The latest local news of the Willamette Valley covering Eugene, Springfield and nearby communities and around the state of Oregon, from WillametteValleyMagazine.com.
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2020
Willamette Valley Weather
Today Sunny, with a high near 93. Overnight, cloudy with a low around 55.
Friday Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 86.
Saturday Sunny, with a high near 84.
Sunday Sunny, with a high near 85.
Monday Sunny, with a high near 82.
Today’s Headlines
Oregon reports 304 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 8 new deaths
COVID-19 has claimed eight more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 311, the Oregon Health Authority reported this morning. Oregon Health Authority reported 304 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 17,721.
The new confirmed cases are in the following counties: Benton (3), Clackamas (28), Clatsop (1), Crook (3), Deschutes (16), Douglas (2), Hood River (7), Jackson (13), Jefferson (5), Josephine (4), Klamath (2), Lane (13), Lincoln (2), Linn (1), Malheur (20), Marion (20), Morrow (5), Multnomah (82), Polk (4), Umatilla (4), Union (1), Wallowa (1), Wasco (3), Washington (51) and Yamhill (13).
Lane County Public Health reported 13 new cases of coronavirus. This brings the total of confirmed and presumptive cases to 474. Of those, 37 are considered infectious and five are hospitalized. More than 39,700 tests have been conducted.
For everyone, to protect yourself from Covid-19:
Keep your distance by maintaining six feet of social or physical distancing between yourself and others.
Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, utilizing hand sanitizer when washing facilities are not available.
Sanitize surfaces that are often touched. Avoid gatherings of any size where social or physical distancing is not possible.
To protect others around you, cover coughs and sneezes. Stay home when sick.
Wear a clean mask in public spaces, including outdoors when six feet of social distance cannot be maintained.
Last night, three members of the group Black Unity were arrested after a protest turned into a violent confrontation with police in a Springfield neighborhood according to authorities. Black Unity, which has been organizing protests throughout the Eugene-Springfield areas for weeks, staged an event at Jesse Maine Memorial Park in Thurston Wednesday night.
People saw police and protesters wrestling at the barricade line. Protesters continued to march back to Jessie Maine Memorial Park, where counter-protesters then met them. People from both sides told us they had been punched, slapped, or hit with pepper spray.
One spokesperson of the group said “There was talk around the town of an angry mob coming to destroy the homes of people around Thurston, which is not true. We were just going to be protesting through a residential area.”
The Springfield Police Department have not commented as of today.
Gov. Brown and leaders from the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education shared new guidance about schools and how they might operate this fall saying there’s no simple, statewide answer for every school in Oregon.
It is important to get students back to class, but how that is done that depends on a number of important factors, such as: prevalence of the virus, availability of testing, the capacity of the local health care system to provide quality care and the readiness of the public health system to work with schools to contain any outbreaks. Oregon’s Ready Schools, Safe Learners guidance outlines three learning options for Oregon schools:
- On-site: Students attend in person full-time.
- Hybrid: Students attend in person part time and do distance learning part-time.
- Comprehensive Distance Learning: Students learn remotely, experiencing daily interaction with teachers who will guide the student’s full educational experience. This option will provide additional supports for mental, social and emotional health, as well as family engagement.
Oregon public health officials evidence-based metrics is to help school boards and school districts make local decisions based on local conditions, to determine how they can safely reopen school. The guidance offers some exceptions to address that communities across Oregon are dealing with a variety of circumstances and no one solution fits all. It also prioritizes in-person learning for kindergarten through third grade.
Schools need everyone in the community to help students safely return to the classroom and keep them in school. We can suppress COVID-19 and return to levels where we can safely reopen schools if we all do our part.
- Wear a mask or face-covering.
- Maintain physical distance.
- Avoid large group get-togethers.
Leaving Portland or not? Federal agents who have clashed with protesters in Portland, Oregon, will begin a “phased withdrawal” from the city, Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday. But is that true?
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement the plan negotiated with Brown over the last 24 hours includes a “robust presence” of Oregon State Police in the downtown of the state’s largest city.
Federal agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin leaving the city’s downtown area on Thursday, Brown said. Federal Protective Service agents — who are always posted at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse — will work alongside state police to guard the exterior of the courthouse and a limited number of other federal agents will remain inside the courthouse, she said.
The heat of summer is here across the state, and with extreme temperatures and dry conditions comes increased risks. Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management offers a few simple tips to help Oregonians keep cool, stay safe and prevent wildfires as we all navigate the continued impacts of COVID-19.
- Staying home to prevent the spread of COVID? Keep windows and blinds closed to stay cool indoors and make sure to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
- When you need to be outdoors, stay close to home, bring a water bottle with you and limit activity to early in the day or later in the evening when temperatures are cooler.
- Heading out to cool off in the water? Plan ahead, know the risks and don’t forget those life jackets.
- Be sure to wear face coverings when you cannot maintain a distance of at least six feet from others. Switch to a cotton bandana or scarf if your normal face covering is too heavy or thick to wear in the heat.
- Check on family members and neighbors, especially the elderly, those who live alone or who may need special assistance. Remember, you can visit in person as long as you stay at least six feet away, but a call, text or video-chat works as well and reduces the risk of COVID exposure.
- It’s everyone’s responsibility to help prevent human-caused wildfires. Know your local fire restrictions and always pack a water source and a shovel. If you make a campfire, be sure it’s dead out before leaving. To learn about restrictions and wildfire activities at home, at work and when you are out and about, visit www.KeepOregonGreen.org/prevent-wildfires.
Above all, know your risks and be prepared for them. OEM’s 2 Weeks Ready initiative offers a real way each of us can help ourselves and our communities prepare for the next emergency.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services (APHIS-WS) today renewed their partnership for alleviating human-wildlife conflicts on BLM-administered public lands.
An updated Memorandum of Understanding clarifies respective roles and responsibilities for wildlife damage management and reducing predation on livestock across more than 245 million acres of public lands, mostly in the West and Alaska.
The MOU will remain in effect for five years and replaces the previous agreement, signed in 2012.“Under the Trump Administration, the BLM has increased access to and recreational opportunities on public lands. Reaffirming our partnership with APHIS-Wildlife Services allows us to take steps to protect the safety and the recreational experience of public land visitors and their pets while helping to ensure abundant wildlife,” said BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley.
“We also recognize the livestock community, as well as those with small children and pets in the urban-rural interface areas, must be protected from attacks by dangerous predators.”