Coronavirus wipes out Spring Break on the Oregon coast, devastating businesses and threatening workers

March 19, 2020

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com Shuttered restaurants. Closed gift shops and visitors’ centers. Hotel, motel and other lodging reservations cancelled by the hundreds, all over fears of a coronavirus pandemic. Welcome to spring break 2020 on the Oregon coast. Most years, spring break is the time when tourism-related businesses begin ramping up for the summer high season. The influx of travelers to

Oregon official says state is quickly running through protective equipment for hospital workers

March 19, 2020

JAKE THOMAS/Oregon Capital Bureau Health care providers in Oregon are running out of protective masks, surgical gowns and other personal protective equipment that protects them from contracting the coronavirus. “I am deeply concerned that within the next short weeks we will have providers who need to treat patients without masks, without face shields and those kinds of things,” Oregon Health

Hospital group urges “stay in place” order; governor says she’s not ready to do that

March 19, 2020

By JAKE THOMAS/Oregon Capital Bureau The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems has called on Gov. Kate Brown to issue a shelter-in-place order requiring most businesses to close and require Oregonians to hunker down in their homes during the coronavirus outbreak. “Yesterday, our board recommended that the governor take the strongest possible action when it comes to social distancing

Newport hospital using earthquake disaster plan to guide its coronavirus response, sets up drive-through testing

March 19, 2020

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport is using a plan developed for a giant offshore earthquake to guide preparation for what it expects to be a wave of coronavirus patients. But unlike a tsunami that would inundate the central Oregon coast without warning, Samaritan Pacific administrators and staff have used the past week to prepare as

Yachats church becomes center for community help during coronavirus outbreak

March 19, 2020

Yachats Community Presbyterian Church gave out $1,000 Friday to laid-off hospitality workers, the first day of its growing effort to help those in need. Earlier in the week the church assumed operation of the community’s food bank, which normally operates out of the Yachats Commons. The city closed that building Tuesday. The initial money for suddenly unemployed workers came from

Lincoln County schools scrambling to adapt to impact of closing schools for six weeks

March 19, 2020

Lincoln County School District administrators and staffers are scrambling to adjust to the state-ordered six-week shutdown of all schools – including how to figure out credits for graduating seniors to continuing to provide meals to its 5,500 students. Superintendent Karen Gray said Wednesday that while many issues are in flux, educators had this week received some clarification about Gov.

Oregon lawmakers hear first reports on impact of coronavirus — and it’s not good

March 18, 2020

By JAKE THOMAS/Oregon Capital Bureau As the coronavirus outbreak continues to disrupt daily life across Oregon, legislators had their first discussion Wednesday on the Legislature’s possible response to the pandemic. With some legislators attending via video chat, the Joint Special Committee on Coronavirus Response for four hour listened to a dismal outlook offered by government officials and a range of

New group of government and corporate leaders exploring ways to help Oregon workers, businesses

March 18, 2020

By SAM STITES/Oregon Capital Bureau A team of Oregon’s top government and business leaders are looking at every state program and agency to confront the economic erosion created by the outbreak of COVID-19. On Tuesday, Gov. Kate Brown convened her 28-member Coronavirus Economic Advisory Council that comprises the heads of state agencies, executives of Oregon’s major business groups, leaders of

Oregon Health Authority sets up temporary, emergency hospital at state fairgrounds in Salem

March 18, 2020

By DICK HUGHES/The Oregon Capital Bureau Oregon is erecting a 250-bed temporary hospital in Salem so as to free up other hospital beds around the state for coronavirus patients. The Oregon Medical Station is a mobile emergency hospital that the state purchased several years ago in case of a health crisis. Gov. Kate Brown said the facility, which is

Oregon governor extends school closure until April 28; Lincoln County district will continue with meal service

March 17, 2020

By the Oregon Capital Bureau and YachatsNews.com Oregon’s schools now are closed for six weeks. Gov. Kate Brown announced the extended school closure late Tuesday, hours after talking with reporters by phone and announcing that 150 of the state’s 197 school districts had found ways to provide meals to children. On Monday, Brown had said she was still considering whether