The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Oregon Beach Weather
Today- A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly before 11am. Snow level 2300 feet. Sunny, with a high near 51. North northwest wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday- Widespread frost, mainly before 7am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 51. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday- A 20 percent chance of showers before 11am. Snow level 2700 feet lowering to 1800 feet. Partly sunny, with a high near 51. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph.
Sunday- Sunny, with a high near 55.
Monday- Sunny, with a high near 60.
Oregon reports 481 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 7 new deaths
There are seven new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,434. The Oregon Health Authority reported 481 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 168,128.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (4), Benton (9), Clackamas (55), Clatsop (4), Columbia (13), Coos (5), Crook (1), Deschutes (32), Douglas (11), Harney (1), Hood River (1), Jackson (23), Jefferson (1), Josephine (17), Klamath (11), Lake (2), Lane (40), Lincoln (3), Linn (21), Malheur (3), Marion (29), Morrow (3), Multnomah (92), Polk (11), Sherman (2), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (5), Union (1), Wallowa (3), Wasco (3), Washington (61) and Yamhill (10).
Oregon Health Authority publishes COVID-19 variant dashboard
Starting today, the Oregon Health Authority is publishing a Tableau dashboard showing the cumulative count of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern or variants of interest in Oregon. (For additional information on COVID-19 variants, go here.)
The dashboard will include a map of variant cases broken down by Oregon’s seven Hospital Preparedness Program Regions, along with a time series showing variant cases in Oregon by collection date. The dashboard will be updated weekly on Wednesdays and include data through the previous Saturday.
In order to provide a more comprehensive picture of variant circulation in Oregon, OHA will update its variant counts on the new dashboard using data from the GISAID Initiative — a publicly available scientific database for genetic sequences. This will allow OHA to rapidly report historical data whenever definitions of variants of concern or variants of interest are updated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On March 16, the CDC reclassified the B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants as variants of concern. These variants have been circulating in Oregon since late 2020 and had not been previously reportable.
Oregon will continue to ask all laboratory partners to promptly report all variants of concern (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.427 and B.1.429) and variants of interest (B.1.525, B.1.526 and P.2) to public health authorities in order to inform case investigation and contact tracing.
OHA to report COVID-19 vaccine spoilage, mishaps
Starting this week, Oregon Health Authority began publishing weekly reports with a table representing vaccination shipping mishaps, refrigeration fluctuations, breakage and/or vaccination expiration. Updates to the table, featured below, will occur every Tuesday and be featured in this daily media release. Vaccine providers report this information to OHA through the ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
“We believe that our health system partners are managing their vaccine responsibly and doing everything that they can to minimize waste,” said OHA Chief Financial Officer Dave Baden. “At this point, considering the logistical complexity of operating large-scale vaccination programs, the small amount of wasted vaccine in Oregon is expected and not surprising. This amount is a small fraction of the more than 2 million doses that have been safely delivered, managed and injected in the arms of Oregonians.”
Oregon Update Vaccine Waste Disclosure1,2,3
| Vaccine Type | Doses Recalled | Wasted/Spoiled/Expired | Grand Total |
| Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine | 42 | 42 | |
| Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine | 544 | 544 | |
| Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine | 70 | 70 | |
| Grand Total | 0 | 656 | 656 |
1Updated: 4/6/21 2Data source: ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS) 3Data is preliminary and subject to change
Definitions
Recalled doses: Examples of recalled doses include doses that have been recalled by the manufacturer or FDA.
Wasted doses: Examples of wasted doses include doses that have been destroyed due to breakage of vials, or improperly discarded doses.
Spoiled doses: Examples of spoiled doses include doses that have been left out too long or doses involved in a refrigeration or freezer failure.
Expired doses: Examples of expired doses include doses that are past their labeled expiration dates.
It is important to remember that vaccine wastage is a normal part of distributing vaccine and occurs infrequently.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 36,104 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 24,097 doses were administered on April 6 and 12,007 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on April 6.
Oregon has now administered a total of 1,057,696 doses of Pfizer, 952,957 doses of Moderna and 55,505 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 802,090 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,313,016 people who have had at least one dose.
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).
To date, 1,340,235 doses of Pfizer, 1,198,000 doses of Moderna and 170,400 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines 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.
Weekly COVID-19 cases increase; deaths and hospitalizations rise
The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released today, shows increased daily cases and increases in hospitalizations and deaths from the previous week.
