News

By Nicole Vulcan

Local Students Headed Back to Buildings Full Time

New guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention March 19 are allowing districts including Bend-La Pine Schools to increase the amount of time students spend in school buildings. In a letter sent to families March 25, Interim Superintendent Lora Nordquist announced that students in the district would soon have an option for “all-in” instruction taking place five days a week.

“The Oregon Department of Education and Oregon Health Authority has revised school distancing guidance, aligning with revised guidelines released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which say students can safely sit 3-feet apart in classrooms under certain conditions,” Nordquist wrote.

BLPS will bring students back full time in phases, starting with 4th and 5th graders on April 5, followed by students in 6th through 12th grade April 12. Students in grades K-3 already attend five days a week. BLPS will continue to offer remote instruction for students who are not comfortable with in-person learning, or who “have found success with distance learning,” Nordquist wrote, including the ongoing Bend-La Pine Schools Online program, or the district’s Comprehensive Distance Learning option formulated for the 2020-21 school year.

Meanwhile, the Redmond School District announced this week that due to the new CDC guidelines, it would begin sending secondary students back to classrooms full time starting Monday, April 19.

Local Pre-Registration Available for COVID Vaccine

Deschutes County and St. Charles Health System have launched a new web page that allows people to sign up to be alerted when it’s their turn to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The site, centraloregoncovidvaccine.com, allows Central Oregonians to enter their name, address and other information that helps authorities sort out when they are eligible to receive the vaccine based on that person’s eligibility level.

People who pre-register will get a notification alerting them when it’s their turn, and will have 48 hours to log into the scheduling system to set up their vaccine appointment. Vaccinations are free to the public.

“While it is still too soon to draw any definitive conclusions, it appears our vaccine strategy is working,” wrote St. Charles CEO Joe Sluka in an email to followers March 25. “The average age of patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend in March has declined compared with those hospitalized in January. This is a trend we hope to see continue as vaccinations become available to all Oregonians by May 1.”

Those who are unable to register online can also call 541-699-5109 to get help registering from 9am-5pm Monday through Friday, and from 9am to 1pm Saturdays and Sundays—though expect to wait on hold.

Pre-register for vaccination at centraloregoncovidvaccine.com.

Darris Hurst

More students in Bend, La Pine and Redmond will head back to classrooms full time starting in April.

Wilderness Permit System Opens April 6

The Deschutes and Willamette National Forests will begin allowing people to reserve day-use and overnight permits in the Central Cascades Wilderness starting April 6. The permit system is a new addition for the Central Cascades Wilderness, aimed at limiting the number of people visiting well-used locations in the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and Three Sisters wilderness areas.

According to a 2018 environmental assessment from the Central Cascades Wilderness Strategies Project, overall use in the Three Sisters Wilderness had increased by 231% since 1991 and 181% since 2011. Tam McArthur Rim Trailhead saw a 538% increase in users from 2014 to 2016. While the Forest Service opted to put the proposed permit system on hold during the height of the pandemic in 2020, it announced that it would move forward with it in 2021. The Forest Service did move forward with one portion of its wilderness-area limitations last year, implementing a ban on campfires above 5,700 feet in elevation, and even in some areas that are below 5,700 feet. It also banned campfires in Diamond Peak Wilderness above 6,000 feet.

Starting May 28, pre-arranged dayuse permits will be required on trails including Green Lakes, Broken Top, Devils Lake/South Sister, Todd Lake, Tam McArthur Rim and a dozen other popular trails from Memorial Day through the last Friday in September of 2021, and overnight permits will be required for all overnight use in the three wilderness areas. Dozens of other trailheads in the wilderness areas will not require a pre-arranged permit, but do require a free self-issue permit available at the trailheads.

On April 6, 40% of the season’s allotment of overnight permits will be live on the federal government’s reservation portal, Recreation.gov, with the remaining 60% of permits available on a seven-day rolling window beginning on May 28—meaning every day, new permits will be available for the day seven days ahead of that particular day.

Between 20 and 50% of day-use permits will be available on April 6, with the remaining 50 to 80% of each trail’s permits available in a seven-day rolling window starting May 28.

The permits are relatively low-cost, costing only a $1 processing fee for day-use

Bonnie Moreland / Flickr

Todd Lake with Broken Top in background.

The Cost of Staying Open? $27,470—and Then Some OHSA levies $27K+ fine against Kevista Coffee for alleged "willful violation" of workplace health requirements

By Nicole Vulcan

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health, the agency tasked with enforcing the state’s workplace safety and health rules, has issued a $27,470 fine against a Bend coffee shop, alleging that it violated standards put in place to protect employees from COVID-19. OSHA announced March 30 that Kevista Coffee, located along Century Drive on Bend’s west side, “willfully continued to potentially expose workers to the virus, despite a public health order limiting the capacity of indoor dining to zero in an ‘extreme risk’ county.”

