 death is a 50-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 6 and died on Dec. 15 at Providence Portland Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,690th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Dec. 20 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,691st COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Dec. 20 at Providence Portland Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,692nd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 16 and died on Dec. 19 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,693rd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Multnomah County who died on Dec. 26 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,694th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 28 and died on Dec. 19 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,695th COVID-19 death is a 70-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Jan. 1 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,696th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,697th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old woman in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 9 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,698th COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 27 and died on Jan. 1 at Good Shepherd Community Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,699th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 6 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,700th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Umatilla County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 10 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,701st COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Dec. 11 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,702nd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 12 and died on Jan. 2 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,703rd COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Dec. 22 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,704th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 24 and died on Jan. 7 at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,705th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 4 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,706th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 17 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,707th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 8 at Willamette Valley Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,708th COVID-19 death is a 27-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Nov. 18 and died on Nov. 27 at Oregon Health Science University. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information.

OFFICE OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 13, 2021

Statement from the Douglas County District Attorney

I feel compelled to respond, as other elected officials have, to the activities of a group calling themselves, Citizens Against Tyranny. 

It is my understanding that Citizens Against Tyranny, through means of intimidation, want all elected officials in Douglas County to sign in support of their declaration.  The declaration invites public shaming and banning of individual citizens from merchants and services in the county.  The declaration calls for shamming and banning of officials and private citizens who do not support the declaration.  The declaration states that such individuals “will be publicly known”.  I have already seen in the news that two women were placed on such a “list” and endured such attempted shaming.

This kind of response to the COVID-19 crisis, its impact on the health of our community and individual financial difficulties, is not the answer.  Our Board of Commissioners have and continue to carefully walk a path to balance those competing crises and have exemplified a balanced response to the issue.

I will not participate in or sign on to the Citizens Against Tyranny’s ill-intended approach to this difficult issue.   Public shamming and banning of certain “listed” Douglas County citizens is offensive to our democracy and the due process of law. It’s simply not who we are in Douglas County.

Sincerely,

Rick Wesenberg

###

On Wednesday, January 13, 2021, at approximately 10:45 A.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a vehicle incident on Hwy 26 near milepost 32.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Portland General Electric (PGE) employees were repairing damaged power lines on the north side of Hwy 26.  A PGE truck, operated by Joshua Rinard (41) of Sandy, was being repositioned when it backed into, Brenda Stader (50) of Portland, who was working as a flagger to assist with traffic control. 

PGE was utilizing flaggers contracted through Northwest Traffic Control.

Stader sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased.

OSP was assisted by the Sandy Fire Department and ODOT

Lane County Public Health (LCPH) has the unique task of helping to vaccinate those serving some of our most vulnerable community members in groups 2 and 3 under the Phase 1a guidance from Oregon Health Authority (OHA) while our hospital partners, EMS, and clinical partners focus on groups 1-4. As of Monday, January 11, planning was in place to hold mass vaccination clinics to accomplish this effort, but following OHA’s allocation to LCPH of only 100 doses, those plans were in danger of being canceled. Thanks to the generosity and partnership of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center and Nova Health, that work will be accomplished.

“This is yet another example of how the partnerships between Lane County and our provider community benefit our entire community,” said Lane County Senior Public Health Officer, Dr. Patrick Luedtke.

To that end, MCKW was willing to contribute 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and Nova Health was able to contribute 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine. These vaccines will be distributed at two mass vaccination clinics administered by LCPH this weekend.

“Helping our community receive vaccinations is essential to the slowing of this virus, and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center is thankful for the opportunity to do so,” said McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center CEO David Elgarico.

“It’s a privilege to share the COVID-19 vaccines with our community partners, its imperative that we all work together to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible” said Nova Health CEO Jim Ashby

Lane County is prioritizing organizations and individuals in groups 2-3 based on risk level with an emphasis on equity. Invitations will be issued directly to those able to be vaccinated via established communication channels. Additional clinics for groups 2-3 will be forthcoming.
###

The Association of O&C Counties (AOCC)

For your consideration, we are sharing a press release from the Association of Oregon and California Counties, of which Douglas County Commissioner Tim Freeman is the current President. 

PRESS RELEASE
January 13, 2021

The Association of O&C Counties (AOCC) today expressed strong support for the recently announced decision of the US Fish & Wildlife Service to exclude all O&C lands from the 9.5 million acres previously designated by that agency as "critical habitat" for the Northern Spotted Owl.

"This is a result AOCC has been seeking for a long time and we are pleased the agency finally agreed with us," said Tim Freeman, a Commissioner of Douglas County who is also President of AOCC.

The O&C lands are required by federal law to be managed by the BLM for sustained yield timber production. The 18 Counties with O&C lands in them are entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of timber from the lands, with the remaining 50 percent returned to the U.S. Treasury. Counties have relied on their share of harvest receipts to provide essential public services since 1937. AOCC has argued since 2012 that designation as critical habitat interferes with sustained yield management as required by law.

"NSO habitat will be maintained and even increased through sustained yield management on the O&C lands," said Rocky Mc Vay, AOCC's executive Director. "A new management plan will be prepared in the near future and serve as a fresh model for how to support the needs of the NSO. This is an opportunity to demonstrate how sustained yield management can provide both economic as well as environmental benefits," said Mc Vay.

AOCC has long espoused sustained yield management as a means of achieving a full array benefits from these valuable forestlands.  Removing the redundant and unnecessary "critical habitat" label will allow focus on how sustained yield strategies can maintain and increase NSO habitat. As three examples: (1) Sustained yield strategies that employ extended cycles between harvest can provide substantial amounts of high-quality habitat over time. (2) Most of the existing high-quality spotted owl habitat on the O&C lands is fragmented. Sustained yield strategies can help overcome this fragmentation by designating older forest emphasis areas that improve habitat quality and concentration over time. (3) Much of the O&C lands are in fire-prone condition with existing high-quality habitat at risk due to high fuel loads. Management to improve fire resiliency while producing timber is a cost-effective method for maintaining and improving high quality habitat over time.

"A new BLM plan offers an opportunity to go beyond inflexible land use designations to recognize how sustained yield management can simultaneously improve habitat levels at the landscape scale and reduce losses from wildfire, all while producing timber and revenue needed by communities and the nation," commented Mc Vay.

For the outline of one of many possible sustained yield management scenarios designed to provide a wide range of environmental benefits while still complying with the O&C Act, see the following: http://www.oandc.org/proposed-future-management/.

Eliminating ridged labels like "critical habitat" on the O&C lands is a necessary first step to achieving the promise of sustained yield.  O&C timber receipts have been an important component of County budgets since 193 7. Historically, payments exceeded $134 million annually, in current value dollars. (See p. 18, Governor's O&C Lands Report, Tuchmann and Davis, 2013.) In recent years, the Counties share of O&C receipts has been less than $25 million. The adverse impact on the Counties ability to provide public services has been dramatic. At the same time, the reduced availability of timber to supply mills has caused mill closures and the loss of tens of thousands of irreplaceable jobs.

The exclusion of O&C lands from NSO critical habitat follows a 2019 decision in favor of AOCC in Association of Oregon & California Counties v. Brian Steed et al. USDC, District of Columbia Civil Case No. 16-1602 (RJL). The Court in that case held that the all O&C timberlands must be managed by the BLM according to principles of sustained yield, and that ESA restrictions do not eliminate the BLM's obligations to manage for sustained yield.

"The exclusion of O&C lands from NSO critical habitat was the logical next step for the government to take, to restore the O&C lands to the kind of management federal law requires," said Commissioner Freeman.

"After 80 years of sustained yield management over half of the O&C timberlands remain late successional forest. Sustained yield management of these lands can continue to provide many forest values, including older forest conditions, while simultaneously supporting the social and economic needs of the rural communities in Oregon," said Commissioner Freeman. "We are happy to see rational and positive decision making by the federal government. It has been a very long process and there is still more to do before community’s start seeing the results of better management, but this is a major step in the right direction."

For additional information, contact Rocky Mc Vay at 541-412-1624 or Rocky@blupac.com

The Oregon Office of Emergency Management has posted the Oregon Wildfire Recovery Update for Jan.13, 2021, to the Oregon Wildfire Resources page. See today's Wildfire Recovery update here. 

Photo Captions:

Lane County, Ore. - September 19, 2020 - Wildfire destruction on Mt. Hagen. Photo by Jeremy Porter/FEMA.
File: 2020-19-09_OR_4562_Detroit_Mt_Hagen_DeMob_01.jpg

Blue River, Ore. - September 30, 2020 - The process to remove damaged trees has begun. The Holiday Farm Fire destroyed businesses, homes and vehicles in Blue River, Oregon. Photo by David Yost/FEMA.
File: 2020-30-09_4562_ORFires_BlueRiver_1971.jpg

We had the great honor today of wishing a happy birthday to a special Roseburg resident. We were told that John Couch is turning 100 years old tomorrow, January 14th.

Mr. Couch is a World War II veteran and is currently living at Bridgewood Rivers Assisted Living in Roseburg. We had a vehicle processional with representatives from the Roseburg Police Department, Roseburg Fire Department, Oregon Army National Guard's Charlie Company, and several of Couch's friends.

Happy Birthday Mr. Couch! Congratulations, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your service to our great Country!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Hotline: 503-813-6018

Pacific Power restores electric service to more than 25,000 customers overnight in wake of windstorm

PORTLAND. Ore. (Jan. 13, 2021) — A fast-moving blast of wind and intense rain hit the Northwest Jan. 12-13 causing power outages from Crescent City, Calif. to the upper reaches of the Yakima Valley in central Washington. Working overnight, Pacific Power crews and contractors totaling about 200 individuals restored 25,000 of the 28,000 customers who were out at the peak of the storm.

As of 4 p.m. today, 3,000 customers are in the process of being restored. A majority of these customers are expected to have service restored by 8 p.m. The communities with the largest  remaining outages include:

• Willamette Valley (Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Stayton), 1,700
• Crescent City, Calif., 750
• Yakima Valley, 150
• Coos County, 100

“Our crews are continuing restoration work with the goal of getting all service restored by this evening,” said Allen Berreth, vice president of operations. “We appreciate the patience that customers have shown during this outage and we want to remind everyone to stay clear of any down lines you may see. Assume they are live and dangerous and give us a call to report them.”

Pacific Power encourages customers to report outages by calling 1-877-508-5088 or text OUT to 722797. Text STAT to 722797 to check the status of your outage.

Customers and media representatives can also track outages of any size online. Updates will be made as new information becomes available or at least hourly at pacificpower.net/outage.

To ease the inconvenience of power outages and assist crews in restoring power, Pacific Power suggests the following tips and safety precautions:

• Stay away from all downed power lines and utility lines. Even if the lines are not sparking, they could be energized and extremely dangerous. Call 911 and report the outage to Pacific Power at 1-877-508-5088.
• Don’t drive over downed power lines.
• Maintain safe distances from workers. Repair work is being done under our COVID-19 safety protocols. Waves and acknowledgement are welcome, but please allow crews to do their work at an appropriate distance both for operational and COVID-19 safety.
• Turn on your porch light. After crews complete repairs, they patrol the area of the power failure to see if any lights are still out
• Check on your neighbors, especially those who may need special assistance. Also, check with others who have electricity, to see if you can visit.
• If you have power at this time, keep mobile devices charged so that may be used in an emergency. Before anything happens, download the Pacific Power app to your smart device so you can have information readily available.
• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Most food requiring refrigeration can be kept safely in a closed refrigerator for several hours. An unopened refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours.
• Remember your pets! Pets who spend a lot of time outdoors need more food in the winter because keeping warm depletes energy.
• If you are using alternate heat or cooking sources, remember to allow plenty of ventilation. Never burn charcoal for heating or cooking indoors.
• If you are using a generator, make sure to follow all manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure the generator is outside and not near any household air intakes. Do not connect the generator directly to your breaker box as this can create a dangerous situation for crews working on the powerlines. Instead, plug essential appliances directly into the generator.

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Jan. 13, 2021

Contact: Jonathan Modie, 971-246-9139, PHD.Communications@state.or.us

Nurse Staffing Advisory Board holds virtual quarterly meeting Jan. 27

What: The Nurse Staffing Advisory Board is holding its quarterly meeting.

Agenda:

• Review minutes from October and December NSAB meetings
• Membership updates
• Status updates
• Committee updates
• Open action items
• Program improvement
• Emerging issues in nurse staffing
• Public comment

The agenda will be available on www.healthoregon.org/nursestaffing.

When: Jan. 27, 1-5 p.m.

Where:

ZoomGov meeting; dial: 669-254-5252

Meeting ID: 160 109 9025

Passcode: 528324

The Nurse Staffing Advisory Board advises the Oregon Health Authority on the administration of Oregon’s nurse staffing laws; identifies trends, opportunities and concerns related to nurse staffing; makes recommendations to the Oregon Health Authority based on those trends, opportunities and concerns; and reviews the enforcement powers and processes under Oregon’s nurse staffing laws.

Program contact: Kimberly Voelker erly.n.voelker@dhsoha.state.or.us">kimberly.n.voelker@dhsoha.state.or.us

Everyone has a right to know about and use the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) programs and services. OHA provides free help. Some examples of the free help OHA can provide are:

• Sign language and spoken language interpreters
• Written material in other languages
• Braille
• Large print
• Audio and other formats

If you need help or have questions, please contact Kimberly Voelker, MPH at 971-803-0914, 711 TTY or erly.n.voelker@dhsoha.state.or.us">kimberly.n.voelker@dhsoha.state.or.us at least 48 hours before the meeting.

UPDATE CORRECTION: Please note that there are currently, EIGHT (8) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, six locally and two out-of-the-area. 

Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 13, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results: As of 12:00 pm Today, Wednesday, January 13, 2021, there are TWENTY-SIX (26) people with new positive test results and ONE (1) death to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,622.  Currently, there are EIGHT (8) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, six locally and two out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

COVID-19 Related Death of a Douglas County Resident

Our Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, has confirmed the death of another Douglas County resident related to the COVID-19 virus. Our forty-third death is an 84-year-old woman who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Saturday, November 21, 2020 and passed away on Monday, January 4, 2021.  In the interest of privacy for the loved ones of this resident, no additional information will be released.   Each death related to COVID-19 is painful for all Douglas County residents, and a sad reminder of the terrible impact COVID-19 has had in our local communities. The Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Dr. Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT team extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to all family members, friends, relatives, co-workers and community members of those who have passed after contracting this deadly virus.

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. Please note there will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted.

Vaccine Distribution to Local Public Health

As you can see in the chart above, we have added a new line in our daily chart in order to provide an accurate total of the number of vaccines that Local Public Health has received to date, as well as the number we have administered to eligible residents.  Please note that our numbers do NOT include other sites like the Roseburg VA, Mercy Medical Center, EMS, Cow Creek Tribe and local care facilities that received their vaccines directly from the Federal and State Government in order to begin direct vaccinations to the first priority group.  We wanted to let you know that our Local Public Health has received and administered our first round of COVID-19 vaccines to eligible Douglas County residents in accordance with the priority guidelines and criteria set by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  As of noon yesterday, Tuesday, January 12, 2020, Douglas County has received 400 COVID-19 vaccines and all 400 of those have been administered to eligible residents at 6 approved local medical clinics.  At this time, we have not received enough vaccines to move to the next phase or wave, or to hold a large community event. We are hopeful that we will get a larger distribution of the vaccine soon, so we can move forward with vaccinations for everyone that is eligible.  Right now, we are still working through the priority populations in group – Phase 1A.  CDC and OHA are still working on the logistics and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and as soon as the new guidelines are finalized, and we begin to get a steady supply of vaccines, we can start moving our way down the eligibility list.  DPHN, through our Local Public Health Authority and Administrators, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, have set up a new email address for questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Douglas County.  The new email is for inquiries from residents, businesses, health care workers, medical offices and volunteers.  DPHN will do their best to respond with the most current information we have, and connect those that are eligible for the vaccine with those that have the vaccine, as soon as the vaccine becomes available.

