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TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 58. Low overnight of 29.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 64.
Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 63.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 64.
Saturday
A chance of rain and snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 50.
Road Conditions
Traveling? Click and check these cameras below for the latest road conditions.
Lake of the Woods Hiway 140
Greensprings Drive at Hiway 97
Doak Mountain looking east
Chemult, Oregon
LaPine, Oregon
Bly, Oregon
Medford at I-5 -Biddle Road & Crater Lake Parkway
Today’s Headlines
Klamath Falls is getting a new department store, but the brand name may be unfamiliar to those who haven’t spent much time in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S.
Gordmans celebrates its grand opening in Klamath Falls Town Center at 1851 Avalon Street on March 17 at 9 a.m. The company says that it will donate $1,000 to Klamath Union High School following a ribbon cutting.
The company said that the first 100 guests in line next Tuesday morning will receive a Gordmans insulated tote bag and get an opportunity to win a $50 gift card or $5 shopping card.
Gordmans is part of the Midwest-based Stage community of stores, and this will be the first Gordmans location in any of the West Coast states. The closest locations are in Nevada and Idaho.
The Klamath County Sheriff’s Office now says that it has found and arrested the “person of interest” connected to a shooting that happened in Klamath Falls last Monday evening.
Deputies and officers from Klamath Falls Police arrested 29-year-old Manuel Rangel Jr. in the 100-block of Main Street. The Sheriff’s Office said that his arrest was the “direct result” of tips received through the agency’s tip-line.
Around 5 p.m., deputies responded to the 4300-block of Carlon Way after someone reported a man who had been shot in the leg. When the deputies arrived, they wound the man in question with a gunshot wound to the lower leg that did not appear to be life-threatening.
Rangel was taken to the Klamath County Jail on charges of Assault I, Assault II, Robbery I, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and two counts of Felon in Possession of a Weapon.
An investigation found that the shooting happened after the victim and another person were struggling for control of a rifle. The suspect reportedly ran away on foot with both the rifle and a handgun.
A Sheriff’s Office Air unit and a K9 team from Klamath Falls Police tried searching the area for the suspect, but were unsuccessful.
There have been multiple shootings in the Klamath Falls area over the past week. The Sheriff’s Office has also identified a person of interest in a shooting on Summers Lane, but there has been no further information released in a shooting out on Bedfield Cemetery Road.
Governor Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in Oregon to address the spread of the novel coronavirus after the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) identified seven new cases of COVID-19 in Oregon, bringing the total to 14. confirmed the executive order in writing Monday morning.
Governor Brown’s emergency declaration allows OHA to activate reserves of emergency volunteer health care professionals, bringing online auxiliary medical professionals to work with local health authorities to identify and contain new cases of COVID-19 in Oregon.
The declaration additionally grants broad authority to the State Public Health Director, OHA, and the Office of Emergency Management, which will allow the agencies to take immediate action and devote all available state resources towards containing the coronavirus in Oregon.
To date, Klamath County has one presumed case of Covid-19 but officials stress it is a travel related illness and is not a threat to the general public.
Lawmakers on the Oregon Emergency Board approved $5 million in emergency funds early Monday for the state’s response to coronavirus.
That follows Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s declaration of a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus. The state of emergency remains in effect for 60 days, but could be extended if necessary.
“This emergency declaration gives the Oregon Health Authority and the Office of Emergency Management all the resources at our state’s disposal to stem the spread of this disease,” Brown said in a press conference Sunday.
The number of presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus in Oregon doubled again as of Sunday morning, with seven new cases – one in Douglas County, one in Marion County and five more in Washington County. That brings the Oregon total to 14.
The emergency declaration allows OHA to activate reserves of emergency volunteer health care professionals, bringing “auxiliary medical professionals” to work with local health authorities to identify and contain new cases throughout the state.
“This is particularly important because of the cases identified in rural Oregon – it unlocks valuable support to help local public health authorities,” Brown said.
The declaration also “grants broad authority to the State Public Health Director, OHA and the Office of Emergency Management, allowing the agencies to take immediate action and devote all available state resources towards containing the coronavirus in Oregon.”
Oregon Focuses Testing On Most At-Risk
Oregon health officials said Sunday that the state is specifically focusing on containing COVID-19 among vulnerable at-risk populations, including older adults, people with underlying conditions and the unhoused. OHA said the agency is working with homeless service providers and care facilities for the elderly.
Testing is still limited to patients at highest risk – people who have severe viral lung infections, have traveled to high-risk locations or have come into close contact with confirmed cases. OHA is finalizing agreements with major hospital systems to expand locations where COVID-19 tests can be conducted safely. So far, tests could only be conducted at one lab for the entire state, at the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory. Officials also aim to expand “telemedicine” for patients so they can be screened without coming into a clinic or hospital.
