The latest news stories in the Klamath Basin and around the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 73. Overnight low of 39.
Friday
Sunny, with a high near 70.
Saturday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 64.
Sunday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.
Today’s Headlines
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Green until noon today.
There were no new Covid-19 cases to report in Klamath County in the past 24 hour period.
However, COVID-19 has claimed five more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 38, the Oregon Health Authority reported on Wednesday. Oregon Health Authority also reported 58 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 1,239.
The new COVID-19 cases reported are in the following counties: Clackamas (6), Columbia (1), Deschutes (1), Hood River (1), Lane (1), Linn (1), Marion (3), Morrow (1), Multnomah (28), Wallowa (2), and Washington (13). Oregon’s 34th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Multnomah County and Oregon’s 35th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Multnomah County both had underlying medical conditions.
Schools Closed in Oregon Through End of School Year. Learning Now Through Remote Means Only
At a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Kate Brown announced that Oregon school buildings will remain shuttered through the end of the academic year.
The previous closure was set to end on April 28. The Governor said that the decision arose from an obligation to give parents, educators and students certainty about the rest of the school year.
School staff will continue to work on methods of remote learning for students that are stuck at home during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Brown said school and learning will continue as best as we can using remote means, districts were already aware of the prospect that closures could through the end of the year.
Addressing superintendents and principals at the end of March, Oregon Department of Education (ODE) director Colt Gill noted that there was a “strong possibility” this would be the case, directing districts to develop their own remote programs to connect with students instead.
Tuesday night around 730, Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a two vehicle crash on Hwy 97 near milepost 259.
Preliminary investigation revealed that a Nissan Versa, operated by 29 year old Austin Wills of Sacramento, CA. was southbound when it drifted into the northbound lanes and into the path of Perterbilt semi truck operated by 75 year old Robert Hall of Klamath Falls.
Wills sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased.
Hall was not injured. Hwy 97 was closed for approximately 3 hours with being reduced to one lane for another hour. OSP was assisted by the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, Chiloquin Fire Department, and ODOT.
Around the State of Oregon
The state of Oregon will get only half the 20,000 coronavirus tests that Gov. Kate Brown promised from a private commercial lab and state health officials have no plans to put those tests to immediate use identifying infected residents.
New details of the state’s deal with Quest Diagnostics show Brown and her top political aide provided misleading information to the public last month about the tests.
Brown on March 18 said increasing testing capacity was one of her top priorities before announcing: “The Oregon Health Authority has signed an initial contract for 20,000 tests with one of the private providers.” In reality, the state didn’t sign the Quest contract until two weeks later on April 1. And when the ink dried, Oregon’s allotment with the private lab was for just 10,000 tests. And in perhaps the most surprising twist, state officials said Tuesday they will keep those tests in reserve for a possible surge – not to test Oregonians right now.
The inaccurate information initially released by Brown and her chief of staff, Nik Blosser, came during a politically fraught time.
Frustrated Oregonians were questioning why the state had completed so few tests at its public health lab while officials provided shifting timelines for when wider testing would be available through private or hospital labs amid a national shortage.
From the State of Oregon Employment Dept
In three weeks’ time, the Oregon Employment Department has received 269,900 initial claims for unemployment benefits. By comparison, net job losses in Oregon totaled 147,800 for the duration of the Great Recession almost a century ago.
During the week starting March 29 alone, the Oregon Employment Department received 100,700 initial claims, continuing the record levels of initial claims received the previous two weeks.
The agency continues rapidly adding staff to take claims, and processing claims at a record pace. The federal CARES Act payments of $600 will also start processing through Oregon’s system by the end of this week.
Helping Oregonians
In one month’s time, the Oregon Employment Department more than quadrupled the number of staff dedicated to taking claims. Those staff continue to process record numbers of claims week after week. The Employment Department processed more claims during the first quarter of 2020 than the total for all of 2019. The agency’s newly re-designed COVID-19 page includes expanded resource guides for employers and workers filing claims, and a new dashboard of measures showing our response to the unprecedented need for unemployment benefits.