New Email for Douglas County COVID-19 Vaccine Questions: For all questions about vaccine eligibility, availability and volunteer opportunities, please email vaccines@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

Reminder: All Douglas County Businesses Have the Ability to Be Open

Yesterday we announced that Douglas County residents and businesses would remain in our current State mandated risk level.  The State of Oregon notified Douglas County Monday, that we would not be moving out of the current level based on our COVID-19 case count over the last two weeks.  So, Douglas County will remain in the High Risk Level for the next two-week period, beginning Friday, January 15, 2012, and continuing through Thursday, January 28, 2021. This risk level allows ALL of our local business the opportunity to be OPEN, with some limitations on capacity. We want to continue to thank our residents and businesses for staying within the recommended guidelines, and for making good decisions in order for our communities to continue to stay open.  The new risk level does not affect the ability of faith based organizations and local school districts to offer in-person services and classes.  They are able to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. 

Clarification: Douglas County Sees Increase in Local Case Numbers

Yesterday, we talked about the spreader events and circumstances for our recent surge is case numbers.  We wanted to clarify a term we used yesterday.  We said that during recent case investigations several epilink outbreaks were linked to residents who attended holiday celebrations, traveled to COVID hot spot areas, invited people to visit from out of the area and attended in-person unprotected congregate social gatherings where COVID-19 safety measures were not being followed.  For clarification, an epilink or epidemiological link is what a place or person or a group, who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 or are considered presumptive, have in common, such as a business, co-worker, friend, school, daycare, fellow parishioner, relative or family member.  We will continue to encourage everyone, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, to gauge your risk level, and make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you.  We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick and wear face coverings where recommended.  We know how important family and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities in order to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 173 cases in isolation, as well as another 242 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 415 total contacts in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon

We understand that our residents have many questions, so do we.  Like you, we are patiently awaiting more information.  If you have questions or need more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, check out these resources: 

• OHA COVID-19 Vaccine website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/
• General Questions: COVID19.vaccine@dhsoha.state.or.us or call 211 or (971) 673-2411
• COVID-19 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon

As soon as more information is made available about the next phases and vaccine availability, we will pass the information along.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID health and safety. 

Oregon COVID-19 Case Information

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Friday, January 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 41 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,708, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 1,346 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 129,109.

Note: A human error resulted in the loss of a small number of reports submitted through the online portal from 6:45am to 8:30am on Jan.13.

OHA does not know what types of reports were lost (lab reports, REALD reports, or MIS-C reports). Based on recent reporting volume, we estimate that these results were likely negative or pending lab results and that no more than 20 would have been received during the time of the error. We are reaching to all parties who recently submitted reports through the online portal to request that anyone who submitted from 6:45am to 8:30am on Jan. 13.to resubmit those results.

OHA will continue to review and assess the process.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, 14,722 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 9,071 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 12 and 5,651 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 12.

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 129,782 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 321,225 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change.

OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 434, which is 31 more than yesterday. There are 103 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is 10 more than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

NOTE: Death details are being reviewed and will be posted in an updated version of this press release.

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (16), Benton (29), Clackamas (105), Clatsop (10), Columbia (13), Coos (9), Crook (19), Deschutes (89), Douglas (25), Gilliam (1), Grant (8), Harney (2), Hood river (6), Jackson (58), Jefferson (23), Josephine (64), Klamath (32), Lake (2), Lane (98), Lincoln (3), Linn (50), Malheur (24), Marion (97), Morrow (9), Multnomah (307), Polk (28), Tillamook (11), Umatilla (52), Union (7), Wasco (13), Washington (110) and Yamhill (26).

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HOSPITALS WILL EMBRACE CHALLENGE TO VACCINATE SENIORS, EDUCATORS WHEN MORE DOSES ARRIVE

                           Plenty of work will be needed to get ready for more vaccine sent by the federal government

Lake Oswego, Ore. – January 13, 2021 – Hospitals will start preparations for a big increase in the number of Oregonians who can soon receive the COVID-19 vaccine after the Centers for Disease Control unexpectedly expanded the eligibility guidelines and Governor Brown followed suit.

Starting January 23, educators and everyone 65 and older will be included. The federal government will release its full stock of vaccine doses to the states. That supply, however, will likely not  be enough to handle the larger number of eligible recipients.

Hospital leaders applauded the move while signaling that there is much logistical work ahead to vaccinate the new larger cohort. “Oregon’s hospitals have been enthusiastic partners in bringing the COVID-19 vaccine to our residents, and we are happy that more vaccine is being sent to Oregon,” said Becky Hultberg, OAHHS President & CEO. “Just as our hospital teams have done whatever it takes to care for Oregonians suffering from this virus, we will bring that same drive and determination to the expanded vaccine effort.”

Details on the larger scale distribution effort are yet to be worked out. Portland area hospitals have recently begun partnerships with metro area public health departments to identify and vaccinate providers not affiliated with large health systems. That work will soon be expanded to include teachers and senior citizens.

Governor Brown will provide more details on the distribution plans on January 15. “If you are an Oregonian who is newly eligible for vaccination, I am asking for your patience,” she said. Read Governor Brown’s statement here.

Until the new program begins on January 23 Oregon will continue to follow the initial OHA Phase 1a guidelines.

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About OAHHS: Founded in 1934, OAHHS is a statewide, nonprofit trade association that works closely with local and national government leaders, business and citizen coalitions, and other professional health care organizations to enhance and promote community health and to continue improving Oregon’s innovative health care delivery system.

Lane County Public Health (LCPH) was notified of at least 112 additional positive cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.This makes a total of seven thousand nine hundred and ninety one cases. 

LCPH is asking for help from our media partners to help reiterate that Saturday and Sunday's clinics are for Groups 2-3 in Phase 1a, and by invitation only.

7,991(+112) total cases-  Note that this includes confirmed and presumptive.

Of our cases (confirmed and presumptive): 

Hospitalized: 33 (+3)

·ICU: 5 (of the 33)

Deaths: 105 (+2)

Infectious: 457 (+24)

Persons Under Monitoring: 577

Individuals having received at least the first dose of vaccine: 8,008

Testing: OHA is now excluding negative labs from Opera in an effort to improve performance. This includes historic negative labs. 

Data regarding Lane County testing, patient status, case ZIP codes and more is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/localdata

The State of Oregon has created a COVID-19 web page with resources at http://coronavirus.oregon.gov.

High Risk Individuals who had contact with these community members will be contacted by Lane County Public Health so they can work with their health care providers on next steps. Communicable disease investigations are underway. If a public contact exposure point is identified, that information will be shared with the public.

Presumptive cases are people without a positive PCR test who have COVID-19-like symptoms and had close contact with a confirmed case. Though not confirmed by a positive diagnostic test, presumptive cases have a high likelihood of having COVID-19 because of the specific nature of the symptoms and known exposure.

Oregon State Police Superintendent Terri Davie requested and was granted the activation of members of the Oregon National Guard to assist with potential upcoming civil unrest/protests by Governor Kate Brown.

“The Oregon State Police will continue to take a neutral role in ensuring Oregonians exercise their First Amendment rights,” said Oregon State Police Superintendent Davie. “For the past seven months, your Troopers have responded throughout Oregon to various protests, unlawful assemblies and riots.  Our goals have always been to protect people, protect people’s rights and to protect property. The recent events at our Nation's Capitol building and at our own statehouse illustrate the need for law enforcement to be prepared and appropriately staffed for any large gatherings,” Davie added.

The Oregon Army National Guard will be deployed as necessary and their deployment locations will not be made public. OSP and the ONG routinely work and train together in response to Oregon’s challenges, including civil unrest, human remain recovery in the recent wildfire response and safeguarding our communities in times of crisis.

“With the Oregon National Guard supplementing OSP ranks, we will be ready to ensure peaceful events and handle emergency situations,” said Oregon State Police Captain Timothy Fox.

Oregon State Police will continue to work with our local, state and federal partners in planning for potential events at the Oregon State Capitol or any other jurisdiction in Oregon. OSP will continue to leverage their strong partnerships with local and federal law enforcement, in efforts to provide safety to legislators and employees conducting the people’s business in the Capitol.

The Oregon State Police does not discuss the specifics of potential threats or tactical plans made unless it is determined there is a public safety need.

Lane County and Community LendingWorks have notified 239 businesses that they are recipients of a collective $3.6 million in funding from the small business grants offered in December.

The funding was provided by the State of Oregon. Counties were notified of the funding at the end of November and were given through the end of 2020 to conduct an application process and select recipients.

In total, 26 percent of the funds will be distributed to rural businesses, 22 percent to Springfield businesses and 52 percent to Eugene businesses, which closely matches the geographical distribution of small businesses in Lane County.

“Local businesses are the lifeblood of our community,” said Lane County Community & Economic Development Manager Austin Ramirez. “Getting this money into the hands of business owners – and advocating for more – is incredibly important if we are going to help keep businesses open and people employed.”

Applications were available from December 3 through December 13 for local businesses with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees, as well as sole proprietors.

Recipients were selected in two rounds of random drawings. Selection was random in order to ensure businesses that submitted applications closer to the deadline were just as likely to be selected as others.

The first drawing for 75 percent of the overall funding was conducted among applications from businesses in the tourism, hospitality or event sectors, along with businesses closed as a result of the Governor’s ordered freezes (e.g., gyms, museums, sports courts, etc.), rural businesses or majority women-, disabled-, veteran-, or minority-owned businesses.

The remaining 25 percent of the funds were dispersed in the second random drawing that included all other eligible applicants, as well as those not selected in the first drawing.

The need is far greater than what local resources can address; nearly 1,600 businesses in Lane County requested more than $24 million in funding in this round of grants alone. Lane County will continue to advocate for more small business support and disperse any additional funding quickly and equitably.

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SALEM, Ore. – Oregon National Guardsmen joined Salem Health at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Oregon on Jan. 12, to assist them with their efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccination to Oregonians. More than 40 medical personnel initially activated to directly support Salem Health operations.

Just over a week ago, Salem Health set up their distribution plan and began administering vaccinations to the public. Since Jan. 7, over 8,500 vaccinations have been administered; with the help of the National Guard yesterday, the site reached over 10,000 vaccinations.

Upon realizing the site would be unable to vaccinate enough people under the current system, Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics, President and CEO, Cheryl Nester Wolfe, initiated the plan to establish a separate vaccination distribution site. Her forward thinking led to the first COVID-19 vaccination distribution site of its kind in the state of Oregon.

“We are the only mass vaccination clinic set up,” stated Wolfe. “We have somewhere around 50,000 people to vaccinate in Marion County alone.”

The Oregon State Fairgrounds was designated as the logical choice by Wolfe and her team due to current busing route access, the centralized location for Marion County and Salem residents, as well as the large building and available parking. The established infrastructure of the State Fairgrounds as an alternative hospital location was originally established in March of 2020 at the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Once aware of Salem Health’s plan to set up a vaccination distribution site at the State Fairgrounds, Amie Wittenberg, Director of the Emergency Department, Trauma and Psychiatric Services at Salem Hospital and the Operations Section Chief for the vaccination response, arrived with her team to ensure all necessary safety precautions and health protocols were followed.  

“Once we heard the site location was confirmed, we came down to the building to see what tools we had,” stated Wittenberg. “We started dreaming up our plan starting with the essentials: screening to ensure COVID safety measures were in place, a registration area, a vaccination prep station, a vaccination station, and finally, a process to identify post vaccination monitoring.”

The Salem Health staff working to vaccinate Oregonians at the State Fairgrounds continues to manage their hospital jobs as well as the vaccination site. The impact and workload on the hospital dating back to last March and the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been significant.

“We are planning on being here up to six months,” stated Wittenberg. “Everyone’s dug in to volunteer and work extra to serve, but we need to preserve our employees and ensure we have the ability to facilitate at the hospital and clinic level.” 

On Jan. 8, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the activation of the Oregon National Guard to assist with the distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccination. The news of Guard activation to assist with vaccinations was a relief for Salem Health.

“We need Guardsmen to help with giving vaccinations, we need help with security and parking, we need everything,” stated Nester Wolfe. “When I heard the Governor announce the Guard was coming to help, it was just a blessing.”

Oregon Guardsmen arrived at the State Fairgrounds on the morning of Jan. 12, and began their onboarding process to integrate with Salem Health as soon as possible. By noon, Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen were preparing and giving vaccinations, processing individuals on the electronic medical record system, monitoring the post vaccination area, monitoring controlled entry and exit points, and assisting with vehicle and foot traffic control.

“When we heard there was a potential to partner with the Guard and to actually work together… it’s a once in a life time opportunity,” expressed Wittenberg. “Since February, we have worked and served at all different levels. It’s been a lot. To have the Guard’s partnership, you can’t put a price on it.”

Since March 2020, Oregon National Guardsmen have been activated to support the state’s COVID-19 Pandemic response, distribute PPE throughout the state, assisted with the largest wildfire season on record, and to protect lives and property during civil disturbances.

Oregon Air National Guard Public Affairs Officers:  Major Heather Bashor, 503-779-9889, .bashor.1@us.af.mil">heather.bashor.1@us.af.mil

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Photos: 

210112-Z-YJ247-001: Oregon National Guard Members arrived at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Ore., Jan. 12, 2021 and begin to in-process, train, and assist Salem Health with their vaccination efforts. By noon, Guardsmen were prepping and giving vaccinations as well as assisting with monitoring, prescreening, and registration. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Major Heather Bashor, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)

210112-Z-YJ247-002: Oregon National Guard Service Members arrive early at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Ore., Jan. 12, 2021, to in-process train, and begin assisting Salem Health with their COVID-19 Vaccination efforts. Cheryl R. Nester Wolfe, President and CEO of Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics welcomed the Guardsmen  to the site and thanked them for their service. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Major Heather Bashor, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)

210112-Z-YJ247-003: Oregon National Guardsmen arrived at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Ore., Jan. 12, 2021, to in-process train, and begin assisting Salem Health with their COVID-19 Vaccination efforts before assisting Salem Health. Airmen and Soldiers went through an onboarding process to prepare them to integrate easily with their staff. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Major Heather Bashor, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)

210113-Z-YJ247-001: Oregon National Guard Spc. Toby SeWell assigned to the Oregon Army National Guard Medical Command, administers the COVID-19 vaccination to a Salem resident at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, Ore., Jan. 13, 2021. The Oregon National Guard was activated by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Jan. 8, to assist with the State's vaccination efforts. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Major Heather Bashor, Oregon Military Department Public Affairs)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonmildep/albums/72157717741831206

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oregon’s Iverson elected chair of national Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee

January 13, 2021: Oregon Farm Bureau (OFB) is proud to announce that Jon Iverson, a family farmer from Woodburn, has been elected chair of American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) National Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Committee.

