Oregon Beach News, Monday 1/18 Martin Luther King Jr Day – First Case of Variant COVID-19 in Oregon, Astoria Hillside ‘Marginally Stable’ after Landslide

The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com

Monday, January 18, 2021

Oregon Beach Weather

Monday- Sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 6 to 8 mph.

Tuesday- Sunny, with a high near 57. East wind around 6 mph.

Wednesday- Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. North wind around 8 mph.

Thursday- A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 51.

Friday- Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.

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The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (2), Benton (12), Clackamas (66), Clatsop (16), Columbia (10), Coos (5), Crook (6), Curry (6), Deschutes (46), Douglas (11), Gilliam (3), Harney (2), Hood River (3), Jackson (30), Jefferson (15), Josephine (30), Klamath (6), Lake (1), Lane (53), Lincoln (6), Linn (7), Malheur (7), Marion (86), Morrow (5), Multnomah (102), Polk (34), Tillamook (3), Umatilla (57), Union (10), Wasco (8), Washington (131), Yamhill (20).

COVID-19 has claimed one more life in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,800 the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.

Oregon Health Authority reported 799 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today bringing the state total to 133,205.

Vaccinations in Oregon 

Today, OHA reported that 15,784 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 12,781 vaccine doses were administered on Jan. 16.

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. Today we surpassed 200,000 doses of COVID vaccine administered to Oregonians.

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 204,974 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 and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today. 

Oregon Shifts Vaccination Plan In Light Of New Information About Supply

Governor Kate Brown held a press conference today to update Oregonians on the status of COVID-19 vaccinations in Oregon. The Governor was joined by officials including Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director Patrick Allen. 

Earlier this week, OHA updated its vaccination plan after being informed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the federal government would be releasing its entire supply of COVID-19 vaccines to states.

Yesterday, Oregon received the news that the federal reserve of vaccines that Oregon and other states expected to receive does not exist. OHA is updating Oregon’s vaccination plan considering this new information.

“Let me assure you that Oregon’s priorities, and my priorities, have not changed,” Governor Brown said. “I remain committed to vaccinating our seniors quickly. But this latest news will unfortunately cause a two-week delay in beginning vaccinations for seniors.”

The new plan depends on Oregon receiving a reliable supply of doses from the federal government. The current plan is:

  • Starting the week of Jan. 25, begin vaccinating teachers and childcare providers.
  • Starting Feb. 8. Begin vaccinating the first of four “waves” of seniors.
    • Wave 1: Seniors 80 and older.
    • Wave 2: Seniors who are 75 and older would follow.
    • Wave 3: Seniors who are 70 and older would follow next.
    • Wave 4: Eligibility to all Oregonians 65 and older would follow in the weeks after.

In addition, it’s not just important to offer more options to get vaccinated, we want you to know when, where and how you can get immunized. 

  • If you’re eligible to get a vaccine, based on your age and occupation.
  • Where you can get information about a vaccine, based on your local county resources.
  • Where you can get the facts about vaccines and answers to your vaccination questions.

Watch a recording of the press conferenceLearn 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.

Testing Reveals First Case of U.K. Variant of COVID-19 in Oregon

PORTLAND — 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.

Astoria Hillside ‘Marginally Stable’ after Landslide

A geotechnical consultant concluded there is no indication of larger-scale movement beyond the landslide that uprooted a house on Alameda Avenue on Wednesday, cautioning the city to monitor the hillside.

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“The key findings there are that this slide was kind of a small slide within a much larger slide block. That whole hillside … I consider it marginally stable,” said Gerry Heslin, the vice president of Cornforth Consultants.

The slide that uprooted the home of Cati Foss was a surficial slough — or skin slide — involving about 3 to 6 feet of soil that slid off a steep, dipping bedrock face, Heslin said.

“I don’t see any evidence right now of large-scale movement, although you’ve got to keep your eyes on it just to make sure that the initial conclusions are borne out by further observations,” he said.

The slide left the backyards of several homes on Floral Street precariously close to the edge, including the deck of one home. Heslin warned that those homes were at moderate risk of being impacted by future sliding.

“But based on the site observations I made while I was out there, I think there’s enough of what we call colluvium — the soil bedrock — to where that house … should be fine,” he said.

Cindy Moore, the assistant city engineer, said city staff has advised homeowners above the slide on Floral Street to cover the slide zone with tarps. Staff has marked cracks in a driveway between two homes.

“We’re taking measurements daily, and those haven’t changed since Wednesday afternoon,” Moore said. “And then just visual inspections of the hillside.”

Most hillsides in Astoria are at moderate to high risk of landslides. After record rainfall in January 1982, a home two lots east of Foss’s home was similarly uprooted and pushed onto the sidewalk.

Foss said her family is working with insurers and a contractor to determine whether her house, slumped over the sidewalk on Alameda Avenue, can be salvaged. But her family faces challenges in getting coverage for a landslide.

