K-3 students back to school on Monday Courtesy photo
Oregon has had a 57% increase in hospitalizations since Nov. 3 and an 83% increase in the past four weeks.
COVID-19 surge threatens hospitals MAX KIRKENDALL
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COVID-19 cases are on the rise, again. Seven new COVID-19 cases were reported in Columbia County Wednesday, Nov. 11, according to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The cases reported today bring the county’s total case count up to 324 since the pandemic began. Across the state and country, a surge of cases are being reported. There were 876 cases reported in Oregon on Wednesday, following a trend of high case counts reported in the past week. Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been 52,770 cases reported in Oregon and 742 deaths. Two pandemic-related deaths have occurred in Columbia County, one in early August and one in early October. Hospitals reaching critical capacities
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are threatening the state’s health care systems, and help is needed to flatten the curve. That is the direct and clear message from Oregon Governor Kate Brown to Oregonians. During a Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 10 press conference, Gov. Brown outlined the challenges that Oregon hospitals are starting to face as the COVID-19 cases skyrocket. The state reported 988 cases on Saturday, Nov. 7— the highest number of new daily cases reported since the pandemic began. Daily new cases have soared, often over 700 for the state. “We all know that COVID-19 cases are surging across Oregon,” Brown said. “Over the weekend, we saw daily case rates near a thousand and yesterday I announced that nine Oregon counties will be starting a two week pause as of Wednesday on social activities to help us slow the spread of COVID-19.” Brown said their fears of the virus spreading in the winter months is starting to come to fruition, but the goal is still to continue saving lives and avoid overwhelming health care systems. To do that, the state is ensuring that they have enough hospital beds, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and staff to provide life-saving care. “This is very serious, Oregon is headed on the wrong road,” Brown said. “While we have plans in place to share beds and ventilators if necessary, that needs to be a last resort. We cannot and should not be relying on the fact that our hospital systems can withstand a surge. Instead, we should be working together to ensure they don’t have to.” See COVID-19 Page A5
Jeremy C. Ruark / The Chief
In-person instruction for Clatskanie Elementary School kindergarten through third grade students has been approved by the Columbia County Health Department. MONIQUE MERRILL chronicle2@countrymedia.net
School is back in session for Clatskanie Elementary Students in grades K-3, said Cathy Hurowitz, Clatskanie School District superintendent. Starting Monday, Nov. 16, the students will return to school. Fourth through sixth graders will return to in-person instruction on Monday, Nov. 30. Hurowitz updated the school board about the district’s progress in bringing students back in the facility at its Nov. 9 meeting. Hurowitz said she has been working closely with the Columbia County Public Health Department to bring students back to school and as of Friday, Nov. 7, she had been given the green light by the department to move forward. “Right now a lot of my time has been spent with preparations for the K-3 reopening,” Hurowitz said. Purchases have been made to prepare district buildings for the return of students, including air purifiers for every room, safety equipment
and freestanding thermometers to be placed at building entrances. “We’re not obligated by the state to take temperatures, but in talking with some other schools and districts that have students in the building, it really is a safety factor knowing that everybody that’s walking in the building has another layer of security and safety,” she said. The new metrics for transitioning back to in-person instruction released by the state have loosened the requirements for returning to the classroom. To return to on-site learning, a county must have a case rate of between 50 to 100 cases per 100,000 people reported over 14 days. Counties fall into color coded categories based on their case rates and the categories recommend the learning stage, ranging from red to green. “If we’re in the yellow zone, and we have been, we are encouraged to start planning and start the reopening process,” Hurowitz said. “Our new plan is based on consultation with the local health authority; they have the final yea or nay on whether or not we open and how we open. We work with our local health authority who’s