Iverson, a third-generation farmer and member of Clackamas County Farm Bureau, was elected to the yearlong post by his fellow members on the national YF&R committee. YF&R is a program within Farm Bureau providing networking and leadership development opportunities for next-generation leaders of this esteemed grassroots advocacy organization.

“It was an honor gain the respect of the AFBF YF&R Committee and have their vote of confidence. It means a lot coming from the exceptional people I’m serving with,” said Iverson, who officially begins his term on Jan. 13, 2021.

“We are incredibly proud to have Oregon’s own Jon Iverson elected as chair of the AFBF YF&R Committee,” said OFB Executive Vice President Dave Dillon. “Jon has done outstanding work on Oregon’s YF&R Committee and at the County Farm Bureau level, and it has been truly inspirational watching him evolve into the extraordinary leader he is today. We’re sure he will do an excellent job serving as chair of the AFBF YF&R Committee.”

In 2020, Iverson was appointed to the AFBF YF&R Committee by AFBF President Zippy Duvall after being nominated by OFB. As chair of the committee, Iverson will have a seat on the AFBF Board of Directors, will help guide the national committee in its activities for the year, and will serve as a national spokesperson for the YF&R program.

In Oregon, Iverson served on the state YF&R Committee from 2008 through 2020, including two terms as vice chair. He also has served as president of Clackamas County Farm Bureau.

Iverson is the third generation on Iverson Family Farms in Woodburn. The diversified farm grows tulips, grass seed, vetch seed, squash, hazelnuts, hemp for oil, and wine and table grapes. Barb Iverson, Iverson’s aunt, serves as president of Oregon Farm Bureau.

Iverson’s goals as AFBF YF&R Committee Chair

In his one-year term, Iverson has four primary goals: membership engagement, mental health awareness, fostering international connections, and giving a strong voice to YF&R.

“YF&R is an important driver of membership within Farm Bureau, bringing in and developing new volunteer leaders,” said Iverson. “With the pandemic, we’re having to rethink how we engage these new members and get them excited to be involved, without the opportunity to meet in person or attend conferences.”

Last summer, the AFBF YF&R committee launched Ag Connect. Ag Connect is an hourlong Zoom meeting held on the third Monday of every month, and it features a guest speaker focusing on a predetermined topic, such as improving member engagement or a farm tour, followed by discussion and networking time.

“Ag Connect is fantastic, and I hope to get more YF&R members to participate. It’s a great way to not only learn about important ag-related issues, but also to meet other farmers and ranchers from different parts of the country,” said Iverson.

Information about Ag Connect sessions is available on the AFBF YF&R and OFB YF&R Facebook pages.

Part of Iverson’s membership initiative is to encourage more participation by young Farm Bureau members who may not be farming or ranching full time, but who are still passionate about agriculture.

“There are a lot of young farmers who want to get back on the farm, but haven’t had the opportunity to yet, and there are others who work in ag-related industries or who are really passionate about agriculture. I want those people to know they’re welcome in Farm Bureau,” said Iverson. “As population of farmers and ranchers shrinks every year, the more allies we have, the stronger our industry will be.”

Mental health awareness for farmers and ranchers is another priority for Iverson.

“Because of the pandemic and other significant stressors weighing on those who work in agriculture, some farmers and ranchers have really struggled,” said Iverson. “Suicide rates in farming are high, and it’s something we need to address. We need to let farmers and ranchers who’re struggling know that there’s hope and there’s help.”

The American Farm Bureau offers many resources on the Farm State of Mind website, including warning signs, conversation starters, and a training to learn how to help those who may be struggling.

“Mental health awareness will be a topic in an upcoming Ag Connect session, and it’s something I want to keep promoting at the national level,” said Iverson.

Building connections between farmers and ranchers, no matter where they live, is also a goal for Iverson.

Now that so many Farm Bureau members are familiar with using Zoom and other virtual meeting platforms, Iverson hopes to use that tool to build stronger relationships between farmers and ranchers not only in the United States, but abroad.

“One of the things I’m really passionate about is giving farmers an international perspective,” said Iverson. “I’d like to connect with other young farmer organizations from around the world and give American young farmers and ranchers a chance to interact with peers from other countries.”

While many of the challenges working in agriculture are shared across the globe, the way farmers and ranchers tackle those challenges may differ — and there’s much to be learned by sharing information, said Iverson.

“We have a good relationship with the young farmers organization in Canada. They’re going to host our Ag Connect meeting in January,” he said.

Giving a strong voice to YF&R on the AFBF Board of Directors is Iverson’s fourth goal.

“There’s a lot of experience and wisdom on the AFBF Board and the decisions they make will affect younger Farm Bureau members their whole career,” said Iverson. “I want to make sure there’s that young voice on the board and that the beliefs and roles of young farmers and ranchers are heard and acknowledged.”

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Editors: “Farm Bureau” is a registered trademark; please capitalize in all cases.

Oregon Farm Bureau (OFB) is a grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit, general farm organization representing the interests of farming and ranching families in the public and policymaking arenas. First established in Oregon at the county level in 1919 and the state level in 1932, Farm Bureau is organized in all 36 counties.

http://www.oregonfb.org 

(Salem) – Oregon OSHA has launched a free Spanish-language online video training course to help employers and workers address fall hazards and increase safety in the roofing industry.

The course, “Fall Protection for Roofing,” is part of the division’s ongoing work to expand its Spanish-language computer-based training to broaden the audience for its educational offerings.

“This course provides a solid foundation and plenty of tools for strengthening fall protection in roofing,” said Roy Kroker, consultation and public education manager for Oregon OSHA. “But it is more than that. It also helps employers and workers address such fall hazards by removing language barriers.”

The course includes insights from industry leaders and covers a comprehensive set of topics. Those topics include hazard identification, fall protection equipment and systems, safe access, and training.

The need to address fall hazards cannot be overstated. Each year in the U.S., more than 310 construction workers are killed and more than 10,350 are seriously injured by falls from heights, according to federal data. About 81 percent of deaths from roofs occur in the construction industry.

The Spanish-language “Fall Protection for Roofing” course includes the opportunity to receive a certificate of completion. Visit more Spanish-language courses. Learn about the PESO program. Learn about Oregon OSHA’s education and training services.

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Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. For more information, visit osha.oregon.gov.

The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, go to www.dcbs.oregon.gov.

Jan. 13, 2021 - Salem, Ore. – Laurie Longhorn, manager of the Short Stop #1 in Hermiston thinks she will see even more customers come in tonight after her store sold a $100,000 winning Powerball ticket last week. 

“The higher the jackpot gets, the more people come in,” Longhorn said. “With this news we might see even more people.” 

Bradley Plate of Hermiston purchased his winning ticket at the Short Stop #1 in Hermiston. Plate’s Powerball ticket for the Saturday, Jan. 9 Powerball drawing matched four of the white ball numbers, leaving one white ball number and the power ball number unmatched. By matching those four numbers, and wisely adding the Power Play multiplier option, Plate’s $50,000 prize was doubled to $100,000, thanks to the Power Play multiplier of 2 that was drawn for that drawing. The jackpot was $470 million for the Jan. 9 drawing.  

The Powerball jackpot, currently at $550 million for the Wednesday, Jan. 13 drawing, is the ninth largest jackpot in the game’s history. According to Longhorn, that type of jackpot, and Thursday night’s $750 million Mega Millions jackpot are bringing some joy to retailers facing difficult times this year. 

Longhorn said her store sold a larger Keno jackpot a few years ago, but to her knowledge, this is the largest prize they have sold. 

“This really is awesome news, it would be amazing if we sold the jackpot ticket tonight,” Longhorn said. “We have lots more people coming in and getting tickets. Customers always tell us if they win the big one they will come back and give some to us.” 

Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned more than $12 billion for economic development, public education, Outdoor School, state parks, Veteran Services and watershed enhancements. For more information on the Oregon Lottery visit www.oregonlottery.org 

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Bonneville Power Administration working on power line outages
Utility customers working on multiple outages on their systems as well

Portland, Oregon – Heavy winds and saturated soil have combined to take BPA power lines from the central Oregon Coast to the Puget Sound coast and areas inland out of service.

“This storm hit us hard on the coast and the west side overnight,” said John Lahti, BPA Transmission Field Services vice president. “Our crews are working to assess the damage and repair lines as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to our customers experiencing outages.”

Multiple field crews are responding to the outages and damage. If you have questions regarding BPA outages, please contact Doug Johnson, BPA senior spokesperson at 503-713-7658.

The U.S. Treasury has begun issuing its second round of stimulus payments. People who don't receive a direct deposit by early January should look for either a check from IRS or Economic Impact Payment (EIP) debit card in the mail. People will not necessarily be paid the same way they received their first stimulus payment.

 How to identify the card: The envelope will have a return address of Money Network Cardholder Services, PO Box 247022, Omaha, NE 68124. This is not a scam. This is this card:

(See attached.) 

Most individuals will receive $600 and $1,200 for married couples filing a joint return and $600 for each qualifying child. New: Couples filing jointly with just one member of the couple with a work-eligible Social Security Number will now be eligible for payments for the taxpayers and their qualifying children.

People do not need to take any action right now to receive their stimulus payment. Eligible individuals who do not receive their payment or who did not receive their first stimulus payment can claim it (under the Recovery Rebate Credit) when they file their 2020 tax return this year. People who do not normally file tax returns should also file a 2020 tax return if they do not receive their stimulus payment.

More information about the distribution of stimulus payments is in the IRS press release and in new FAQs.

There is also information about how to use the card from the National Consumer Law Center: NCLC's fact sheet.

For free or reduced cost tax filing help: https://cashoregon.org/ or call 211.

All limited in person instruction canceled for Lebanon community schools today 1/13. 

Jan. 12, 2021

Updated to include death details.

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Oregon reports 1,203 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 54 new deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 54 new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state's death toll to 1,667, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today. The high number of deaths serves as a reminder that the pandemic continues to pose a threat to our friends, neighbors, co-workers and communities.

The rising case count that surged in November and December is one factor attributed to today's record-tying high death count. The counting of deaths from death certificates may take time to process because they are determined by physicians and then sent to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further review before the cause of death is ultimately determined. Once this information is confirmed, the information is reported back with a final cause of death to states. This lagging indicator is now being captured today.

The OHA reported 1,203 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 127,780.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, 10,465 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 6,668 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 11 and 3,797 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan. 11.

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 115,060 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations were administered by Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

These data are preliminary and subject to change.

OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 403, which is six fewer than yesterday. There are 93 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is nine more than yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (8), Benton (16), Clackamas (98), Clatsop (11), Columbia (1), Coos (9), Crook (19), Curry (8), Deschutes (56), Douglas (21), Gilliam (1), Harney (3), Hood River (11), Jackson (61), Jefferson (19), Josephine (39), Klamath (46), Lake (3), Lane (89), Lincoln (6), Linn (24), Malheur (32), Marion (97), Morrow (4), Multnomah (265), Polk (10), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (53), Union (5), Wasco, (10), Washington (155) and Yamhill (21).

Oregon’s 1,614th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died on Dec. 28 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,615th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 8 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,616th COVID-19 death is a 99-year-old woman in Deschutes County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,617th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died on Dec. 30 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,618th COVID-19 death is a 59-year-old man in Jefferson County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Dec. 18 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,619th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Jefferson County who tested positive on Dec. 30 and died on Jan. 2 at St. Charles Medical Center—Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,620th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,621st COVID-19 death is a 69-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 17 and died on Dec. 26 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,622nd COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Dec. 26 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,623rd COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,624th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Klamath County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 6 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,625th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Lake County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Dec. 22 at Lake District Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,626th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,627th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,628th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 26 and died on Jan. 5 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,629th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Linn County who tested positive on Dec. 7 and died on Dec. 28 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,630th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man in Linn County who died on Dec. 29 at his residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,631st COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Dec. 23 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,632nd COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 4 and died on Dec. 23 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,633rd COVID-19 death is a 79-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 11 and died on Dec. 24 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,634th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died on Dec. 23 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,635th COVID-19 death is a 101-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 14 and died on Dec. 29 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,636th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 21 and died on Jan. 4 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,637th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Jan. 1 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,638th COVID-19 death is a 94-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Jan. 2 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,639th COVID-19 death is a 59-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Dec. 27 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,640th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 1 at Adventist Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,641st COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Dec. 22 at Adventist Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,642nd COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,643rd COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died on Dec. 25 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,644th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 22 and died on Dec. 22 at Adventist Hospital. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,645th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Jan. 4 at Oregon Health Science University. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,646th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 6 and died on Dec. 25 at Providence Portland Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,647th COVID-19 death is a 33-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 1 and died on Dec. 30 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,648th COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 23 and died on Jan. 3 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,649th COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 13 and died on Dec. 30 at Hillsboro Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,650th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Jan. 5 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,651st COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Umatilla County who died on Dec. 27 at her residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,652nd COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old woman in Wasco County who died on Dec. 30 at her residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,653rd COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Jan. 5 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,654th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 10 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. She had no underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,655th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Nov. 16 and died on Dec. 29 at her residence. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,656th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Jan. 4 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,657th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Dec. 20 and died on Dec. 23 at Willamette Valley Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,658th COVID-19 death is a 30-year-old woman in Josephine County who tested positive on Nov. 17 and died on Nov. 27 at Rogue Valley Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,659th COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 14 and died on Jan. 2 at his residence. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,660th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Coos County who tested positive on Jan. 4 and died on Jan. 9 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,661st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Columbia County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Dec. 29 at Legacy Meridian Park. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,662nd COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Clatsop County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Dec. 31 at Legacy Meridian Park. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,663rd COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Dec. 29 at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,664th COVID-19 death is a 49-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Jan. 4 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,665th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 26 and died on Dec. 30 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,666th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 12 and died on Dec. 30 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,667th COVID-19 death is a 100-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Dec. 9 and died on Dec. 30 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage, which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information, including this graphic on vaccine sequencing.

Douglas County Board of Commissioners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 12, 2021

Special Notice to the Citizens of Douglas County

From your Douglas County Board of Commissioners

                We, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners understand that we are in unprecedented and trying times, and that people are desperate, especially those who have been forced out of business or out of a job.  We understand that it may seem like help is too little or too far in between, or that nothing is being done at all.  We appreciate the passion in which people want to enact change, but we also believe that the actions taken need to be measured, well thought out, and include a wide range of concerns.  It is also imperative that we all work together to address these issues in a unified, civil and cooperative manner.

            The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have been very involved in the response to the pandemic since its inception.  We are working hard to try and minimize the economic impact of the pandemic, while trying to keep our citizens safe and healthy.  It has been an incredible and unparalleled balancing act. In doing this work, everyone needs to understand that the safety of our citizens goes beyond the spread of COVID-19, it also includes their financial stability, as well as their mental and emotional wellbeing, and the ability to feel safe and comfortable in our communities.  The disastrous financial impact of COVID-19 certainly goes beyond affecting an individual’s physical health.

            Douglas County has always been a caring and compassionate county, filled with caring and compassionate communities.  We have on more than one occasion, put our differences aside in order to help one another. The actions taken today will be remembered tomorrow.  The kind of community Douglas County will be when this pandemic is over, will be defined by how we treat one another today.