OHA reported 2,964 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 29 through Sunday, April 4. That represents a 21% increase from the previous week.
New COVID-19 related hospitalizations rose to 150, up from 137 last week.
Reported COVID-19 related deaths rose to 19, up from 10 last week.
There were 93,357 tests for COVID-19 for the week of March 28 through April 4 — an 1.4% increase from last week. The percentage of positive tests rose from 3.7% to 4.5%.
People 70 years of age and older have accounted for 40% of COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 77% of COVID-19 related deaths.
Today’s COVID-19 Weekly Outbreak Report shows 21 active COVID-19 outbreaks in senior living communities and congregate living settings, with three or more confirmed cases and one or more COVID-19 related deaths.
LOCAL HEADLINES:
Siletz Bay Music Festival Expecting To Be Live And In Person
PRODUCTION NOTES: WE’RE BACK!
Like much of the world, the Siletz Bay Music Festival board of directors is feeling a renewed sense of hope and energy, abetted in no small part by days of sunshine, daffodils bursting out everywhere, warmer temps, longer days, and a glimmer of anticipation for herd immunity.
As a result, we have been hard at work and have news to report. The most exciting news is that the 2021 live and in person Siletz Bay Music Festival will take place from September 4 – 12, 2021. Venues will include the Lincoln City Cultural Center, the beautiful and acoustically perfect Congregational Church, and possibly a few surprise locations.
Although the program has not been announced, you can look forward to chamber concerts, both classical and jazz, and some symphonic offerings as well. The gala opening on Saturday night will feature SBMF favorite Mei-Ting Sun in a recital performance. It has become a tradition for Mei-Ting to open the festival and we are delighted that at least in this respect, 2021 will be no different. Because the safety of our musicians and audience is our top priority, we will, of course, adhere to whatever guidelines exist at the time of the festival. That said, predictions for re-opening have been encouraging and we hope to have nearly full capacity and perhaps a relaxed requirement for wearing masks. We will let science be our guide.
In the meantime, the board has not been hibernating. We’ve used the opportunity presented by the lack of production activities during this period to recruit new members. We are happy to welcome Mark Irmscher, Lewis Smith, Wendy Wilson and Amy White to the Siletz Bay Music Festival Board of Directors. It might seem like September is a long way off, but days, weeks and months have been zipping by and before we know it the festival will be upon is. And so, it is necessary to begin volunteer organizing now. Besides being of service to your festival, volunteering is a great way to get closer to the music and the musicians.
There are many opportunities for volunteer service; here a just a few.
Housing: We hope to house our musicians, like always, in the homes of volunteers. Again, we will abide by CDC and state guidelines but acting as if this will be a viable solution to housing, we need to start now lining up possible residences.
Meals: We hope volunteers can supply at least some meals for musicians, either lunches or dinners. In the past it has worked well for groups, i.e., book club, knitting club, bridge or mah jong group members to create festive meals together. Or if you as an individual have a specialty, e.g., soups, salads, desserts, or other dishes, those could be incorporated into any meal.
With nine days of performances, there is always a need for house and production staff i.e., box office, program distribution, ushering, stagehand, etc. Perhaps you have a creative talent you think could benefit the festival and would like to be more involved. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us .If you have a home you’re willing to share, a dish you’re willing to prepare or are able to support your festival in any way, please email info@siletzbaymusic.org to offer your services. We look forward to working with you.
Yaki is still hard at work creating another wonderful festival program. The schedule will be announced in early May and tickets will be on sale in early June. We hope you are as excited as we are that things are opening up and moving forward. Hope to see you all in September, if not sooner.
– Board of Directors
FOR MORE INFO: https://siletzbaymusic.org/
A Network of Organizations in Clatsop County Hope To Prevent Childhood Trauma
A network of more than 20 organizations in Clatsop County, including schools, hospitals and social services agencies, hopes to prevent childhood trauma through increased education and outreach.
The Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization began laying the groundwork for Resilient Clatsop County in 2018 after identifying community resilience and trauma-informed care as one of eight regional health improvement strategic priority areas. The coordinated care organization is part of CareOregon and oversees the Oregon Health Plan in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.
The organization hired Angel Escobedo, a senior program development specialist, to establish networks in Clatsop and Columbia counties and develop a five-year strategic plan for implementing trauma-informed policies, programs and best practices.
Escobedo said the goal is to eventually embed the network into the community and make it self-sustaining.