The state administration and health departments are also collaborating with hospitals. According to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, OAHHS is working with the state administration to address needs in supplies, capacity and staffing.
“Hospitals are on the front lines responding to the outbreak and are committed to providing critical inpatient and community health services to respond to this evolving situation,” said OAHHS President and CEO Becky Hultberg in a statement.
On a call with reporters Sunday afternoon, OHA director Patrick Allen said his agency expects to get additional testing capacity up and running soon. But Allen couldn’t say how quickly the capacity would occur, or how many more tests it could mean Oregon would conduct on a daily basis.
Oregon Officials Not Recommending Schools, Colleges Close
Authorities said they expect to see more cases, but emphasized that everyone can take actions to reduce the spread of the virus. For the time being, the state is not calling for preemptive steps to include the shuttering of school buildings, college campuses or preschools, nor are officials suggesting that large-scale events should be canceled.
“Our recommendation is not to cancel large-scale events,” Allen said. “Our recommendation is that people who are at risk – those who are over 60, those who have underlying health conditions, should seriously consider whether they want to attend an event like that, because they are at risk.”
The leaders of Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission and the Oregon Department of Education echoed the advice of public health officials in saying they intend to avoid closing schools in the face of the novel coronavirus. That statement coincided with officials announcing that one of Oregon’s 14 identified cases is a middle school student in Hillsboro. Hillsboro School District superintendent Mike Scott said district staff is thoroughly cleaning South Meadows Middle School, but intend to open school as usual Monday.
The Daily Emerald reports the University of Oregon has canceled its spring term study abroad programs in countries with major outbreaks, including South Korea, China and Italy. The university also cancelled student trips to New York, San Francisco and Hawaii.
Officials say the virus is now in the community, and schools don’t pose a greater risk of contagion. Their emphasis is on frequent hand-washing, cleaning buildings and having staff and children stay home, if they’re sick.
They also stressed that coughing is a main means of transmission, and reiterated that those most at risk of catching the virus are people who live with an infected person, or who are in close contact.
The Oregon Health Authority confirmed seven cases Saturday, and The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that a patient at Oregon Health and Science University has now tested presumptive positive for the virus. According to the paper, OHSU employees were alerted over the weekend to the case.
The local Red Cross needs your help. Winter is often a challenging time for blood donation centers and blood drives, as bad weather and illness keep some people from donating. And with concern circulating about the coronavirus, instances of blood donation nationally have fallen a bit further in recent weeks.
The American Red Cross has implemented precautionary measures due to the spread of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — but noted in a recent press release that “people should not hesitate to give or receive blood” if they are in good health.
Red Cross Marketing Manager Jennifer Shaw reported that a stop sign is now prominently displayed at local blood drives to make people aware of the restrictions the Red Cross recently implemented related to the coronavirus.
The Red Cross’s press release explained that while there is no data or evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases of transmissions for any respiratory virus worldwide, including the new coronavirus, the agency “has implemented new blood donation deferrals out of an abundance of caution.”
Individuals are asked to postpone their blood donation for 28 days following either:
Travel to China and its special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Iran, Italy and South Korea
Diagnosis of COVID-19 or contact with a person who has the virus, or is suspected to have it
In addition to general blood donation shortages, the Red Cross in late January reported a shortage of type O blood. That shortage applies locally as well. Shaw conceded, “Blood type O is certainly a struggle for us,” adding that there is “an urgent need for blood and platelets, especially type O.”
The Red Cross website explains, “The need for O negative blood is the highest because it is used most often during emergencies. The need for O+ is high because it is the most frequently occurring blood type (37% of the population).”
While blood drives in Klamath Falls typically fill up before the day of the drive rolls around, Shaw said, there are fewer opportunities to donate locally since the Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Klamath Falls closed in the fall of 2018.
The Red Cross Bloodmobile, which was purchased largely thanks to funds donated by Sky Lakes Medical Center, still comes to the area at least once a month, but is now stationed in Bend instead of Klamath Falls.
Blood drives are held in Klamath Falls the second and fourth Mondays of each month, Shaw said. The drive held yesterday at the Cerulean Hotel was already fully booked in the days leading up to the event; each community drive has 43 slots.
Shaw said there have been no signs that the coronavirus has affected blood donations in Klamath or Lake counties. “Donations are steady,” she noted.
More drives have been coordinated in Klamath and Lake counties this month as March is Red Cross Month.
Upcoming blood drives will be held March 24 at the fire station in Chiloquin from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 25 at Klamath Basin Behavioral Health from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and March 26 at LDS Church Klamath Stake.
A preliminary 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California Sunday night, according to the US Geological Survey.
The quake occurred near Petrolia, California, the agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage. No tsunami warnings or watches have been issues as a result, according to the Tsunami Warning Center.
Residents as far north as Gresham, Oregon and as far south as Ukiah, California felt the quake. Several smaller aftershocks followed. No damage or injuries reported.
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