“If we had the insurance that was actually going to cover the slide itself, we’d need earthquake insurance or the equivalent of that,” Foss said. “And because of our location in Astoria, it’s like tens of thousands of dollars a year. I think the lowest quote they gave me was $30,000 a year. It was insane. And the deductible was close to $200,000 or $300,000.”

AROUND the STATE of OREGON

Artist Relief Program awards announced; 646 Oregon artists to receive $1.25 million in relief grant awardsOregon Arts Commission 

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.

Gov. Kate Brown is Closing Three Oregon Prisons

Gov. Kate Brown is closing three Oregon prisons, a decision authorities say would save the state more than $44 million.

COVID-19: Oregon prison system's unwelcome death sentence | Pulse of Oregon  | bendbulletin.com

The governor said she believes the money could be better invested elsewhere, such as early childhood education. The prison closure plan was included in the budget proposal the Democrat released last month. On Friday, Brown said she took unilateral action and has directed the Department of Corrections to move forward with closing the three facilities without waiting for legislative adoption of a budget.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the closure of three of the state’s 14 prisons will be staggered: First will be Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem, which is scheduled to be closed by July of this year, next Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend by January 2022, and last will be Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview, to be closed by July 2022.

All of the prisons are minimum-security facilities and inmates are within four years of release. The three prisons combined employ 237 people and house 749 inmates. The state is developing a plan for relocating all the inmates, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jen Black.

Oregon Legislative Session Begins

The 2021 Legislative Session commenced last week. Members were sworn in and the chambers introduced over 1,800 bills total. Leadership is already pushing back the beginning of virtual committee hearings next week due to Capitol building security concerns. Expect the theme of the first few months of session to be “change” as committees begin work and legislators figure out how to meet inside the Capitol for full meetings of the House and Senate.

The first round already indicates legislators’ interest in pesticide application and licensing. While we are yet to see any proposals to ban products, there are likely over 1,000 more bills to come. HB 2229 looks to undo state pre-emption of GMO’s for Josephine County. Several bills propose new approaches to industry using the lens of environmental and racial justice. And finally, a litany of bills will look to shift recycling responsibility to a range of goods, with more to potentially to come, including household cleaning and pest products.

The virtual session will bring significant challenges for access, transparency and advocacy within the policy-making process. At the same time, individuals and organizations will have unprecedented ability to sign up and testify on bills without making the trip to Salem.

A handful of armed demonstrators gathered outside the Oregon Capitol on Sunday morning, part of a nationally publicized day of statehouse protests that mostly failed to materialize.

Small protests at fortified statehouses around US

Some of the roughly 15 demonstrators carried long guns and wore body armor and helmets. But even as some counter-protesters appeared, there was no confrontation, with some in both camps conversing. Several wore Hawaiian shirts, a symbol of the antigovernment “boogaloo” movement, whose adherents anticipate — or in some cases plan to incite — a second civil war.

One Hawaiian-shirted man, who called himself AJ and carried a gun, told a reporter he no longer claims association with that movement, adding, “I just stand with liberty for all.” Salem police patrol vehicles cruised past the scene occasionally, but there was no other visible police presence. The event wrapped up without incident early in the afternoon.

PeaceHealth Will Demolish Buildings at Hospital Site in Downtown Eugene

PeaceHealth to demolish four buildings at University District campus

PeaceHealth is clearing away roughly 300,000 square feet of old medical buildings at the hospital system’s university district campus in Eugene, but it won’t say what it plans to do with the resulting roughly two acres of prime bare land. 

The four buildings, all vacant, date to 1941, 1951 and 1965, said PeaceHealth spokesman Jeremy Rush. As part of the 15-month project, the hospital’s dining area and lobby, which are in the buildings that will be left standing, will be refurbished, PeaceHealth said. Demolition will cost $5.5 million, and the renovations will cost $990,000, Rush said.

The work continues the evolution of the hospital, which for many decades was the cornerstone and main moneymaker of the PeaceHealth system. But ever since PeaceHealth scrapped plans for a big expansion at the city center site nearly two decades ago and opted instead to build a massive new hospital – RiverBend on the outskirts of Springfield – the Eugene facility has taken a back seat and become a consistent money loser.

The demolition will create bare land in the heart of the east side of Eugene’s city center, a district that has boomed with redevelopment in recent years, much of it driven by expansion at the University of Oregon, which lies east of the university district hospital. The UO has constructed a string of new academic and other buildings. Residential developers have built student apartment towers. And a Portland developer has launched construction of a 16-acre apartment/commercial complex nearby along the Willamette River.

The hospital has 117 licensed beds. After the demolition, the facility will have six buildings left.