            We have been asked by numerous constituents about our position on the “Citizens Against Tyranny” declaration and plan that has surfaced in our community.  Again, we understand the passion, emotion, desperation and need some feel to do something to help those most affected   economically due to the state mandates. But we can-not, in good conscience support this effort.  Similar to how Sheriff Hanlin expressed his concerns over the same declaration, we do not feel singling people out, publicly shaming them, and potentially making them a target for retaliation for doing, or being merely accused of doing, what they believed to be the right thing in protecting themselves or their neighbors, is the right approach.  We do not feel like banning people from businesses, businesses who now more than ever are dependent upon any revenue they can get, is the right approach.  We do not feel like banning people from businesses or access to the very things they need to survive is the right approach.  We do not believe that forcing Elected Officials to do something, under the threat of consequences or retaliation, is the right approach. 

            The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have been and will continue to, do everything in our power to help our small businesses stay open.  As the Local Public Health Authority, your Commissioners have openly chosen not to enforce the Governor’s mandates relating to COVID-19.  We feel like providing the public with the correct information and encouraging to follow Local Public Health recommendations yields higher compliance, than attempting to force someone into compliance.  Senator Heard made this point fairly well in his recent speech on the Senate Floor.  That is one area where we agree with the Senator. 

            As your Commissioners, we have actively worked on programs to help our local businesses: 

• We recently completed a business grant program, initiated by us to help local businesses that are required to have an environmental health license with the county in order to operate. The grant allocated up to $350,000 in county grant funding and offered an opportunity for those businesses to apply and receive a $500 grant, as a refund for the cost of their 2020 health license. Plus, they have also decided to waive the 2021 environmental health licensing fees, and have refunded or applied payment to 2022 licensing for those businesses that already paid for their 2021 licenses.
• We were the First County in Oregon to apply for Phase 1 and Phase 2 reopening for businesses earlier in the pandemic, and were able to do so because of the good work the people of Douglas County had done in keeping the case count low. 
• We recently distributed 1.47 million dollars in COVID Relief Funds to local businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, and when 22 qualifying businesses didn’t get funding because the money ran out, we allocated an additional 350,000.00 to the fund to make sure that every qualifying business got the relief they needed.  We also paid the administration fees for the grant administration from General Fund so 100% of the available funds could go to help small businesses. 
• We have expressed our opinions on numerous conference calls with the Governor and State Officials about keeping our businesses open. 
• We have sent letters and proposals to the Governor, expressing our concern for the unnecessary mandates and closures placed on our local businesses.
• We have issued several statements and press releases voicing our support for our local businesses staying open.  To review and read copies of our press releases, statements and positions, please log onto: www.co.douglas.or.us and click on the press release link.
• We recently encouraged city, county and state officials, as well as local chambers, councils and business leaders, to join us in supporting the business reopening plan recently submitted to Oregon’s Governor and State lawmakers issued by the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce (OSCC). The clear and concise plan details the basis for their timely and profound recommendation that aims to help our businesses hardest hit by COVID-19, to pull through this economic recession and overcome their financial hardships. 
• We have provided daily updates with accurate information with links to available assistance programs and services.  Residents can sign up to receive our daily updates and e-Newsletters by clicking on the link on our county website at: www.co.douglas.or.us.
• We have encouraged our citizens and businesses to stay healthy by managing their personal and business health during COVID.

            Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners has been very active and involved in supporting our Business Community since the pandemic began, and we will continue to do so until it is over. It’s because of everyone’s hard work that all businesses are open today.

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Contact Tamara Howell, Douglas County Emergency Communications & Community Engagement Specialist.  Public Information Officer (PIO).  (541) 670-2804 cell - (541) 957-4896 office - tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us

Jan. 12, 2021

Contact: Philip Schmidt, 503-383-6079, philip.schmidt@dhsoha.state.or.us

Committee to address rising health care costs issues new recommendations to Legislature

Today, a committee led by policy experts, citizens and stakeholders took steps that will help put Oregon on a path to keep health care costs in check. The Implementation Committee for Oregon’s Sustainable Health Care Cost Growth Target Program adopted recommendations to the Legislature to inform actionable strategies to make it easier to understand what is driving up costs and how to address this problem.

The Committee envisions a process to ensure that health care costs are contained in the public and private sector with accountability mechanisms for health care entities. Oregon is only the second state in the nation to pass health care cost growth target legislation and the fourth to adopt such a program.

“While we have improved quality and access to health care in Oregon and expanded affordable insurance coverage to 94% of Oregonians, including all children, rising health care costs present a significant hurdle for far too many,” said Governor Kate Brown. “Per capita health care costs in Oregon are growing faster than the national average, and too many families who have insurance can’t use it due to out-of-pocket costs. This has real and disproportionate impacts on Oregonians who already face health inequities. I’d like to thank the members of the committee for their efforts to promote transparency, collaboration and meaningful accountability in addressing costs and sustainability in Oregon’s health care system. The cost growth target they have set will save more than $11 billion in commercial and Medicaid costs in the next eight years, while also promoting quality and equity. I remain committed to implementing this program, which passed with broad bipartisan support, as a critical element of Oregon’s future health transformation efforts.”

“Today’s recommendations are deeply important to our shared goal of containing health care costs for families and businesses in Oregon," said Patrick Allen, Oregon Health Authority Director. “These recommendations will shine a light on parts of our healthcare entire system that are most expensive and create tools to bring costs down. If we cannot get health care costs under control, our entire system and our efforts to transform the system are threatened. Now we have a plan to keep this aspect of transformation on track."

A full report detailing the Committee’s recommendations will be submitted to the Legislature next week.

The committee actions included:

• Setting Oregon’s health care cost growth target at 3.4% for the first five years (2021-2025). The 3.4% target is based on historical economic data including Oregon’s gross state product and median wage;
• Agreeing to collect data for 2018-2020 to understand health care cost growth in Oregon prior to the target and to understand the impacts of COVID-19;
• Adopting data use strategy goals and principles;
• Adopting principles for accelerating advanced value-based payment models across payers
• Establishing a plan to monitor for unintended consequences of the cost growth target, such as barriers to access;
• Recommending to the Legislature that payers and provider organizations who exceed the cost growth target for “unreasonable” reasons in CY 2022 or beyond will be required to submit a Performance Improvement Plan and may be subject to financial penalties; and
• Recommending that the Implementation Committee oversees program implementation in 2021, followed by a permanent successor committee for ongoing governance in 2022.

“For too long, families and individuals have struggled with rising premiums, high out-of-pocket costs and health care costs that prevent them from getting the care and coverage they need,” said Sen. Lee Beyer, member of the Senate Health Care Committee. “Today we take the next step in changing that reality for all Oregonians. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Legislature to do our part in implementing these recommendations.”

“The facts are plain: We have an inequitable health care system that is far too expensive,” said Rep. Rob Nosse, Co-Chair of Ways and Means Human Services Subcommittee. “We cannot address equity and access to care without addressing costs. I’m grateful for the work of the Implementation Committee and look forward to putting their recommendations in place.”

“I am deeply appreciative of the hard work that all the Committee members undertook this year,” said Jack Friedman, Chair of the Implementation Committee. “This is a tough conversation but one that we had to have. Our committee members came with ideas, with openness to dialogue and with the spirit of collaboration that we so prize in Oregon. I’m pleased to report that we have a strong plan to present to the Legislature, which we believe will help our state achieve the goal of controlling health care cost growth."”

The Implementation Committee operated from the understanding that Oregonians pay more for health care and have higher deductibles than residents in other states. And while Oregon has already established a 3.4% growth rate for public programs, there has been agreement that Oregon must limit cost growth in the private market, where almost half of Oregon residents get their health insurance.

“Today’s meeting reminded me yet again that Oregonians have a track record of deeply meaningful work on issues relating to healthcare,” said Kevin Ewanchyna, M.D., Vice Chair of the Implementation Committee. “I thank each member and our various partners for the seriousness with which they took on this work and for their dedication to a process that has led to an important set of recommendations.”

Under the supervision of the Oregon Health Policy Board, this citizen- and stakeholder-led implementation committee was established by Senate Bill 889, which passed during the 2019 Legislative Session. In addition to setting an annual target for costs, the committee is providing recommendations for the Legislature to adopt in 2021 on how entities with unreasonable cost increases will be held accountable.

The Sustainable Health Care Cost Growth Target is modeled after a program in Massachusetts that has saved $5.5 billion for consumers between 2013 and 2016. Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut have also adopted similar programs.

More information about the initiative can be found at: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HPA/HP/Pages/Sustainable-Health-Care-Cost-Growth-Target.aspx.

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Virtual Media Availability

(Salem, OR) — The Oregon Office of Emergency Management will hold a press availability on Thursday, January 14, 2020 to discuss the release and findings of the Erosion Threat Assessment/Reduction Team (ETART) by State Recovery Function 7 – Natural and Cultural Resources Recovery Task Force.

ETART is a multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency team, led by FEMA and the state of Oregon, charged with assessment of potential erosion risks and to provide control treatment recommendations. This group of subject matter experts coordinated with federal, state and local fire response teams as an early statewide recovery action.

The press availability will be virtual at 10 a.m. on January 14, 2021. The panel will include ETART specialists from federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service and FEMA, and state agencies such as the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.  

Members of the media must RSVP for call-in information by emailing ETART PIO, Jo Niehaus at jo.niehaus@oregon.gov.

Log-in information for the virtual meeting will be provided to all reporters who RSVP to participate remotely. Please RSVP by noon on January 13, 2021 so we can ensure you receive the call-in information before the press conference begins.

For more information about wildfire recovery, please reach out to the Wildfire Recovery Information Center at e.info@state.or.us">fire.info@state.or.us. For specific questions about the ETART reports, please email esetart@fema.dhs.gov">2020wildfiresetart@fema.dhs.gov.

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Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 12, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results:  Despite a recent surge in local cases, the good news today is that Douglas County will remain in our current State mandated risk level, which currently provides an opportunity for ALL of our local businesses to be OPEN.  As of 12:00 pm Today, Tuesday, January 12, 2021, there are TWENTY-ONE (21) people with new positive test results to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,596.  Currently, there are NINE (9) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, six locally and three out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. Please note there will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted.

The State of Oregon Notified Douglas County That We Will Stay Our Current Risk Level

The news for Douglas County residents and businesses is that will remain in our current State mandated risk level.  The State of Oregon notified Douglas County last night, that we will not be moving out of the current level based on our COVID-19 case count over the last two weeks.  So, Douglas County will remain in the High Risk Level for the next two-week period, beginning Friday, January 15, 2012, and continuing through Thursday, January 28, 2021. The high risk level allows ALL of our local business the opportunity to be OPEN, with some limitations on capacity. We want to continue to thank our residents and businesses for staying within the recommended guidelines, and for making good decisions in order for our communities to stay open.  The new risk level does not affect the ability of faith based organizations and local school districts to offer in-person services and classes.  They are able to make decisions for their own congregations and educational programs. 

Douglas County Sees Increase in Local Case Numbers

For the past two weeks, we have sadly seen a steady increase in our local COVID case numbers.  During recent case investigations, a large outbreak, which is now our single largest epilink outbreak, has been linked to a local faith organization as the source, with nearly five dozen positive cases, dozens of residents asked to quarantine and several hospitalizations.  This outbreak has dramatically impacted our community, our businesses and our residents.  We want to recognize and applaud the majority of our local faith organizations for proving that you can provide a wide range of safe and COVID-free in-person and online options for their congregations.  Additionally, we are also seeing cases arise as an unfortunate consequence of residents who attended holiday celebrations, traveled to COVID hot spot areas, invited people to visit from out of the area and attended in-person unprotected congregate social gatherings where COVID-19 safety measures were not being followed.  Please, for the sake of our local businesses, services and residents, we encourage you to gauge your risk level, and make the best choice in order protect yourself and those around you.  We have provided education on the widely proven COVID-19 safety measures, and encourage you to limit your contact with others not from your household, stay home if you are sick and wear face coverings where recommended.  We know how important family and faith are to you, so we ask that you consider all options available in order to eliminate and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our communities in order to help protect the ones you love, the businesses you love and the places you love to go.

An epidemiological link is commonly called an epilink.  An epilink is what a place or person or a group, who’ve tested positive for COVID-19, have in common, such as a business, co-worker, friend, school, daycare, fellow parishioner, relative or family member.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 158 cases in isolation, as well as another 215 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 373 total contacts in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine In Oregon

We understand that our residents have many questions, so do we.  Like you, we are patiently awaiting more information.  If you have questions or need more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Oregon, check out these resources: 

• OHA COVID-19 Vaccine website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/
• General Questions: COVID19.vaccine@dhsoha.state.or.us or call 221 or (971) 673-2411
• COVID-19 FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon

As soon as more information is made available about the next phases and vaccine availability, we will pass the information along.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID health and safety. 

Oregon COVID-19 Case Information

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Tonight, Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 6:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

WHO:              David Gerstenfeld, Acting Director, Oregon Employment Department

WHEN:            Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, at 1 p.m. PT

WHAT:            Oregon Employment Department Acting Director David Gerstenfeld will hold a video conference media briefing to share updates on the federal Continued Assistance Act (CAA) that extends and provides additional federal unemployment benefits, and more on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. PT.

WHERE:         Via Zoom video conference: Members of the media must RSVP for call information by emailing OED_Communications@oregon.gov by 12 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Video conference information will be provided to all reporters who RSVP.

OTHER:          The Oregon Employment Department is updating a claims processing progress data dashboard daily. Visit this link for weekday updates. A recording of the video conference will be emailed to reporters attending the briefing after the briefing concludes.

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Equal Opportunity program — auxiliary aids and services available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Contact: (503) 947-1794. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, call 711 Telecommunications Relay Services.

Welcome to the Oregon FBI’s Tech Tuesday segment. Today: Building a digital defense against smart home swatting attacks.

Nationally, smart home device manufacturers have notified law enforcement that offenders have been using stolen e-mail passwords to access smart devices with cameras and voice capabilities to carry out swatting attacks.

What is Swatting?

Swatting is a term used to describe a hoax call made to emergency services, typically reporting an immediate threat to human life. The goal is to draw a response from law enforcement and the SWAT team to a specific location. Confusion on the part of homeowners or responding officers has resulted in health-related or violent consequences in some other parts of the country. These attacks also pull limited resources away from valid emergencies.

Swatting may be motivated by revenge, used as a form of harassment, or used as a prank, but it is a serious crime that may have potentially deadly consequences.

Offenders often use spoofing technology to anonymize their own phone numbers to make it appear to first responders as if the emergency call is coming from the victim’s phone number. This enhances their credibility when communicating with dispatchers.

How is this version of Swatting carried out?

Recently, offenders have been using victims’ smart devices to carry out swatting attacks. To gain access to the devices, offenders are likely taking advantage of customers who reuse their email passwords for their smart device. The offenders use stolen email passwords to log into the device and hijack features, including the live-stream camera and device speakers.

They then call emergency services to report a crime at the victim’s residence. As law enforcement responds to the residence, the offender watches the live stream footage and engages with the responding police through the camera and speakers. In some cases, the offender also livestreams the incident on shared online community platforms.