“We’re a collection of organizations and we have a single goal, but we’re working across sectors and coming together to do this because it’s the kind of issue that if school districts go at it alone, it’s not solvable by one sector or by one organization,” Escobedo said. “This kind of issue requires that we work across sectors in order to really address this issue.
“Because children are touched by all these different systems, so it’s important to have all of these different systems involved.”
Amber Bowman, a school counselor at Astoria High School and Gray School, is looking forward to expanding education about adverse childhood experiences and reducing stigma.
According to the coordinated care organization, adults who were exposed to four or more categories of adverse childhood experiences are seven times as likely to experience alcoholism, three to five times as likely to experience depression, 13 times as likely to attempt suicide and 10 times as likely to use intravenous drugs.
The most common types of adverse childhood experiences reported by Oregonians are emotional and physical abuse, household substance abuse and parental separation or divorce.
Bowman said many of her students have high adverse childhood experience scores, and she sees and hears about the impacts of family trauma on a daily basis.
“I think one of the biggest things that I’m excited about is that there are resources that exist in our community and there are people that are passionate about thinking outside of the box and creating new resources that meet the needs of our families,” she said. “But a lot of times there’s a lack of knowledge of those resources, there’s a lack of communication across the community, across providers.
“I want to know everything that there is available in our community so that I can ensure that my students and their families are aware of everything that’s out there available to them to help support them.”
Bowman also hopes Resilient Clatsop County will address gaps in resources and education through a multicultural lens. She believes options like Gray School, which hosts an alternative school program that provides a supportive and flexible schedule, are better suited for students with complex needs.
As part of its early work, the network implemented “Handle With Care,” a national model that connects law enforcement with schools when a child is involved in or witnesses a traumatic event that involved law enforcement.
Police can call the child’s school and share their name and the words “handle with care” so teachers know to offer support instead of discipline.
“As people continue to become aware of the impact of trauma on the brain, especially the developing brain of youth, and of the frequent negative health outcomes those who experience early childhood trauma face, there is increasing opportunity to help develop ways we can work together as a community to help counter the effects of trauma by increasing the resiliency of children and families,” Allison Whisenhunt, the director of behavioral health and care management at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, said in an email.
“We know that even one positive, dependable adult in a child’s life is an incredible resiliency builder, and since our children interact with so many parts of our community, Resilient Clatsop County (RCC) has developed a plan for people from a variety of different sectors to collaboratively increase the ability for kiddos to heal from trauma and to know they are important and loved.
“At the heart of it is safety, so while trauma prevention is important, helping children who have experienced trauma feel safe is key.”
Whisenhunt said she hopes that by helping children build resilience and heal from trauma, future parents will be better equipped to help their children avoid and heal from trauma, improving health outcomes in the county.
“The fact that so many people, community-based organizations, school districts, et al. have joined forces to establish this network is testimony to how serious we are in building trauma-informed and resilience-building initiatives,” Aitor Porro, the assistant director at Consejo Hispano, said in an email. “Together, we can better understand ‘the science’ and how we can apply it in our sectors and communities by providing community-based education and public awareness, which is paramount to helping families.”
AROUND the STATE of OREGON
Youth Conservation Corps Program at Lava Beds National Monument Cancelled
Due to health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Youth Conservation Corps program at Lava Beds National Monument has been canceled for the summer of 2021.
After consideration of ways to mitigate the health risks that COVID-19 presents to staff and community members, the Parks Service announced Tuesday that it “could not effectively manage and implement a summer YCC conservation work crew in a manner that did not unreasonably endanger participants and the public. Furthermore, the park does not have its usual complement of staff that would oversee this program due to seasonal staff housing limits related to COVID-19 safety issues, and staffing shortfalls.”
The YCC program at Lava Beds has operated for decades and the plan is for it to return in 2022. When available, the program provides summer employment for Tulelake and Klamath Basin youth. Crews typically work to improve trails and complete other tasks.
Oregon House Judiciary Committee Unanimously Approved Almost a Dozen Bills on Police Reform
Republicans and Democrats on the Oregon House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved almost a dozen bills on police reform, a rare show of bipartisan unity in an otherwise bitterly divided Legislature.
The bills approved Tuesday evening involve regulating use of tear gas, requiring a publicly accessible database that names officers disciplined for misconduct, and limiting arbitrators’ decisions on officers’ misconduct cases.