According to OHSA, Kevista Coffee—legally known as Laui Life Coffee LLC—began allowing indoor dining on Dec. 3, 2020, and thereafter, during a time when Deschutes County was placed in the “Extreme Risk,” category under Gov. Kate Brown’s risk protection framework—a category that meant indoor dining was prohibited in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19. OHSA representatives conducted an inspection of the property, the agency said, finding three alleged violations of OHSA’s temporary rules designed to address COVID-19 risks in the workplace. For the alleged “willful violation” in allowing indoor dining, OHSA levied a fine of $26,700 against the coffee shop. That is three times the minimum penalty allowed for such violations, OHSA representatives stated in a press release.

“The decision reflects the need to ensure a more appropriate deterrent effect where employers insist on disregarding health and safety standards,” OHSA stated.

OHSA issued another $385 fine for the company’s alleged failure to “develop and implement an infection control plan,” covering items such as planning for physical distancing or reducing the use of shared surfaces; and issued another $385 fine after the company allegedly failed to conduct any COVID-19 risk assessment to identify potential employee exposure to the virus and address how to reduce that exposure.

“During the inspection, the owners of Kevista—Krista and Kevin Lauinger— said they chose to re-open the coffee shop even though they were aware that it went against workplace health requirements,” OHSA stated.

The current fines against Kevista are the second round of fines the business has faced due to COVID-19. OHSA issued a $8,900 fine against the business in July 2020 for allegedly “failing to implement face coverings in line with sector-specific guidance for restaurants and bars.”

The Source Weekly reached out to Kevista’s owners for comment but did not receive a response by press time. Its owners have 30 days to appeal any citations issued.

OHSA fined Bend's Kevista Coffee twice for alleged violations of COVID-era rules.

Noticias en Español

Por Nicole Vulcan Traducido por Jéssica Sánchez-Millar

Proceso de registro previo disponible para la vacuna contra la COVID

El condado de Deschutes y el Sistema de Salud St. Charles han lanzado una nueva página web que permite a las personas registrarse para que se le avise cuando es su turno para recibir la vacuna contra la COVID-19. Este sitio web, centraloregonvaccine.com, le permite a los habitantes de la zona centro de Oregon registrar su nombre, domicilio u otra información para que ayude a las autoridades a determinar cuándo son las personas elegibles para recibir la vacuna según el nivel de elegibilidad de la persona.

Las personas que se registren previamente recibirán un aviso para informarles cuando es su turno para programar la vacuna y tendrán 48 horas para ingresar al sistema de programación de citas y así hacer su cita para la vacunación. Las vacunas son gratis para el público.

“Mientras que es muy pronto sacar conclusiones finales, parece que nuestra estrategia de vacunación está funcionando’’, escribió el 25 marzo en un correo electrónico a los seguidores, el Director Ejecutivo de St. Charles, Joe Sluka. “La edad promedio de los pacientes hospitalizados en St. Charles Bend en marzo ha bajado en comparación con aquellos hospitalizados en enero. Esta es una tendencia que esperamos seguir viendo a medida que la vacunación se torna disponible para todos los habitantes de Oregon para el 1o de mayo.

Aquellas personas que no puedan registrarse en línea, también pueden llamar al 541-699-5109 de 9am-5pm de lunes a viernes y de 9am a 1pm los sábados y domingos y así recibir ayuda para registrarse - sin embargo, estará esperando en la línea.

Pre inscribase para la vacunación en centraloregoncovidvaccine.com.

Pixabay

Los estudiantes de Bend-La Pine en camino de regreso a las actividades escolares presenciales en su totalidad

Las nuevas guías presentadas el 19 de marzo por los centros para el control y prevención de enfermedades, le permiten a los distritos escalates, incluso al de las escuelas de Bend-La Pine (BLPS por sus siglas en inglés) aumentar el tiempo que pasan los alumnos en los planteles escolares. En una carta enviada a las familias el 25 de marzo, la superintendente interina Lora Nordquist anunció que los estudiantes en el distrito escolar pronto tendrán una opción para estar llevando totalmente a cabo el aprendizaje integral los cinco días a la semana.

“El Departamento de Educación y la Autoridad de Salud de Oregon han revisado la guía de distanciamiento escolar, alineándose con con las guías publicadas el viernes, por el Centro para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC por sus siglas en inglés), la cual dice que los estudiantes pueden de manera segura, sentarse a 3 pies de distancia en el salón de clases bajo ciertas condiciones,” escribió Norquist.

BLPS traerá de regreso, por fases, a los alumnos para recibir sus jornadas estudiantiles completas en el plantel escolar,, comenzando con los alumnos de 4o y 5o año el 5 de Abril, seguidos por los alumnos del 6o al 12o grado. Los alumnos de K-3 ya están asistiendo cinco días a la semana al plantel escolar. BLPS continuarán ofreciendo aprendizaje a distance a los alumnos que no se sienten cómodos con el aprendizaje en persona o que “hayan tenido éxito con el aprendizaje a distancia,” escribió Norquist, incluyendo el programa de aprendizaje en línea en curso de las escuelas de Bend-La Pine o la opción del programa de aprendizaje integral a distancia establecido para el año escolar 2020-2021.

Mientras tanto, después de los cambios publicados por las guías de la CDC, el Distrito Escolar de Redmond anunció esta semana que debido a las nuevas directrices de los CDC, comenzaría a enviar a los estudiantes de secundaria de vuelta a las aulas a tiempo completo a partir del lunes 19 de abril.