Protection and Defense

If you have smart home devices with cameras and/or voice options, there are a few basic ways to protect yourself:

• Use complex passwords or passphrases for online accounts, and don’t reuse passwords across different accounts.
• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all online accounts and any device that touches the internet. Best bet – don’t use a secondary email address for that secondary layer of authentication. Use a mobile phone number, virtual or physical tokens, or biometric options (such as a face or fingerprint scan).

Next week, we will talk more about how to create strong passphrases without driving yourself crazy.

If you have been victimized in this kind of crime, make sure to file a report with your local police department. If you believe your email or other smart device credentials were compromised, you should also report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Center at www.ic3.gov or call your FBI local office.  

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Jan. 12, 2021

Contact: Jonathan Modie, 971-246-9139, PHD.Communications@dhsoha.state.or.us

Testing homes for radon gas is now more important than ever

State program urges home testing during National Radon Action Month

PORTLAND, Ore.—Oregon Health Authority is recognizing National Radon Action Month during January by encouraging people in the state to test their homes for radon, an odorless, tasteless and invisible gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States after smoking.

Many parts of Oregon remain at risk of exposure to high levels of radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes up from the ground and is drawn into buildings, where it can build up to dangerous levels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon is responsible for more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States. In addition to being the second leading cause of lung cancer, it is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

People can take steps to reduce their exposure to radon by testing their homes for radon and, if necessary, hiring a professional to reduce it to a safe level. The best time to test is during the heating season, when windows and doors are closed up tight for long periods.

“Now more than ever, we are spending more time in our homes. That means more exposure to potentially high radon levels. They only way to know if you have a high radon level is to test,” recommends Jara Popinga, Oregon Radon Awareness Program coordinator at OHA.

Many test kits are priced between $15 and $25 and can be found in most hardware stores. Radon problems can be fixed by qualified contractors for a cost similar to that of common home repairs, such as painting or having a new water heater installed.

The Oregon Radon Awareness Program collects radon test data from test kit manufacturers to understand which areas of the state have the potential for high radon levels and to identify areas where educational outreach efforts need to be focused. The program is offering a free radon test kit to residents whose homes are in ZIP codes where fewer than 20 radon test results have been recorded. Residents can learn more about the free short-term radon test kit program and how to apply at www.healthoregon.org/radon. Free test kits are available while supplies last.

For more information on which areas of the state are at moderate to high risk of having elevated radon levels, radon testing and mitigation, or how to order a test kit online, contact the Oregon Radon Awareness Program at adon.program@state.or.us">radon.program@state.or.us, or visit www.healthoregon.org/radon.

Salem, OR—Fourth-quarter 2020 estimated payments for Oregon’s new Corporate Activity Tax are due by February 1, 2021. Taxpayers expecting to owe $10,000 or more of Corporate Activity Tax for the 2020 calendar year must make estimated payments.

For businesses negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon Department of Revenue will honor a business taxpayer’s good-faith efforts to comply with the CAT payment requirements and not assess penalties if they document their efforts, including how COVID-19 has impacted their business, to comply.

If COVID-19-impacted businesses know they’ll owe $10,000 or more in annual corporate activity tax in 2020 and can pay, they should make estimated quarterly payments and comply with the law to the fullest extent possible.

Estimated quarterly payments for the CAT are generally due on the last day of the month following the end of quarter. Because January 31 falls on a weekend, fourth-quarter estimated payments are due February 1.

Guidance about making CAT quarterly payments can be found on the CAT page of the Department of Revenue website. Information includes:
• How do I calculate CAT liability?
• When are estimated payments required?
• How do I pay my estimated taxes?

Businesses must register for the CAT within 30 days of reaching $750,000 in Oregon commercial activity in the calendar year. Registration is a one-time requirement. Businesses that registered in 2020 are not required to register again when they reach $750,000 in commercial activity in subsequent years. Registration is available through Revenue Online, and the department offers a series of online resources on the CAT page of the agency’s website to help with registration.

Taxpayers with general questions about the CAT can email cat.help.dor@oregon.gov or call 503-945-8005.

To get tax forms, check the status of your refund, or make tax payments, visit www.oregon.gov/dor or email questions.dor@oregon.gov. You also can call 800-356-4222 toll-free from an Oregon prefix (English or Spanish) or 503-378-4988 in Salem and outside Oregon. For TTY (hearing- or speech-impaired), we accept all relay calls.
 

Medford, ORE. –  More than $3.1 million is available for natural resource projects across western Oregon, and the Bureau of Land Management is seeking proposals that provide community-based solutions to pressing public lands challenges, such as wildland fire prevention, trash clean-up, watershed restoration, road maintenance, or control of noxious weeds.

Funding for selected projects will be provided through the BLM Secure Rural Schools Title II Program. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act funds a variety of activities, including support for county projects, funds for roads and schools, and protection of natural resources. Under Title II, $3.1 million is currently available to build relationships between the BLM and State and local governments, private and nonprofit entities, and landowners for protection, restoration, and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat, and other resource objectives on Federal land and on non-Federal land where projects would benefit the resources on Federal land.

Title II funds support restoration projects that may not otherwise have been completed, such as the improved maintenance of existing infrastructure, enhancement of forest ecosystems, and restoration of land health and water quality. In turn, these projects create additional employment opportunities in western Oregon communities and foster collaborative relationships between those who use public lands and those who manage them. Individuals, non-profit organizations, organized groups, and local governments are encouraged to submit funding applications for natural resource projects that benefit O&C lands in eighteen western Oregon counties: Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washington, and Yamhill.

Individuals and groups interested in submitting projects to the BLM are encouraged to discuss the project proposals with the coordinator for the District in which the project would be primarily implemented:

• Coos Bay District: Megan Harper, per@blm.gov">m1harper@blm.gov, 541-751-4353, or Stephanie Messerle, smesserl@blm.gov, 541-751-4230
• Medford, Roseburg District and Klamath Falls Field Office of the Lakeview District: Christina Beslin, eslin@blm.gov">cbeslin@blm.gov, (541) 618-2371
• Northwest District: Patricia Johnston, pjohnsto@blm.gov, (541) 683-6181

The following map can help determine the appropriate BLM district: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/press-release/files/orwa-rac-western-oregon-map.pdf

The Title II funds are managed by Federal agencies. The Western Oregon Resource Advisory Committee (RAC), made up of local citizens, will recommend which projects will get funded.

The application forms, criteria, and instructions are available through the grants.gov website using Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement # L21AS00235 BLM OR/WA Secure Rural Schools, Title II Grants.  Applications submitted by Feb. 23 will be reviewed by the RAC at a meeting in May, which is when most funds are anticipated to be recommended for distribution. Applications submitted by the April 23 deadline will compete for remaining available funds at the June RAC meeting.

For more information about BLM’s Western Oregon RAC and Secure Rural Schools visit: https://www.blm.gov/get-involved/resource-advisory-council/near-you/oregon-washington/western-oregon-rac

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The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 11 Western states and Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In fiscal year 2018, the diverse activities authorized on BLM-managed lands generated $105 billion in economic output across the country. This economic activity supported 471,000 jobs and contributed substantial revenue to the U.S. Treasury and state governments, mostly through royalties on minerals.

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) Advisory Committee will hold a business meeting from 1-4 p.m. Jan. 26 via web conference. The committee will review data from recent RTP grant cycles and discuss adjustments to RTP project scoring criteria and whether to establish a maximum grant request amount.

View the agenda online: https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/GRA/Documents/RTP-Committee-Meeting-1.6.2021.pdf

The meeting is open to the public, but there will not be time for public comments during the meeting. Register online to watch the meeting live at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jb_t-HpLQ4mmgR_cp_sl9w.

RTP is an assistance program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. The program provides funds to states to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both nonmotorized and motorized trail uses, including hiking, bicycling, equestrian use, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, off-road motorcycling, all-terrain vehicle riding, four-wheel driving and using other off-road motorized vehicles. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) administers Oregon’s program. The RTP Advisory Committee consists of 10 volunteer members who represent various user groups and land managers.

For more information, contact Program Coordinator Jodi Bellefeuille at 503-856-6316 or ellefeuille@oregon.gov">Jodi.bellefeuille@oregon.gov, or visit OPRD’s RTP web page.

Portland, OR - January 12, 2021 –Oregon Parks Forever, a statewide nonprofit, today announced the establishment of a Wildfire Tree Replanting Fund.  The goal of the fund is to plant at least One Million trees.  Each dollar donated will plant a tree!

Since the 1990's, Oregon has seen significant increases in the number of acres burned statewide. 2020 saw the second largest number of acres burned since 1990. During the summer of 2020, more than one million acres of trees on Oregon lands were burned. This was more than twice the average annual amount of damage that Oregon experienced between 2010 and 2019.

This comes at a time when the budgets of public land managers are already stressed due to ongoing funding challenges and the COVID pandemic.

We want to help the public lands get replanted soon, so that in the future our children and grandchildren can enjoy the same green and lush forests and landscape we have been able to enjoy.

Why should we replant after a fire?  Trees provide the very necessities of life.  They clear our air, protect our drinking water, create healthy communities and feed our souls.  Our forests provide critical wildlife habitat, natural beauty and recreational opportunities.  They sequester carbon and help reduce soil erosion by stabilizing slopes and preventing landslides. 

We all sat in the smoke and wondered...What can I do? How can I help?

Depending on how much money is raised, we will work with the public land managers from the US Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Parks & Recreation, and the county parks departments in Clackamas, Marion, Lane and Jackson counties to determine the greatest need and potential impact.

We have set a goal of raising enough funds to plant at least ONE MILLION trees, to ensure that in the future, and for future generations, these burned areas will once again be lush and green!

Each dollar donated will plant one tree!

You can make a donation online at www.orparksforever.org;  send a Text Message on your phone to REPLANT at 41444; mail a check to Oregon Parks Forever, 1501 SW Jefferson Street, Portland, OR 97201; or point your smartphone’s camera at this QR Code:  (see attached)

About Oregon Parks Forever:  Since 1995, Oregon Parks Forever (formerly known as Oregon State Parks Foundation) has been raising funds to help supplement existing funding sources to preserve and protect the experience of using Oregon’s parks.  Oregon Parks Forever is a statewide nonprofit organization whose mission includes working with federal, state, local and tribal public land managers to enhance and preserve special places and experiences in all Oregon parks.  As outdoor recreation has exploded in popularity, additional wear and tear, and years of deferred maintenance, have resulted in the costs of running Oregon parks exceeding available funding.

Since 1995, Oregon Parks Forever has supported many vital projects such as restoring Vista House at Crown Point, helping to renovate five Oregon Lighthouses, preserving the Kam Wah Chung & Co Museum, and putting the first yurts in State Parks anywhere in the country. Most recently, the organization raised funds to build a residential outdoor school facility at the Cottonwood Canyon State Park.

Oregon Parks Forever is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.  Our Federal Tax ID number is 93-1177836.  Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  Please contact your tax advisor with any questions.

(Salem) – Oregon OSHA has fined a Salem fitness center $126,749 for willfully continuing to potentially expose employees to the infectious coronavirus disease despite a public health order to limit the capacity to zero for such establishments in “extreme risk” counties.

The fine – the result of an inspection launched in response to multiple complaints – was issued against Capitol Racquet Sports Inc. for willfully refusing to comply at its Courthouse Club facility on Commercial Street Southeast.

“We understand that this employer is attempting to do a number of things to keep employees safe without shutting down, but that does not allow them to substitute their judgment for that of the public health authorities,” said Oregon OSHA Administrator Michael Wood

It is the largest penalty issued to an employer by Oregon OSHA for a violation related to COVID-19. The division cited the violation as “willful” and, at the discretion of the administrator, imposed the maximum penalty allowed.

“It is our expectation that employers follow well-founded health regulations that are directly intended to protect workers from a genuine hazard,” Wood said. “And while we have been able to use engagement and education to resolve most COVID-19 complaints involving employers, we will also continue to bring our enforcement tools to bear as needed.”

The citation is, to date, the fifth one issued against the company for willfully disregarding health protections against COVID-19. In November 2020, Oregon OSHA issued citations against each of the company’s four operating fitness facilities after conducting complaint-based inspections.

Those inspections found the company operating the facilities in defiance of public health measures included in Gov. Kate Brown’s Nov. 17 executive order. That order implemented a temporary two-week freeze to stop the rapid spread of the virus. Capitol Racquet Sports continued operating after the order was effective. It did so after Oregon OSHA’s initial inquiries. And it did so after the division’s posting of Red Warning Notices at the four fitness-related facilities. The total penalty for all four locations was $90,000 for willful and Red Warning Notice violations.

The citation carrying the $126,749 penalty stems from an inspection opened Dec. 9. at only one of those four fitness establishments inspected in November. The inspection found Capitol Racquet Sports continuing to intentionally disregard public health orders and Oregon OSHA notices to close the facility. The willful lack of compliance continues to potentially expose employees and member clients to COVID-19.

In keeping the facility open to member clients, the company is choosing to disregard limitations imposed by the Oregon Health Authority for such an establishment in a county designated as Extreme Risk. County risk levels are part of the state’s public health framework for reducing transmission of the coronavirus disease. Health and safety measures are assigned for each level.

The current citation against Capitol Racquet Sports was issued under Oregon OSHA’s  temporary rule to address COVID-19 risks in the workplace – specifically, the appendices spelling out industry-specific requirements.

Employers have 30 days to appeal citations. Capitol Racquet Sports appealed the four citations issued in November 2020.

In addition to its enforcement activities, Oregon OSHA offers employers and workers a variety of consultation, information, and education resources addressing COVID-19.

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Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. For more information, visit osha.oregon.gov.

The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, go to www.dcbs.oregon.gov.

BOARD ON PUBLIC SAFETY STANDARDS AND TRAINING

Meeting Scheduled

For Immediate Release                                                         

January 12, 2021

Contact:          Theresa Janda
                        (503) 373-1553

NOTICE OF REGULAR MEETING

The Board on Public Safety Standards and Training will hold a regular meeting at 9:00 a.m. on January 28, 2021.  The meeting will be held in the Boardroom at the Oregon Public Safety Academy located at 4190 Aumsville Hwy SE, Salem, Oregon.  The meeting location is closed to the public, due to the current pandemic, however, this meeting will be live-streamed on the DPSST Facebook page – see below. 

Administrative Announcement

This is a public meeting, subject to the public meeting law and it will be recorded. Deliberation of issues will only be conducted by Board members unless permitted by the Chair. Individuals who engage in disruptive behavior that impedes official business will be asked to stop being disruptive or leave the meeting. Additional measures may be taken to have disruptive individuals removed if their continued presence poses a safety risk to the other persons in the room or makes it impossible to continue the meeting.

The meeting will be live-streamed on the DPSST Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/DPSSTOregon/

Agenda items:

1.   Introductions

Welcome new Board members, Terri Davie and Mariana Ruiz-Temple.