The agency paid $28 million in benefits to Oregonians during the week starting March 29. That figure should increase rapidly as the additional CARES Act benefits of $600 per week start for those already eligible for unemployment benefits. The agency continues receiving guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, and is working to implement the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program into its systems. The PUA benefits allow the self-employed, contract workers, and gig workers not already eligible to receive unemployment benefits for the first time.
While it remains critically important that all who can file claims online do so, the agency has also extended contact center hours to 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays for filing claims by phone. Even with rapid expansion of staff to take claims, wait times averaged 106 minutes on claims phone lines.
Initial Claims
The Employment Department has detailed information for 54,500 of the initial claims processed during the week starting March 29. The leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels and restaurants, continued to see the greatest number of initial claims for unemployment benefits (14,400). This reflects impacts of public health and safety measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 15, there have been about 40,600 initial claims filed in the leisure and hospitality sector. Many initial claims also came from workers in health care and social assistance (8,800) and retail trade (7,100) during the week of March 29.
Multnomah (12,100), Washington (6,600), and Lane (5,300) were the counties with the largest number of claims (see table on next page). More initial claims data by industry and area can be found on the QualityInfo.org COVID-19 page.
…
To file an online claim for unemployment benefits, go to Oregon.gov/employ or call 1-877-FILE-4-UI. For help finding jobs and training resources, contact your local WorkSource Oregon center or go to WorkSourceOregon.org.
Equal Opportunity program — auxiliary aids and services available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Contact: (503) 947-1794. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, call 711 Telecommunications Relay Services.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife today announced that recreational salmon and steelhead fishing in Oregon waters of the Columbia River will remain closed indefinitely.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife closed all of Washington’s recreational fisheries on March 25, and in an announcement issued on April 6 extended its hunting and fishing closures through May 4.
The Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife jointly manage Columbia River fisheries. In response to Washington’s closure, and to maintain concurrent regulations, Oregon closed the Columbia River spring salmon and steelhead seasons on March 26.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have both enacted sweeping measures across the two states to reduce citizens’ exposure to the coronavirus COVID-19, which was classified as a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. In the spirit of these actions, Oregon is also extending its closure. The previously scheduled Joint State Hearing on April 15, to consider additional spring Chinook fishing opportunity has also been cancelled.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has left the remainder of Oregon’s recreational fisheries open, subject to monitoring for voluntary compliance with Gov. Brown’s social distancing Stay Home, Save Lives directive. In a statement issued on April 3, ODFW Director Curt Melcher said the agency would monitor ongoing fishing seasons and modify as necessary if anglers, clammers and others fail to practice appropriate social distancing. While the Columbia remains closed to recreational salmon and steelhead fishing, tributaries and some lakes remain open subject to Oregon’s 2020 Sport Fishing Regulations.
The Oregon Board of Forestry will meet at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 22. In compliance with Gov. Kate Brown’s directive on social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, this will be a virtual meeting.
This meeting was previously scheduled for two days, but has been adjusted to one half-day. Members of the public are invited to call in and listen to the meeting; however, there will not be an opportunity for oral public comment. Written testimony can be submitted before or after the meeting to BoardofForestry@oregon.gov. Please note which item you are providing testimony on. The agenda and call-in number are available at https://www.oregon.gov/ODF/Board/Pages/BOFMeetings.aspx.
The meeting agenda includes discussion on impacts of climate change on stream temperature and desired future conditions along small and medium fish-bearing streams in the Siskiyou geographic region, as well as 2021-2023 biennial budget development. These are time-sensitive items for the Board to continue its progress on these topics.
Oregon Department of Forestry will audio record and videotape the meeting, and posting to the Board’s webpage later in the week. For more details, visit https://www.oregon.gov/ODF/Board/Pages/BOFMeetings.aspx.
Accommodations for people with disabilities, and special materials, services, or assistance can be arranged by calling ODF’s Public Affairs Office at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting at 503-945-7200.
…For complete details on these and other stories see today’s Herald & News. Wynne Broadcasting and the Herald and News…stronger together to keep you informed.
More Local Klamath Basin News Here.
The latest State of Oregon Covid-19 News & Preparedness Information Here.
Basin Discounts, Deals, Take-Out, Curbside, Delivery, Preferred Professionals Here.