PeaceHealth won’t say what its long-term plans are for the campus – or whether it has any. Once the demolition is carried out, Rush said the land will be “seeded and modestly landscaped.”

Two decades ago, PeaceHealth had grand plans for expanding the campus and keeping it as the system’s flagship. But PeaceHealth wanted up to six city blocks for a new tower and other new facilities, and the near impossibility of securing that much land in an already densely packed neighborhood prompted its executives to look elsewhere. They opted to build RiverBend on largely vacant land at an estimated cost of $367 million.

The buildings to be demolished at the hospital have been vacant since either 2014 or 2008. PeaceHealth said that for years it has planned to remodel the campus lobby and remove the empty buildings. “We are committed across our networks to a long-range plan that will modernize and expand our facilities to further meet our patients’ evolving needs,” Todd Salnas, chief operating officer, PeaceHealth Oregon network, said in a statement.

The university district campus, including the hospital and the adjacent PeaceHealth Medical Group practice, has about 1,000 employees, Rush said. The site houses a mixture of operations: an emergency department; the Johnson Unit secure inpatient behavioral health department; an inpatient medical unit; an inpatient rehabilitation unit for patients recovering from strokes or other injury; an intensive outpatient unit; and outpatient behavioral health, home health and hospice programs.

Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth has a network of hospitals across Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The chain is largely kept afloat financially by profits from RiverBend and PeaceHealth Saint Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, Washington. Many of the system’s other hospitals lose money or break even.

The university district campus has been a consistent money loser. In 2019, expenses of $120 million exceeded revenues by $22.8 million, according to filings with the Oregon Health Authority. Expenses included $3.4 million in charitable care and $10.7 million in bad debt run up by patients. By contrast, RiverBend, with its heavy focus on surgeries and specialty practices, reaped a profit of $76.6 million on revenues of $746 million.

Hold on tight to your Powerball ticket. There were no top prize winners in Saturday’s drawing, and the jackpot has climbed to an estimated $730 million, a cash value of $546 million.

No Louisiana-Based Drawings on Christmas Day; Powerball Drawing Will Occur

This is only the fourth time the jackpot has crossed the $700 million mark, according to Powerball. If anyone wins the upcoming drawing on Wednesday, January 20, it will be the fourth-largest jackpot in the game’s history and the sixth-largest in US  lottery history, Powerball said.

Saturday’s drawing continued the longest streak of drawings without a jackpot winner in Powerball history, according to a press release. The last jackpot was won in New York on September 16, 2020. Saturday’s drawing generated several tickets with partial winnings, ranging from $4 to $2 million. Fourteen tickets matched all five white balls, earning $1 million each, according to Powerball.

The USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region has released a final environmental assessment and decision that amends forest plans on six national forests in eastern Oregon, revising a provision that prohibits harvesting trees larger than 21 inches in diameter.

U.S. Forest Service rule change expands options for off... | AccessWDUN.com

The decision replaces the existing 21-inch standard with a management policy focused on protecting old and large trees and increasing forest resistance to disturbance. The new policy reflects scientific and experiential learning over the past 25 years, innovative management approaches that collaborative groups have explored for decades, and 24 prior project-level amendments that addressed this issue and informed the analysis. The proposal also implements an adaptive management and monitoring program to track landscape outcomes and share information across forests and with interested people and organizations. 

Many forests in eastern Oregon are uncharacteristically dense. Tree species that are less resistant to wildfire and other disturbances are increasing relative to historical conditions. This contributes to higher tree mortality risks from insects, fire, drought, and other disturbances. Meant to be an interim measure, the Eastside Screens were created in 1995 to protect riparian areas, encourage a healthy mix of young and old trees, and maintain wildlife habitat and connectivity. Now 25 years later, the 21-inch standard is being reassessed in light of current forest conditions, the latest science, project-level amendments, and public feedback.

More than 100 Earthquakes Strike near Mt Hood in a Single Day

Newly discovered fault makes scientists wary of Mt Hood earthquake

More than 100 earthquakes shook near an Oregon volcano in one day, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

An area south of Mount Hood near Portland was hit by a swarm starting at noon Sunday, USGS said.

“An earthquake swarm at Mount Hood is ongoing,” USGS said on Facebook. “The earthquakes are associated with regional faulting and are not a sign of changes in volcanic activity.” The quakes did not cause any damage, and they are not a sign of impending volcanic activity, USGS said. Many of the earthquakes were small in size.

Several earthquakes shook with a maximum magnitude of 2.7 and depths of about 3 miles below sea level, according to USGS. Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale.

Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. “Swarms at Mount Hood are common and account for most of the seismicity at the volcano,” USGS said. “They can last hours to days.” The area has seen other earthquake swarms in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2020, geologists said.

Mount Hood is Oregon’s highest peak. It’s erupted “episodically” for 500,000 years and has seen two major eruptions during the past 1,500 years, USGS said.

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