Oregon coronavirus updates, May 27: National Guard distributes 135,000 masks to farmers
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We'll update this story throughout the day with the latest news about coronavirus and its effects in Oregon on Wednesday, May 27.
UPDATE at 5:10 p.m.
National Guard distributes 135,000 face masks to agricultural producers
Approximately 135,000 face coverings were delivered to farm managers and producers at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem Wednesday as part of a program by the Oregon Army National Guard, the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon State University Extension program.
The program intends to deliver more than 900,000 face coverings to seasonal and migrant agricultural workers in the next few days to ensure their safety and limit the spread of COVID-19, according to a release from the National Guard.
“The Oregon National Guard is so proud to do our part to ensure the safety of essential workers,” said Oregon Army National Guard Land Component Commander Brig. Gen. William Prendergast IV. “
"We are here to help the Oregon Department of Agriculture," said William Prendergast IV, Land Component Commander Brig. Gen. with the Oregon Army National Guard. "We are all truly in this together."
The Oregon National Guard has mobilized more than 200 since March to help distribute personal protective equipment throughout Oregon.
— Bill Poehler
UPDATE at 3:35 p.m.
City of Dallas postpones summer events
The city of Dallas has announced the postponement of summer events, citing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision affects Red White Boom!, Krazy Dayz and the summer concert series, which will be pushed to 2021 since the anticipated number of attendees are expected to exceed mass gathering restrictions imposed by the state.
Staff will attempt to schedule a fireworks display in the late summer or early fall, the city said.
— Lee Clarkson
UPDATE at 3 p.m.
Salem Windermere office raises $6,500 for food share
Windermere Real Estate offices in 10 states raised nearly $700,000 in 13 days for food banks in their communities whose operations, and the people they serve, have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Offices in Oregon and Southwest Washington contributed nearly $170,000 for approximately 50 food banks or nonprofits that distribute food in the region.
Windermere Pacific West Properties in Salem raised $6,500 for Marion Polk Food Share.
“There is one constant in this pandemic and it’s that people who struggle with poverty are having difficulty getting their most basic needs met,” said Christine Wood, executive director of the Windermere Foundation, which inspired the Neighbors in Need fundraising campaign with a matching donation of up to $250,000. “We’re answering the call and rallying our troops in an effort to help food banks keep up with unprecedented needs.”
For the past 35 years, Windermere Real Estate has closed its doors on the first Friday in June to participate in the company’s annual Community Service Day, when nearly 9,000 owners, brokers, and staff volunteer in their local neighborhoods. This year, Windermere replaced Community Service Day with the Neighbors in Need campaign to immediately help food banks.
“Our brokers have upheld Windermere’s ongoing commitment to community service for 35 years. Unfortunately, the need for us to step up has never been greater,” said Scott Mitchelson, president of Windermere Services Company in Oregon and southwest Washington. “We are committed to doing our part to ensure that our neighbors make it to the other side of this crisis.”
— Capi Lynn
Update at 2:30 p.m.
Some Columbia River Gorge trails, parks reopen
Some trails and day use sites in the Columbia River Gorge are reopening Wednesday, while crowded sites including most waterfall viewing areas, campgrounds, and visitor’s centers will stay closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, state and federal agencies said.
Officials from Washington and Oregon, along with the USDA Forest Service, said Wednesday that land managers followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health authorities’ guidance for the outdoor recreation sector in deciding what could reopen.
The public should expect fewer available trails, activities, and services in the gorge through the summer, officials said, because reopening in full likely will span several months.
Decisions are being made in the interest of protecting the health of the public as well as local communities and agency employees, and sites could close again if crowded conditions are deemed unsafe, officials said. Agencies are coordinating access to public lands and waterways in a way that encourages visitors to disperse across as many alternative recreation opportunities as possible, officials said.
Most waterfalls, including Multnomah Falls and others along the stretch of the Historic Columbia River Highway remain shut because they draw millions of visitors from around the world each summer. Dog Mountain, Beacon Rock Trail, and several other narrow hiking trails also remain closed.
The driveable portion of the Historic Columbia River Highway, also known as US 30 or the Scenic Byway, is also still closed between Larch Mountain Road and Ainsworth.
The Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail is now open to pedestrians and bicyclists from Hood River to Mosier as well as many day use trails, parks and other sites on both the Washington and Oregon sides of the river.
Visitors are asked to plan ahead by checking agency websites or ReadySetGorge.com to see what is open and to consider alternate recreation activities in case their first choice is too crowded.
— Associated Press
Update at 1:45 p.m.
Six more positive tests in Marion County
Six more people in Marion County have tested positive for COVID-19, according to new data released Wednesday by the Oregon Health Authority, and the state has now had over 4,000 cases.
Marion County now has 920 presumed cases of COVID-19 positive cases and Oregon has 4,038.
No new deaths in Oregon from the coronavirus were reported Wednesday.
The largest age ranges of those with positive cases are from ages 50 to 59 (701) with those age 40 to 49 second (693) and those 30 to 39 (685) with the third highest incidence. The highest death rate, however, remains those 80 and over (69).
There are currently 146 patients hospitalized in Oregon with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, Salem Health had eight patients with positive tests for COVID-19 and the hospital system had 31 more in house with results pending.
-Bill Poehler
COVID-19 by the numbers in Oregon
Here's the most recent data from OHA, as of Wednesday, May 27:
- 148: Deaths from COVID-19
- 146: People hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19
- 16: Patients placed on ventilators
- 4,038: Total cases
- 112,954: Tests that were negative
- 116,901: Total number of tests given, since Jan. 24
Plans to reopen Enchanted Forest rejected by governor's office
Enchanted Forest’s plans to reopen for private family tours were denied by Gov. Kate Brown’s office.