2.  Minutes

Approve minutes from the October 22, 2020 Meeting

3.  Fire Policy Committee

a. Fire Policy Committee Update – Jim Oeder, Chair

4.  Criminal Justice Policy Committees

a. Police Policy Committee Update – John Teague, Chair

b. Telecommunications Policy Committee Update – Linsay Hale, Staff

c. Corrections Policy Committee Update – Nadine Purington, Chair

d. Consent Agenda  (The following items to be ratified by one vote)

A. Michael Boyd DPSST#55287 (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office) – Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

B. Chance Chastain DPSST#35785 (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office) – No Action

8/5 Vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

C. Daniel Domingue DPSST#56759 (Josephine County Sheriff’s Office) - Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

D. Jason Ellis DPSST#58333 (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office) - Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

E. Clifford Ingram DPSST#50213 (Washington County Sheriff’s Office) - No Action

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

F. Franklin Kendall DPSST#49118 (Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office) – Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020

G. Aaron McGehee DPSST#57858  (Department of Corrections) – Withdraw NOI to Deny

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

H. Christian Montero DPSST#44687 (Department of Corrections/Columbia River Correctional Institution) - Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

I. Brendon Rogers DPSST#57572 (Department of Corrections/Coffee Creek Correctional Institution) - Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

J. Antonio Sanguinetti DPSST#48276 (Department of Corrections/Snake river Correctional Institution) – No Action

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the CPC on November 10, 2020.

K. Japheth Adams DPSST#49285 (Lebanon Police Department) - Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

L. Justin Brester DPSST#45588 (Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office) – No Action

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

M. Brandon Ellis DPSST#56618 (Klamath County Sheriff’s Office) - Revoke

11/2 vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

N. Daniel Miller DPSST#40862 (Junction City Police Department) - No Action

10/3 vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

O. Alex Noli DPSST#53367 (Gresham Police Department) – No Action

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

P. Wilson Sherman-Burton DPSST#60378 (Portland Police Bureau) – Deny Application for Training

Unanimous vote with one abstention to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

Q. Zachary Zelinka DPSST#49984 (Portland Police Bureau) – Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

R. Lindsay Rupel DPSST#56987 (Baker County Sheriff’s Office) – Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the TPC on November 4, 2020.

S. Jason Smith DPSST#42666 (Junction City Police Department) – Revoke

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the TPC on November 4, 2020.

T. Committee Appointments

Corrections Policy Committee Appointments

• Jamie Hepner – Reappointment to the CPC; 2nd term effective 1/28/21

Telecommunications Policy Committee Appointments

• April Benedetti – Appointment to the TPC; 1st term effective 1/28/21
• Rebecca Carney-Interiano – Reappointment to the TPC; 2nd term effective 1/28/21

U. Proposed Changes to the Basic Telecommunications Curriculum – Approve

Unanimous vote to recommend to the Board by the TPC on November 4, 2020

e. David Sytsma DPSST #503489 (Lakeview Police Deparrtment) Reconsideration – No Action

     7/6 vote to recommend to the Board by the PPC on November 19, 2020.

f.  Constituent Correspondence from Stephen Craig DPSST #37427

5.  Private Security/Investigator Policy Committee

a. Private Security Investigator Policy Committee Update – Thomas Thomas, Chair.

b. Consent Agenda (The following items to be ratified by one vote)

A. Committee Appointments

Private Security Investigator Policy Committee

• Av Phal; Appointment to the PSIPC to fill vacancy for Manufacturing Industry Representative; 1st term effective 1/28/21
• Al McGee; Appointment to the PSIPC to fill vacancy for Retail Industry Representative; 1st term effective 1/28/21

6.  Director's Report – Interim Director Les Hallman

7.  Next Meeting Date:  April 22, 2021

Lane County Public Health (LCPH) was notified of at least 101 additional positive cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.This makes a total of  ?seven thousand eight hundred and seventy nine cases. 

Current Vaccination Numbers are Now Included In Our daily Updates

7,879 (+101) total cases-  Note that this includes confirmed and presumptive.

Of our cases (confirmed and presumptive): 

Hospitalized: 30 (+6)

·ICU: 5 (of the 30)

Deaths: 103 (+3)

Infectious: 433 (+25)

Persons Under Monitoring: 544

Individuals having received at least the first dose of vaccine: 7,295

Testing: OHA is now excluding negative labs from Opera in an effort to improve performance. This includes historic negative labs. 

Data regarding Lane County testing, patient status, case ZIP codes and more is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/localdata

The State of Oregon has created a COVID-19 web page with resources at http://coronavirus.oregon.gov.

High Risk Individuals who had contact with these community members will be contacted by Lane County Public Health so they can work with their health care providers on next steps. Communicable disease investigations are underway. If a public contact exposure point is identified, that information will be shared with the public.

Presumptive cases are people without a positive PCR test who have COVID-19-like symptoms and had close contact with a confirmed case. Though not confirmed by a positive diagnostic test, presumptive cases have a high likelihood of having COVID-19 because of the specific nature of the symptoms and known exposure.

On Monday, January 11, 2021 at approximately 3:40 P.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a two vehicle crash on Hwy 26 near milepost 7.

Preliminary investigation revealed a Ford Explorer, operated by Lonnie Meade (65) of Seaside, was eastbound and  stopped to turn left into a driveway when it was struck from behind by a Peterbuilt semi truck operated by Alejandro Flores (43) of Tigard. 

Meade sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased. 

Flores was not injured.

Hwy 26 was closed for 4 hours.

OSP was assisted by the Seaside Fire Department, Hamlet Fire Department and ODOT.

Girl Scout entrepreneurs in Oregon and SW Washington are selling cookies in safe, creative, and socially distant ways, including through the organization’s first-ever national delivery services collaboration with Grubhub. Nationwide online Girl Scout Cookie ordering will be available February 1.

Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington Media Contact:
Sarah Shipe, Director of Communications
sshipe@girlscoutsosw.org
503-930-5275

PORTLAND, OR (January 12, 2021)—Today, Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington (GSOSW) and Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) kicked off the 2021 Girl Scout Cookie season nationally, during a challenging time when many Girl Scouts are selling in creative, socially distant, and contact-free ways to keep themselves and their customers safe. Even in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, girls are adapting their sales methods to share the joy of Girl Scout Cookies through the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world—including taking contact-free pickup and delivery orders through a new national collaboration with Grubhub. Additionally, GSUSA is making online cookie ordering available nationwide on February 1 so consumers who don’t know a Girl Scout can still purchase cookies from a local troop for direct shipment to their homes or donation to local organizations.

Innovative Girl-led Sales Methods

The Girl Scout Cookie Program has long taught girls how to run a business via in-person booths, door-to-door activity, and the Digital Cookie® platform online, which GSUSA launched in 2014. With the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, girls are adapting their sales methods. From virtual cookie booths to contact-free delivery to facilitating direct-ship orders, girls as young as five years old are embracing their entrepreneurial spirits, staying connected to their communities, and having fun by participating in the cookie program. The proceeds from each and every Girl Scout Cookie purchase stay local with the troop and its council to power Girl Scouts’ essential leadership programming.

“The cookie program has always given girls one-of-a-kind opportunities to build valuable skills like goal setting and money management. This year, they get to add resilience and innovation to that list,” says Karen Hill, CEO of Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. “We are partnering with our dedicated volunteers and Girl Scout families to ensure girls can participate and reach their goals safely, while making it easier than ever for customers to purchase their favorites.”

“It’s inspiring,” says Victoria Foreman, Director of Product Sales for Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. “Girls are developing a strong sense of self by participating, learning skills to succeed today and in the future. I’m so impressed by how they problem solve, manage setbacks and reimagine their plan to build their cookie businesses.”

This year, Girl Scouts is also providing new cookie badge program materials to support girls as they run their cookie business online and via social media, helping them be best equipped to sell during these times.

Online Ordering Available Nationwide February 1

GSUSA is making it possible for all consumers nationwide who don’t already know a Girl Scout to purchase Girl Scout Cookies online for shipment to their door. Beginning February 1, customers can enter their zip code into the Girl Scout Cookie Finder to find a local troop to purchase from through the Digital Cookie platform for direct shipment or donation to local organizations. This additional contact-free method supports local girls while keeping their safety and skill building top of mind.

Though social distancing measures may keep families and friends apart, cookie customers can share joy and stay connected this season through a gift-box option that ships directly to others via the Digital Cookie platform.

Ordering Now Available Through Delivery Platform Grubhub

This season, GSOSW is participating in a national collaboration with food ordering and delivery platform Grubhub so girls have an additional way to facilitate contact-free cookie orders. In select areas—including Portland, Eugene and Medford—consumers can order Girl Scout Cookies for pickup or delivery on Grubhub.com or the Grubhub app. A hands-on experience in managing e-commerce, local Girl Scouts will track and fulfill orders, manage inventory, and more, all using Grubhub’s back-end technology. This method will be available in select areas beginning February 19. As always, the proceeds benefit the troop and council while providing another innovative way to safely run the cookie program virtually. GSUSA is grateful to Grubhub for waiving all fees for the organization to make this new delivery option feasible for sales without reducing troops’ and councils’ proceeds.

How to Safely Purchase Girl Scout Cookies This Season

Girl Scout Cookie season in Oregon and SW Washington runs now through March 14, 2021. Consumers can support Girl Scouts by purchasing Thin Mints®, Tagalongs®, Trefoils® and other favorites in a few different ways:

• If you know a Girl Scout, reach out to her to find out how she’s selling cookies in ways that meet local and state safety protocols.
• Beginning February 1, enter your zip code into the Girl Scout Cookie Finder at www.girlscoutcookies.org to purchase from a local Girl Scout troop online for shipment to your door or to donate cookies to first responders and local causes.
• Beginning February 19, visit www.grubhub.com/food/girl_scouts to order via contact-free delivery from Grubhub in select areas, including Portland, Eugene, Medford. Availability may vary based on location.

ABOUT THE GIRL SCOUT COOKIE PROGRAM

A little more than a century ago, Girl Scouts began participating in what would evolve into the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world: the Girl Scout Cookie Program. The program helps girls fund life-changing experiences and learning for themselves and their troops all year long, while gaining valuable life skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. To learn more about the history of the Girl Scout Cookie Program, please visit girlscoutcookies.org.

ABOUT GIRL SCOUTS OF OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON

In partnership with more than 6,500 adult members, Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington prepares more than 11,500 girls in grades K-12 for a lifetime of leadership, adventure and success. GSOSW’s programs in civic engagement, financial literacy, the outdoors and STEM serve girls in 35 counties in Oregon, and Clark, Klickitat and Skamania counties in Southwest Washington. The Girl Scout mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place. For more information, please visit girlscoutsosw.org.

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Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management urges residents to be prepared for flooding, landslides and power outages

Salem, OR – January 11, 2021 – With heavy winter rains and high winds forecasted across the state over the next few days, Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management encourages residents to be aware – and prepared – for flooding, landslides and power outages.

Basic preparedness actions can help prevent dangerous situations. This begins with having an emergency kit with necessary supplies for up to two weeks, a practiced family plan with steps for what to do in an emergency, and knowing the difference between a flood watch and a flood warning.

Flooding
Intense rainfall over a short period of time can cause rivers and streams to rise rapidly, often catching people living near these water sources off guard. Flash floods move with incredible speed and occur when heavy rain falls on already-saturated ground. In addition, loss of vegetation due to wildfires leaves the ground charred and unable to absorb water. Even areas that are not traditionally flood-prone are at risk of flooding for up to several years after a wildfire.

• Avoid walking through flood waters; they may be contaminated with oil, gas or raw sewage. Waters may also be hiding hazards and debris.
• Be aware of weather conditions in your area before driving. Many flood-related incidents are caused by vehicles driven into hazardous waters.
• Use ODOT’s Tripcheck for the latest road conditions before traveling.
• Heavy rains reduce drivers’ visibility. When driving, turn on your lights, increase following distance and slow down. Visit ODOT's webpage for Driving in the Rain Tips.
• Heed the advice of emergency officials regarding evacuations.
• Listen to weather and emergency updates on the TV, radio, social media.

Landslides
As Oregon recovers from the recent wildfires, residents living in and around wildfire areas should be aware of risks such as landslides and mudflows. People, structures and roads located below steep slopes in canyons and near the mouths of canyons may be at serious risk.

Signs of landslides include:

• Changes in landscape such as changes in water runoff, leaning trees or land movement.
• Water in streams or creeks that suddenly turns muddy or if the amount of water flowing suddenly decreases or increases.
• New cracks in plaster, tile or foundations.
• Unusual sounds that might indicate moving debris, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together.
• Underground utility line breaks.

For more information on landslides, check http://www.ready.gov/landslides-debris-flow.

Power outages
High winds and downed trees often cause of power outages. Take time to check your emergency kit before a storm hits. At a minimum, every home should have an emergency power outage kit that includes flashlights, battery-operated radio/clock, extra batteries, non-perishable foods, bottled water and blankets.  If you experience a power outage in your home or area:

• Keep freezers and refrigerators closed.
• Only use generators outdoors and away from windows.
• Have alternate plans for refrigerating medicines or using power-dependent medical devices.
• Check on your neighbors.
• Stay away from - and don’t drive around - downed power lines and utility lines; even if they are not sparking, they could be energized and extremely dangerous.
• Turn on your porch light. After response crews complete repairs, they patrol the area of the power failure to see if any lights are still out.

Disaster preparedness is an important priority for the Oregon Office of Emergency Management and we encourage people to prepare for emergencies. It’s critical for families, individuals, communities and businesses to make an emergency plan, and communicate the plan before, during and after emergencies. For additional preparedness resources, visit https://www.oregon.gov/oem/hazardsprep/Pages/Individual-Preparedness.aspx.

# # #

Douglas County Planning Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 11, 2021

Douglas County to Update Transportation System Plan

Virtual Open House Begins January 14, 2021

Douglas County Transportation System Plan to be updated in partnership with the Oregon Department of Transportation

            (Douglas County, Ore.)  In the Fall of 2020, Douglas County began a process to update the County’s Transportation System Plan (“TSP”). Oregon State law requires local jurisdictions to develop and periodically update TSPs, and much has changed since the current TSP was created in 1998. The TSP provides the policy framework, planning direction, and projects and programs to meet the transportation needs of all people in Douglas County. The plan will cover all areas outside incorporated city limits, and a focus on the County’s many unincorporated communities.

What Will the TSP Do?

The TSP is a County-wide plan and policy document that will recommend policies, programs, and physical improvements to streets and sidewalks to address current and future transportation needs in Douglas County. In close coordination with ODOT, the plan will also consider state-owned transportation facilities in the County. The TSP is focused on improving connections and safety conditions for all travelers including those who drive, walk, take transit, bicycle, use a wheelchair or cane, or deliver freight. The TSP will also address ports, rail, freight, and bridges.

The TSP will help achieve multiple goals. One goal is to help Douglas County become a safer and more comfortable place to walk and bike for people on their way to school, jobs, parks, and other destinations in the community. The TSP will also focus on addressing safety and traffic needs, emergency lifeline routes, intersection and crossing improvements, access to transit, as well as new connections for all means of travel.

Opportunity to Provide your Feedback!

Douglas County is seeking public input on the existing transportation system to better understand transportation needs and priorities in our communities. Starting on January 14, 2021, Douglas County will host a virtual TSP Open House to discuss the key transportation issues in our county today. The virtual TSP Open House will also allow for public comment and feedback via a short survey and an interactive comment map.

Douglas County Residents can visit the TSP project website to learn more the program and to participate in the virtual Open House from Thursday, January 14, 2021 to Friday, February 19, 2021 at http://douglascountytsp.org/

For additional information, contact Katharine Jackson, Douglas County Senior Planner and lead for the TSP project at TSP@co.douglas.or.us.   

###

Media Contact: Tamara Howell, Douglas County Emergency Communications & Community Engagement Specialist, Public Information Officer. (541) 670-2804 cell - (541) 957-4896 office - tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us

Note: added the word "out" in the first sentence.