Gov. Kate Brown congratulated the committee for pushing forward so many reforms in the wake of the death of George Floyd last May in Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter demonstrations were held in cities across Oregon after Floyd died in police custody. In Portland, large protests went on for more than 100 straight days.
Senate Recall Effort
Oregon state Senate Minority Leader Fred Girod faces a recall effort because he was among GOP lawmakers who allowed the chamber to reach a quorum last month while it debated whether to ban firearms in state buildings. Girod and five fellow Republicans were on hand March 25, ensuring the chamber had the minimum 20 members present required to take up business.
Republicans in the state Senate have previously skipped floor sessions en masse to thwart legislation favored by majority Democrats. The gun bill passed over GOP objections. On Monday, a Molalla resident named LaVaedra Newton filed a prospective petition to bounce Girod from the Senate seat he’s held since 2008. Newton and others say Girod abdicated his duty by not blocking the gun bill.
To successfully force a recall election, Newton will need to collect at least 8,922 valid signatures from voters in Girod’s district by July 6. In recent years, recall petitions against two state legislators — former Democratic state Rep. Tiffiny Mitchell of Astoria and Republican state Sen. Chuck Thomsen of Hood River — have come up short. So have five petitions to recall Gov. Kate Brown.
Portland Reaches Deal On Proposals Intended To Stem Spike In Gun Violence
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, and city commissioners have reached a deal on proposals intended to stem a spike in gun violence over the past year. The compromise, expected to be would re-establish a proactive team of uniformed police officers tasked with preventing shootings. The team would operate with greater civilian oversight than its disbanded predecessor.
The move represents an about-face after city leaders in June voted to cut nearly $16 million from the police budget, reductions that included the elimination of the gun violence unit. The cuts came amid racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Under the deal, the council would also provide millions of dollars to community organizations for anti-violence work and authorize the hiring of two dozen unarmed park rangers, as a trio of commissioners proposed last week, according to the proposals.
Oregon Senate Passes Bill That Would Require High School Students Take A Semester Of Civics Education Prior To Graduation.
The Oregon Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would require high school students take a semester of civics education prior to graduation. Senate Bill 513 was carried by Republican lawmakers, but it passed the chamber with widespread bipartisan support in a 25-3 vote.
The Oregon Department of Education already has standards in place for civics and government studies, but the bill ensures that students receive dedicated class time over a semester-long course. Students will need to complete at least a one-half credit in civics to receive a high school diploma, though that requirement does not apply until 2026.
Republicans said that the bill has broad support from educators, Oregon business leaders, government officials, and other citizens. The bill now goes onto the Oregon House of Representatives for consideration. The House version of the bill is introduced by Democratic Rep. Paul Evans.
Junction City Man Sentenced To 204 Years In Prison for Sex Abuse Charges
A Junction City man was sentenced to 204 years in prison on 22 charges, including 21 felony sex crimes, in Linn County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Michael Ray Long, 37, was sentenced by Judge Rachel Kittson-MaQatish after he was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, five counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, three counts of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, three counts of first-degree sodomy and one count of strangulation in February. Kittson-MaQatish also presided over the trial.
The jury found Long guilty on the charges after approximately an hour of deliberation.
Elijah Brown, one of Long’s court-appointed attorneys, declined to comment on the sentence when reached Tuesday evening. Long’s other court-appointed attorney, Kent Hickam, and Linn County prosecutor Julia Baker could not be reached for comment.
Investigators began looking into Long, who was living in Tangent at the time, after they were notified he had inappropriate interactions with a middle school-aged girl on Facebook. That investigation uncovered a second victim, a girl of elementary school age.
At the time of Long’s arrest, Baker said the conduct occurred over a period of 18 months.
According to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, investigators believe there may be more victims. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Tracy White at 541-917-6652.
State Officials Investigating Cause of Fire at Home Where Three Recent Murders Happened in Bend
The cause of a fire in a home that was the scene of multiple murders in Bend is under investigation by the State Fire Marshall and Oregon State Police.
Bend Fire & Rescue responded to the blaze just before 11 Tuesday night that gutted the home on Granite Drive.
Brothers-in-law Jeffrey Taylor and Benjamin Taylor – both in their 60’s – were found dead in the home last month, and in January 43 year old Daphne Banks was beaten so badly in the home she later died after being taken off of life support.
35 year old Randall Kilby of Bend has been charged with all three of the murders. He and his mother had been living in the home with the Taylors when the murders took place.