crunching the numbers.” The crunched numbers take a look at caseloads per community area, rather than the county at large, Hurowitz said. Based on COVID-19 case data divided up by ZIP Code, Clatskanie has only reported 37 cases since July. Only Clatskanie and Vernonia school districts have been given the go ahead by the department to open, she said. “We’re in this little place in Clatskanie, we don’t have a lot of movement in our community, why would we have to be under the same rules as Portland, St. Helens, Scappoose?” she said. “I’m trying to put it in perspective because we are in a little bit of a different situation than our friends down to the south of us.“ When K-3 students come back, she said it will be in a half-day, hybrid model. Clatskanie Middle/High School Principal Kim Oblack said that there has been discussion about what reopening the middle/high school back up to students would look like when it’s allowed. It would be at the semester point, if metrics allow for it. She said administrators and teachers have
been brainstorming the best way to limit student exposure to one another in the facility, which is tricky in the higher grades when students typically move from room to room with new teachers and classmates. “We have nine weeks to come up with a really solid plan— whether that is a hybrid instructional model or it is all the students in the school at one time in all these different pods,” Oblack said. “I’d like to come up with a game plan for both scenarios.” Funding The board also discussed how to use the money coming in from the Student Investment Account funding, just over $200,000. The funding is from a business tax in the Student Success Act, which taxes businesses with $1 million or more in sales. It was expected to bring in more money, but the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the economy affected the funding. “Our wind was definitely knocked out of our sails on this one, across the
See SCHOOL Page A5
Tornado touches down in Columbia County down, through the neighborhood. It’s thought the storm blew in from down toward McBride Elementary School where another tree was knocked over. NWS meteorologist David Elson told The Chief the weather conditions in the region at time included wind sear and unstable air, a mix he said could produce such small tornadoes. “It is not an everyday occurrence but maybe once or twice a year well see something like this on average.” he said. How tornadoes are rated
Monique Merrill / The Chief
The tornado sent trees down narrowly missing the home of Laurie and Gary Hallaian but damaging their deck off of Pittsburgh Road in St. Helens. See more photos and video at thechiefnews.com. JEREMY C. RUARK jruark@countrymedia.net MONIQUE MERRILL chronicle2@countrymedia.net
A small tornado damaged nearby homes as it touched down in northwest St. Helens Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 10, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Shortly after the weather event, NWS Meteorologist Rebecca Muessle told The Chief that her agency had received video from a citizen that shows the tornado touching down and flying debris in the area. Based on that video and reports from first responders on the scene, it appears that it has the charac-
teristics that are looked for in a tornado, she said. “We are not expecting any more tornadoes, but there could be more rotating clouds similar to tornadoes,” Muessle said. “We ask that if you see these rotating clouds, especially if they start to head to the ground, that you head indoors due to the possible danger.” The NWS conducted a storm survey of the tornado following the event and rated it as an EF-0, with a path length of 1.7 miles. NWS meteorology technician Gerald Macke said the tornado had wind speeds of 60 to 65 miles per hour in the funnel cloud. “It was on the ground for an estimated six minutes and we are estimating 15 to 20 miles an hour
is how fast the tornado was moving across the earth,” Macke said. While there have been no reports of injury, the tornado did cause damage to local homes. Two trees fell on Laurie and Gary Hallaian’s property off of Pittsburgh Road. One fell in the front, and the other toward the back side of the house. Both narrowly missed the house itself, but one destroyed part of the back deck. “Both windows are plastered in debris,” Laurie Hallaian said. A patch of fence dividing the Hallaians’ property with their neighbors was blown down as well, marking the storm’s trail. Neighbors in the area said they heard debris hitting their homes and saw a flurry of leaves swirling
NOAA’s National Weather Service fully implemented the Enhanced Fujita (EF) in early 2007, to rate tornadoes, replacing the original Fujita Scale. The EF scale rates tornadoes on a scale from zero to five, but ranges in wind speed will be more accurate with the improved rating scale, according to a post at NOAA’s website. The Fujita scale was developed in 1971 by T. Theodore Fujita, Ph.D., to rate tornadoes and estimate associated wind speed based on the damage they cause. The EF scale refines and improves the original scale. It was developed by the Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center , along with a forum of wind engineers, universities, private companies, government organizations, private sector meteorologists, and NOAA meteorologists from across the country. The less severe tornadoes are rated EF-0 with wind speeds from 65 to 110 miles an hour. The most severe tornadoes, with winds from 166 to 200 miles an hour are rated EF-5. See video of the tornado and more photos and follow the latest weather developments, advisories and alerts at thechiefnews.com.