SALEM, Oregon – Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) will accept new reservations from one day to six months out beginning Jan. 14, 2021. The change is the latest step in managing future reservations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early last summer, the reservation booking window temporarily changed from one day to two weeks, then to 30 days, while OPRD slowly re-opened camping after a two-month closure. In normal times, the reservation window is one day to nine months.

“A shorter reservation window helps us deal with the uncertainty posed by state management of the COVID-19 emergency, and the financial hit of changing, canceling and refunding reservations,” said Lisa Sumption, director of OPRD. 

State parks are funded by revenue from park visitors, a small share of the Oregon Lottery, and a portion of state recreational vehicle registrations.

“Although revenue stopped during the two-month closure and continues to be less than what we’ve earned in past years, we’ve adjusted our operations and now are comfortable extending the reservation booking window,” she said. “All of us extend a heartfelt thank you to our visitors as we continue to evaluate our operations to better serve campers and day-use visitors as we head into the spring and summer.”

In addition to the reservation booking window change, all new campsite, yurt and cabin openings will become available at 6 a.m. each day rather than midnight. This minor change is being made to improve customer service.

“No more staying up to midnight to make an online reservation,” Sumption said. “If you try to reserve a site beyond the 30-day window at midnight Jan. 14, you will see the sites marked with an ‘X’ for unavailable. All available sites will be marked with an ‘A’ at 6 a.m., Jan. 14, and each day going forward.

More changes to the reservation window are possible as the year goes on.

Oregon State Parks reservations are accepted online, and by phone at 800-452-5687, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (closed holidays).

# # #

Update on 1.11.21 at 16:00

Phone service for Lane County Government phones and fax machines has largely been restored. Remaining numbers and services will continue to roll over to the repaired system this afternoon.

--

A private contractor engaged in excavation work in downtown Eugene severed critical infrastructure that supports Lane County Government’s phone system on Sunday. As a result, service to nearly all Lane County Government phones and fax machines is currently unavailable. 

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office has activated the backup system for dispatch. Rural residents’ ability to contact emergency services via 9-1-1 is unaffected. The business lines for the Sheriff’s Office dispatch center also remain available.

For temporary numbers, including for the Health & Human Services Department, please visit https://lanecounty.org/news/what_s_new/PR_011021_PhonesDown. 

The following services are affected:

• The Riverstone, Brookside and Delta Oaks community health centers
• Lane County Adult Corrections
• Lane County Parole & Probation
• Lane County Health & Human Services’ Charnelton Building, including the COVID information call center, Charnelton Community Health Center, Public Health, Human Services, Veteran Services, Environmental Health, medication assisted treatment, and the Women, Infants and Children Program
• Lane County Health & Human Services’ MLK Campus, including Behavioral Health and the Juvenile Justice Center
• The Public Service Building, including the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Assessment & Taxation, Developmental Disabilities Services, Deeds & Records, the Board of Commissioners
• Public Works, including Animal Services, Road & Bridge Maintenance, Land Management, Parks, as well as the Glenwood Transfer Station and Short Mountain Landfill (transfer station fee booths remain unaffected)
• Lane County Elections
• Lane Events Center

The amount of damage and work needed to repair the infrastructure damaged by the contractor is being evaluated. It is likely to take more than one day to repair and restore full phone service. 

###

At approximately 7:33 p.m. on Sunday, January 10, 2021, Stayton Police responded to the 300 block of W. Water St after receiving a suspicious circumstances call.  When officers arrived, they discovered a deceased woman inside of the residence with an apparent gunshot wound.  A man at the residence was detained by Stayton Police.

The deceased woman has been identified as Karen Schaefer, 70, of Stayton.  The cause and manner of her death will be determined at an autopsy scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office.

Brian Schaefer, 38, of Stayton is being charged with Murder 2 with a Firearm and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has been asked to assist the Stayton Police Department by leading the investigation.  We are working collaboratively with the Stayton Police Department, Marion County District Attorney’s Office, Keizer Police Department, Salem Police Department, and Woodburn Police Department on this investigation. 

Due to this being an active investigation, no additional information is available for release at this time.  There is no indication there is any outstanding danger to the community.  Any additional information related to this investigation will be released by the Marion County District Attorney’s Office.

PORTLAND, Ore.—Jaelan Sarray Reid, 26, a known Hoover Criminal Gang member and resident of Portland, was sentenced today to 58 months in prison and three years’ supervised release for illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, announced U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams.

According to court documents, on June 18, 2020, a Morrow County sheriff’s deputy received a tip that several people with outstanding criminal arrest warrants were traveling west on Interstate-84 in a black Range Rover. The deputy located the vehicle with three occupants and conducted a traffic stop. Reid identified himself as “Charles Benton” and gave the deputy a false date of birth. The deputy identified Reid using a DMV photo and detained him.

During the traffic stop, the deputy noted a strong smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Deputies searched the vehicle pursuant to a state warrant issued in June 2020 and located a backpack behind the driver’s seat. Inside the package was a prescription bottle in Reid’s name and a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Reid was arrested and held at the Umatilla County Jail on state charges. During record jail calls, Reid made several incriminating statements about possessing the firearm in his backpack.

This case was investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Portland Police Bureau, and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Lewis Burkhart, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

# # #

YONCALLA, Ore. - A man was arrested Friday after crashing into a mobile home and stripping naked, sparking several calls to 9-1-1. 

On January 8, 2021, at 10:54 am, 9-1-1 dispatchers began receiving reports of a motorhome which hit a travel trailer in the Eagle Valley RV Park (221 Eagle Valley Road). The driver of the motorhome began confronting other drivers and people in the area. At one point the male attempted to open the door to another trailer in the park and stole a cell phone from a bystander with force. Callers then began reporting the male stripped nude and began hitting the windshield of another vehicle. 

A deputy arrived on scene at approximately 10:57 am and attempted to defuse the situation, but the male was acting erratically. The deputy's attempts to de-escalate the situation were unsuccessful. The deputy deployed his TASER, which allowed the male to be taken into custody safely and without further incident.

The male was identified as 39 year-old Frank John James (city of residence is unknown). Deputies learned that James had been the subject of multiple driving complaints and was reported to have struck multiple vehicles on Interstate 5 while traveling south from Cottage Grove. Oregon State Police Troopers had been responding to the area to locate the motorhome. After exiting the freeway, James struck an ODOT truck head-on and drove away from the scene. He then entered the RV Park and attempted to strike a pedestrian with the motorhome before crashing into the travel trailer. Deputies also discovered an adult female, who was James' girlfriend, had been a passenger in the RV. The passenger had asked James to stop and let her out, but he did not and continued driving.  

Deputies discovered James had caused significant damage to the travel trailer, which was occupied at the time of the collision, although the occupants were not injured. Additional damage occurred to the park's waterline and another vehicle. James was arrested and lodged at the Douglas County Jail on the following charges: 

• Attempted Assault in the First Degree x2
• Criminal Mischief in the First Degree x3
• Robbery in the Third Degree
• Reckless Endangering x3
• Felon in Possession of a Firearm
• Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine
• Assault in the Fourth Degree
• Theft in the Second Degree
• Interfering with a Peace Officer
• Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree
• Failure to Perform the Duties of a Driver - Misdemeanor 

Additionally, the Oregon State Police investigated the crimes which occurred on Interstate 5 and the incident involving the ODOT truck. Further charges against James were levied by Troopers for the following crimes:

• Reckless Endangering x2
• Reckless Driving x2
• Domestic Harassment
• Assault in the Fourth Degree

James remains in custody in the Douglas County Jail.  

Jan. 11, 2021

Contact: OHA External Relations, covid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us" target="_blank">orcovid19.media@dhsoha.state.or.us

Oregon reports 939 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 10 new deaths

PORTLAND, Ore. — COVID-19 has claimed 10 more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,613, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 939 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 126,607.

Vaccinations in Oregon

Today, 7,585 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 5,422 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 10 and 2,163 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Jan.10.

Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 104,595 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccinations occurred at Oregon hospitals, long-term care facilities, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, urgent care facilities and Local Public Health Authorities (LPHAs).

To date, 270,800 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 409, which is six more than yesterday. There are 84 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which represents no change from yesterday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (13), Clackamas (87), Clatsop (1), Columbia (14), Coos (15), Crook (1), Deschutes (38), Douglas (16), Hood River (3), Jackson (40), Jefferson (5), Josephine (38), Lane (61), Lincoln (8), Linn (13), Malheur (2), Marion (110), Morrow (8), Multnomah (16), Polk (40), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (63), Union (5), Wasco (7), Washington (314) and Yamhill (18)

Note: Oregon’s 1,200th and 1,237th COVID-19 deaths, reported on Dec.  15 and Dec. 16 respectively, are the same person. Oregon’s 1,186th and 1,031st deaths, reported on Dec. 15 and Dec. 6 respectively, also are the same person.

The numbers have been adjusted accordingly.

Oregon’s 1,604th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Jefferson County who tested positive on Dec. 25 and died on Jan. 9 at St. Charles Medical Center – Bend. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,605th COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old woman in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Jan. 9 at Oregon Health & Science University. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,606th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 23 and died on Jan. 7 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,607th COVID-19 death is a 53-year-old man in Lane County who tested positive on Dec. 28 and died on Jan. 8 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,608th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 13 and died on Dec. 21 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,609th COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died on Dec. 11 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,610th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 18 and died on Dec. 30 at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,611th COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 1 and died on Jan. 8 at Adventist Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,612th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Dec. 15 and died on Jan. 2 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,613th COVID-19 death is a 98-year-old woman in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 29 and died on Jan. 4 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage which has a breakdown of distribution and other useful information, including this graphic on vaccine sequencing.

Stay informed about COVID-19:

Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority leads the state response.

United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.

Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.

News release // Oregon Parks and Recreation Department // FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE // Release Date: January 11, 2021

Media Contact: Chris Havel, 503-931-2590

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department holds online town hall on proposed State Capitol State Park Vietnam War memorial

SALEM, Oregon – The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department will hold an online question-and-answer session at 6 p.m. on January 20 to collect public feedback on a nonprofit organization’s proposal to construct a Vietnam War Memorial on the grounds of the State Capitol State Park in Salem. The session will include a presentation by the proposer, the Vietnam War Memorial Fund (http://vietnamwarmemorialfund.org).

To participate in the event, free registration is required at http://bit.ly/oregoncapitolvietnam.

The deadline for comment is January 22, 2021.

The project proposes to install sculptures, plaques, benches, and walkways to memorialize different aspects of the war and military service. It would be just southwest of the World War II memorial, the Parade of Animals play structure, and a gazebo. Nearly all the trees in this area would be incorporated into the proposed design. Three trees would be removed (details online). One part of the memorial honors Gold Star Families using a standard design, and the nonprofit has identified three possible locations in the park for its installation. One option would require moving the Parade of Animals to a different part of Willson Park. A Gold Star Family is one that has lost an immediate family member in the line of duty during military service.

A draft plan of the memorial is online as is a  video walkthrough.

After collecting public feedback, a committee will submit a report to OPRD Director Lisa Sumption with recommendations. After the Director's review, the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission could act on the proposal at its February 25, 2021 meeting.

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Portland, OR—The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for portions of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington, including the Cascade and Cascade Foothills, Coast Range and Willapa Hills, Columbia River Gorge, Willamette Valley and Greater Portland Metro Area, Lower Columbia and I-5 Corridor in Cowlitz County, Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington Coast, as well as a portion of southwest Oregon, including the Curry County coast and South Central Oregon coast for the evening of Monday, January 11, through the morning of Wednesday, January 13.

Heavy rain can trigger landslides, rock fall, and debris flows in steep terrain, and the risk is higher in burn areas.

Find the latest information here: https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/or.php?x=1

Debris flows are rapidly moving, extremely destructive landslides. They can contain boulders and logs transported in a fast-moving soil and water slurry down steep hillsides and through narrow canyons. They can easily travel a mile or more. A debris flow moves faster than a person can run. People, structures and roads located below steep slopes in canyons and near the mouths of canyons may be at serious risk.

If your home, work, or route is in a watch area:

• Stay alert. Track the flood watch by radio, TV, weather radio or online. If told to evacuate, do so immediately.
• Listen. Unusual sounds might indicate moving debris, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together. A trickle of falling mud or debris may precede larger landslides. If you think there is danger of a landslide, leave immediately.
• Watch the water. If water in a stream or creek suddenly turns muddy or the amount of water flowing suddenly decreases or increases, this is a warning that the flow has been affected upstream. You should immediately leave the area because a debris flow may soon be coming downstream.
• Travel with extreme caution. Assume roads are not safe. Be alert when driving, especially at night. Embankments along roadsides may fail, sending rock and debris onto the road.

For more landslide and debris flow information: https://www.oregongeology.org/Landslide/debrisflow.htm

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SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s Smoke Management Advisory Committee will meet virtually Wednesday Jan. 20, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. The Zoom information and agenda are posted at https://www.oregon.gov/odf/board/Pages/smac.aspx. On the agenda are:

• Protection Division report, including COVID-19, fires season, and funding
• Department of Environmental Quality report
• a budget and fund balance update
• burning, intrusion, and incident summary
• metrics discussion
• annual report review
• data system update
• Environmental Protection Agency annual meeting

The public is invited to attend virtually and there will be a period for public comment in the morning. Requests for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or other accommodations for persons with disabilities should be made at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting Shauna Morris at 503-945-7529.

Created by the Legislature in 1989, the five-member committee assists and advises the Oregon Department of Forestry in carrying out its Smoke Management Program. Members are appointed by the State Forester to serve a two-year term, which is renewable.

As part of the ongoing investigation into the discovery of a female child’s remains at the Van Duzer Rest Area in Lincoln County, the Oregon State Police (OSP) continues to solicit the public’s assistance in identifying the child and the circumstances around her death.  To date, we have received over 150 tips from citizens in the United States and Canada.  We are deeply appreciative of the public’s input so far, and continue to accept information which may lead to the identification of the child.

The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office has estimated the child's age to be 6.5 to 10 years old.  She is approximately 3’10” to 4’6” tall, and has long hair that is dark brown or black.  Her race or ethnic origin has yet to be determined, but DNA analysis is not complete.  A sketch completed by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office at our request has also been released. 

OSP, in partnership with the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and numerous state and local agencies across the United States, are using a variety of means to include or exclude known missing persons who match the general description and/or sketch previously released.  This may include, but is not limited to, dental records, age, descriptors, and confirmed sightings via verifiable sources, and/or recent contacts with family or friends that demonstrate they were alive after the remains of the unidentified female were discovered in Lincoln County. 

OSP will not comment on the individual methods used to exclude each child.

In an effort to refocus the public’s attention and reduce duplicative tips, OSP is now prepared to publicly exclude the following reported missing children from our investigation:

• Dulce Alavez, age 6, from Bridgeton, NJ
• Addyson Gibson, age 12, from Portland, OR
• Noelle Johnson, age 7, from Portland, OR
• Niayah Bylenga (AKA Niayah Crawford), age 7, from Pendleton, OR or Ritzville, WA
• Tarie Price, age 8, from Gretna, NE
• Breasia Terrell, age 10, from Davenport, IA

OSP reminds the public that while these children have been excluded from our investigation, they are all still reported missing and we ask the public to continue to be vigilant for these children and all other missing persons reported across the nation. 