The amusement park just south of Salem intended to reopen for the season to family groups with a maximum of 10 people.
Park officials planned to have multiple family groups throughout the day while individual groups kept a safe distance from each other and have each attraction sanitized after use.
The plans were rejected Friday in a note from the governor's office, said Enchanted Forest co-owner Susan Vaslev.
Brown's office launched the state's reopening plan May 15, but gatherings of more than 25 people are still prohibited and some businesses, such as amusement parks, must stay closed.
"We're very hopeful that they can work with us in phase two because we're pretty desperate with no income coming in," Vaslev said.
The park was set to reopen March 20 to catch spring breakers, and Memorial Day weekend crowds. The park has taken out two loans to help with maintenance and winter expenses, as well as payroll.
"We're not talking about being irresponsible," she said. "I'd never want to put anybody at risk and we feel like we're on top of doing everything possible to keep families safe.
"We'd be happy with one (family)," she said. "Even that would help. There's a big difference between having no public coming in versus even one family a day."
2 more churches sue Gov. Brown over gathering restrictions
Two additional churches are suing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, saying her social gathering restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic violate their constitutional right to the freedom of religion and assembly.
The Edgewater Christian Fellowship in Grants Pass and the Church of God of Prophecy in Roseburg on Tuesday filed a federal suit in U.S. District Court in Eugene against Brown, the Oregon Health Authority director, Oregon state police superintendent and the Josephine and Douglas county sheriffs, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Both churches believe they are “called to’’ resume in-person worship services after suspending them in compliance with the state’s “Stay Home Save Lives’’ orders, according to the suit. They want to resume in-person worship services on May 31 with social distancing, hand-washing and other sanitary protocol, their lawyer Steve Elzinga wrote in the suit.
Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization, are representing the two churches and their pastors.
It comes as the state Supreme Court prepares to decide whether a Baker County judge’s May 18 preliminary injunction, which found the governor’s emergency coronavirus order restrictions “null and void,” should stand or be dismissed. The injunction stemmed from a lawsuit filed in rural Baker County Circuit Court by 10 churches and 21 other individuals.
According to the suit, the Edgewater Christian Fellowship on March 17 suspended in-person worship services and began conducting services online. As of Sunday, Josephine County had no active COVID-19 cases and had recorded 25 total cases since the outbreak, the suit says.
Roseburg Church of God of Prophecy on March 16 suspended in-person worship services and began conducting services online. Between March 8 and Sunday, there have been 25 known COVID-19 positive cases in Douglas County.
— Associated Press
Small wineries staggered by impact of COVID-19
The nation’s $30 billion wine industry stands to lose nearly $6 billion this year, with smaller wineries getting hit the hardest, according to a report prepared for the Wine Institute by Jon Moramarco, editor and partner with the Gomberg-Fredrikson Report.
Wineries producing 1,000 to 5,000 cases a year could lose 47.5% of their revenue in 2020 due to tasting room and restaurant closures. Those producing fewer than 1,000 cases could see a 66% plunge.
The industry's salvation could become the e-sales, as stay-at-home orders propel online wine purchases, says e-commerce expert Paul Mabray, CEO of Emetry.io.
“We are the last industry not to be changed by the internet in a meaningful way. Now wineries are learning on the fly,” Mabray says.
– Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY
69 Vancouver fruit plant employees, 15 close contacts test positive
VANCOUVER — The number of employees at a Vancouver, Washington, fruit processing facility who have tested positive for COVID-19 is now up to 69. Clark County Public Health said Tuesday that another 15 people identified as close contacts of those cases have also tested positive.
KGW reported that Firestone Pacific Foods said 87 employees have tested negative for the virus, and there are still a few of its employees who need to be tested. The company said there are no known hospitalizations involving its workers.
The outbreak was discovered May 17 when an employee tested positive for the coronavirus. After learning of the positive test, the company shut down its production facility, but the number of workers known to be infected with COVID-19 has continued to grow.
Clark County Public Health says a total of 165 employees and 83 close contacts have been tested. Additional testing of employees and close contacts is expected.
“By being proactive, we have hopefully kept this outbreak contained to Firestone employees and close contacts, and prevented the outbreak from spreading into the community," Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and Public Health director, said in a statement.
At this time, there is no evidence the outbreak has spread beyond Firestone employees and their close contacts, county officials said.
— Associated Press
Oregon COVID-19 cases by county
Here are the number of cases, both tested positive and presumptive, and deaths as of Wednesday, May 27:
- Baker: 1 case
- Benton: 55 cases, 5 deaths
- Clackamas: 300 cases, 10 deaths
- Clatsop: 45 cases
- Columbia: 16 cases
- Coos: 31 cases
- Crook: 6 cases
- Curry: 6 cases
- Deschutes: 120 cases
- Douglas: 25 cases
- Gilliam: 0 cases
- Grant: 1 case
- Harney: 1 case
- Hood River: 13 cases
- Jackson: 65 cases
- Jefferson: 24 cases
- Josephine: 25 cases, 1 death
- Klamath: 41 cases
- Lake: 0 cases
- Lane: 67 cases, 2 deaths
- Lincoln: 11 cases
- Linn: 115 cases, 9 deaths
- Malheur: 28 cases
- Marion: 920 cases, 25 deaths
- Morrow: 12 cases
- Multnomah: 1093 cases, 58 deaths
- Polk: 98 cases, 10 deaths
- Sherman: 1 case
- Tillamook: 6 cases
- Umatilla: 112 cases, 3 deaths
- Union: 6 cases
- Wallowa: 2 cases
- Wasco: 20 cases, 1 death
- Washington: 703 cases, 17 deaths
- Wheeler: 0 cases
- Yamhill: 67 cases, 7 deaths
Source: Oregon Health Authority