The Oregon State Police is releasing the attached approximation sketch of the child that was found in Lincoln County on December 10, 2020.

Sketch was provided with assistance of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

If you have any information that might help investigators in identifying this child, please call 800-442-0776 or OSP (677).

Oregon State Police Detectives are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the remains of an individual discovered in rural Lincoln County.  

On December 10, 2020, Investigators were summoned to the H.B. Van Duzer Forest State Scenic Corridor for a death investigation. At this location, investigators found the remains of a female child. 

The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office estimate the deceased’s age to be 6.5 to 10 years old.  She is approximately 3’10” to 4’6” tall, and had long hair that is dark brown or black.  Her race or ethnic origin has yet to be determined, but DNA analysis is not complete. 

Due to the condition of the remains she had likely been deceased at least 30 days before she was discovered. 

If you have any information that might help investigators in identifying this child, please call 800-442-0776 or OSP (677).

No information regarding the cause or manner of death is available for release at this time. 

On Thursday, December 10, 2020 Oregon State Police Major Crimes Detectives responded to the H.B. Van Duzer Forest State Scenic Corridor for a death investigation.

The area is a heavily wooded state park in Lincoln County, Oregon.

Due to the terrain OSP Detectives were assisted by Lincoln County SAR members.

At this time the deceased has yet to be positively identified. No further information regarding this individual is available for release until identity is established and next of kin can be notified.

An investigation into the circumstances of this incident is active and ongoing. No further details are available for release at this time.

Our local COVID-19 updates represent the coordinated effort of the agencies that make up the DCCRT

JOINT INFORMATION CENTER PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 11, 2021

DOUGLAS COUNTY COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM - DAILY UPDATE

(Douglas County, Ore.)  Douglas County COVID-19 Test Results:  As of 12:00 pm Today, Monday, January 11, 2021, there are NINE (9) people with new positive test results to report since our noon case update yesterday.  The total number of cases (people with positive test results and presumptive) in Douglas County is now at 1,575.  Currently, there are EIGHT (8) Douglas County COVID-19 patients that are being hospitalized, five locally and three out-of-the-area.  Our Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, under the direction of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, who administer our local public health program and oversee the work by Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Douglas County Public Health Officer and Douglas Public Health Network, continue to devote all resources available to our local COVID response.

Our daily update includes the total number of cases in Douglas County, which combines people with positive test results and presumptives, as well as a breakout of those case numbers. Please note there will be times when a presumptive will move to a positive test result, and our total case number will not change because the case has already been counted.

Local Cases Being Supported in Isolation and Quarantine

Currently, DPHN is supporting 172 cases in isolation, as well as another 204 contacts in quarantine in Douglas County. Isolation is recommended for confirmed and presumptive cases, quarantine is recommended for contacts of confirmed or presumptive cases.  Currently, staff is supporting an astounding 376 total contacts in isolation or quarantine.  This number represents a snapshot of the significant amount of work being done locally to help control the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccines Are Coming – Please Be Patient

We know you are all anxious and we know there are conflicting messages out there, but we ask for your continued patience as we await more information on the availability of the COVID vaccine for the next phases of distribution.  Much like when COVID testing started, they are still working out all the details.  The vaccine is currently being administered locally to the Phase 1a group of recipients, as designated by the CDC and OHA. Oregon and Douglas County are unfortunately still in this first phase of COVID vaccine distribution.  The vaccine is not available to the proposed Phase 1b group, or the Phase 1c group or for the general public yet.  The January vaccine distribution looks like it will continue to be only available for the Phase 1a group of front line health care workers, people who live or work in long-term care or skilled nursing facilities and first responders.  For more information about Oregon’s vaccine plan, priority groups and the implementation process please visit: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/.  For answers to frequently asked questions about the COVID vaccine, check out the worksheet created by OHA here: OHA's Frequently Asked Questions About the COVID Vaccine in Oregon.  As a reminder, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Oregon Health Authority are in charge of distributing, prioritizing and establishing the guidelines for the release of the COVID vaccines in Oregon.  According to OHA, Oregon, like most US states, has not received enough vaccines to immunize everyone in Phase 1A yet.  As soon as we receive a definite timeline for the next phases, we will pass along the information.  In the meantime, we ask that you be patient and continue to follow the well documented recommendations for COVID safety.  For the most up to date information on the COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon, log onto the COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon website.  We ask that you not call or email the DCCRT, DPHN or local health care professionals, but instead directly contact CDC or OHA, for the latest updates and information on the status of vaccine availability.    

Remember You are the KEY to a COVID Safe 2021!

The DCCRT team encourages residents to make virus prevention measures a priority in their everyday routines.  The key to stopping the continued spread of coronavirus is, YOU, our residents, our families, our communities and our businesses.  Please help by keeping gatherings small, maintaining healthier eating habits; incorporating exercise and good hygiene routines; keeping your six-foot distance from others; choosing minimal or no contact services; and staying home if you are sick.  The suggestions we make and the guidelines presented by public health are not just for your health and safety, but for the health and safety of everyone, including our kids, our grandparents, our coworkers, our first responders, our teachers and our businesses.  Our primary focus is to do everything we can to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our residents, while also supporting our local businesses.  Please, if you are sick, even if you just have a runny nose or stuffy head, do not got to work or attend any social gatherings and unknowingly expose others to your illness.

Help STOP the Spread of COVID

• Make a habit of washing and sanitizing your hands, regularly.
• Please wear a mask when you are around others not from your household.  Not just for you, but for others too.
• Stay at least six feet apart from anyone that is not from your immediate household. 
• Stay home from work, school and play if you are sick. 
• Minimize travel, especially out of the state and limit visitors to your home. 
• Minimize attending social gatherings or going places where there are large groups of people.

Getting Tested & Testing Clinics

The next drive-through testing clinic will be Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Roseburg.   As a reminder, if you are having symptoms of COVID-19 including cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches and pains, diarrhea, sore throat or decreased sense of smell and taste, talk to your health care provider about being tested for COVID-19.  Patients without a Primary Care Provider that are looking for a COVID-19 test should contact the Sutherlin Aviva Health Clinic at (541) 459-3788. The first drive-through testing site was piloted in the county on March 17, 2020. Since then, there have been 2,164 tests performed in local drive-through clinics, while additional testing continues in hospitals, urgent cares and clinics. The drive-through clinics are led by DPHN, in conjunction with partner agencies including; Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Public Works, local volunteers and local health professionals.

Oregon COVID-19 Case Information

OHA reports new cases daily on their website at www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.  OHA reports include presumptive COVID-19 cases in their total case numbers.  The DCCRT separates the number of people with new positive test results and new presumptives, and uses OHA’s definition of presumptive as those having had close contact with a known, confirmed COVID-19 case, showing symptoms and not yet having a positive nasal swab/PCR or antigen test for COVID-19.  DPHN performs their epidemiologic investigations, identifying individuals who test positive, as well as those that may have had close contact with individuals that have tested positive while advising and supporting quarantine and isolation.  OHA has chosen to no longer report negative test results or recovered cases, so we will no longer be reporting this data in our daily update.  Please contact the OHA directly for more information.

Facebook Live with Dr. Bob

Join us Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 6:00 pm for the next Facebook Live with Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County Public Health Officer. The show is hosted by DPHN on the DPHN Facebook page.  Residents are encouraged to submit their questions during the live show or can email questions to: ookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org">Facebookquestions@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org.  Dr. Bob and the DPHN team will do their best to respond to as many questions as they can during the live shows.

Douglas County COVID-19 Hotline (541) 464-6550

Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners and DPHN continue to offer a local resource hotline for Douglas County residents for COVID-19.  The hotline provides answer to frequently asked questions, basic information and referrals to resources and services.  The Hotline is staffed from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 7 days a week.

ACCESS ACCURATE, LOCAL COVID-19 INFORMATION

Stay up to date with accurate and local COVID-19 information in Douglas County on the Douglas County Government website or Douglas County Facebook page and the DPHN website or DPHN Facebook page.  Your Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Douglas County Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Dannenhoffer, DPHN and the DCCRT have been working hard to cooperatively provide accurate and timely information to Douglas County residents since March 8, 2020. 

ACCESS STATE COVID-19 INFORMATION

To access information on the State of Oregon and Federal COVID-19 response go to Oregon Health Authority, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and 211Info.  If you have questions or need more information on statewide guidelines or risk levels, go to the State’s Building a Safe and Strong Oregon website or the Governor’s COVID-19 website or call the Business Oregon's Navigator Hotline at (833) 604-0880.  Please do not call 911, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or Douglas County Offices to report compliance issues with the State of Oregon, OHA or Governor’s orders.  The Governor has directed the State offices for Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to be the enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring restaurants, bars, and other businesses comply with COVID-related guidelines.  To report compliance issues contact them directly OSHA: (800) 922-2689 or OSHA website or OLCC (503) 872-5000 or OLCC website

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Contact Tamara Howell, Public Information Officer, Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, (541) 670-2804 cell (541) 957-4896 tjhowell@co.douglas.or.us   

Contact Vanessa Becker, Public Information Officer, Douglas Public Health Network, (541) 817-6552 cell (541) 440-3571 vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org

SALEM, Ore. – On Monday, January 11, Oregon state agencies and federal partners released erosion threat reports related to the September 2020 wildfires.

The Erosion Threats Assessment and Reduction Team (ETART) is a multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency team, led by FEMA and the state of Oregon, charged with assessment of potential erosion risks and to provide control treatment recommendations. This group of subject matter experts coordinated with federal, state and local fire response teams as an early statewide recovery action.

This ETART team identifies risks and threats such as soil erosion, flooding potential, hazard trees and ecological impacts associated with each fire. Local and state jurisdictions will evaluate the findings through the filters of need, feasibility and cost, to prioritize recovery projects and inform funding decisions.

ETART summaries and full reports for the Beachie Creek, Archie, Holiday Farm and Riverside fires are available online at https://wildfire.oregon.gov/NCrecovery.

A virtual media availability is planned for later this week; a media advisory is pending with additional information. For details, please email Jo Niehaus, ETART public information officer, at jo.niehaus@oregon.gov.

For more information about wildfire recovery, please reach out to the Wildfire Recovery Information Center at e.info@oregon.gov">fire.info@oregon.gov. For specific questions about the ETART reports, please email esetart@fema.dhs.gov">2020wildfiresetart@fema.dhs.gov.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. – On December 28, 2020, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation related to a sexual abuse allegation. The report was an adult male committed sexual abuse against a minor child. An additional report was made that the same male had committed sexual abuse acts against another person approximately sixteen years prior.

Detectives contacted the suspect, 70 year-old Delbert Wayne Hopper of Crooked River Ranch (Oregon), and conducted an interview with him on Friday, January 8, 2021. During the course of the interview, detectives developed probable cause for his arrest. Hopper was taken into custody and lodged at the Douglas County Jail on two separate charges of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.

Hopper was lodged at the Douglas County Jail on the listed charges.

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is accepting public comments on a draft Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan that will guide the agency in removing physical barriers to park access over the next 25 years.

The ADA Transition Plan identifies barriers and provides a roadmap for removing them in order to provide access to parks and park programs for people with disabilities. Identified barriers range from inaccessible picnic areas and restroom facilities to parking lots with limited accessible parking. In the process of creating this plan, OPRD surveyed 277 unique facilities and identified 5,078 individual barriers, then grouped them into categories defined by the level of complexity.

“OPRD has already made great strides in providing access for people with disabilities, but there’s much more to be done,” said ADA Coordinator Helena Kesch. “The ADA Transition Plan moves the agency forward in improving parks so people with disabilities can enjoy them to the fullest. This aligns us with the law, and it’s also the right thing to do.”

OPRD will accept public comments on the proposed change through 5 p.m. Feb. 15, 2021. Comments can be made online, in writing or via email:

• Online: oregon.gov/oprd/PRP/Pages/PRP-ADA-Transition-Plan
• In writing: Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Attn. Helena Kesch, 725 Summer St NE, Suite C, Salem OR 97301
• Email: D.publiccomment@oregon.gov">OPRD.publiccomment@oregon.gov
  • At a virtual hearing set for 6 p.m. Jan. 25, 2021. Registration is required: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Eg36_lcqQS-5jOqWLEu_Hg. Individuals who require special accommodations to participate in the meeting should contact Helena Kesch at least three days in advance of the meeting at 503-881-4637 or helena.kesch@oregon.gov.

The draft plan is available online at oregon.gov/oprd/PRP/Pages/PRP-ADA-Transition-Plan

After reviewing public comments, OPRD will incorporate feedback into a final ADA Transition Plan. Remediation efforts will begin in July 2021.   

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Beavercreek, Oregon man has been arrested and charged for discharging a firearm into the Hatfield Federal Courthouse on January 8, 2021, announced U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams.

Cody Melby, 39, has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of government property.

According to the complaint, at approximately 7:35pm on January 8, Melby allegedly jumped over a security fence at the Hatfield Courthouse and, using a 9mm handgun, fired several rounds into the building’s exterior. Two courthouse security officers exited the building and approached Melby after observing him on a closed-circuit security camera. Melby told the officers he had a gun and the officers placed him in handcuffs without further incident.

Federal Protective Service officers dispatched to the scene located five spent 9mm bullet casings, three spent bullets, three bullet holes in plywood affixed to the building’s stone columns, and damage to the metal soffit above the building’s main entrance.

Melby will make his first appearance in federal court today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Portland.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Protective Service and FBI. It is being prosecuted by Paul Maloney, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Criminal complaints are only accusations of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

# # #

An Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) adult in custody (AIC) died January 10, 2021. He was incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution and passed away at a local hospital. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was between 70 and 80 years old. As with all in-custody deaths, the Oregon State Police have been notified, and the Medical Examiner will determine cause of death. Department-wide, this is the twenty-seventh AIC to die who tested positive for COVID-19.

For more information on COVID-19 cases inside Oregon’s prisons, please visit DOC’s COVID-19 website. The agency is responsible for the care and custody of 13,000 adults in custody who are incarcerated in 14 institutions across the state.

Anyone entering DOC property is required to wear a mask or face covering in any indoor work setting or other indoor premises regardless of distance from others unless they are in a private, individual office not shared by anyone else; or they are actively eating or drinking AND at least six (6) feet of distance can be maintained between other people. Masks are mandatory at all times in many work areas.

Institutions continue to clean and disinfect numerous times a day. DOC asks AICs to report symptoms of COVID to medical staff. Posters are in all DOC institutions encouraging individuals to maintain proper hygiene and to uphold appropriate social distancing to the extent possible. Health screening processes are in place before staff are allowed to enter facilities. This screening includes a temperature check and a screening questionnaire. Visiting remains closed until further notice.

DOC has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations – eventually offering to all DOC staff, contractors, Oregon Corrections Enterprises employees, and adults in custody (AICs). Prioritization of vaccines will be determined by guidance from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the Governor’s Office.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, DOC issued a press release when an AIC passed away. This notification would include the person’s name, county of conviction, sentence length, and date of death. However, no cause of death would be listed because the Medical Examiner makes that determination. In order to balance the desire for transparency with our legal obligation to protect personal health information, we have changed the AIC death notification process when someone dies who has tested positive for COVID-19. DOC is working with the Oregon Health Authority to publish COVID-19 related data and information on the OHA website.

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