The Hood River County Health Department is cancelling its planned COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Thursday.  That’s due to the Oregon Health Authority’s order to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  The OHA made that move after the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration recommended stopping inoculations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as they review six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in women ages 18 to 48 after they had received the shot with that vaccine.  The Hood River County Health Department says those who registered for Thursday’s clinic will be notified, and they will share more information when they have it.  

A bill to codify using lottery funds to support the state’s Regional Solutions program passed a House committee Tuesday and is on its way to the Ways and Means Committee.  The bill formalizes what is already being done, paying for the County’s share of the program that provides Regional Coordinators to help deal with issues of local interest by taking it out of lottery revenue allocations, but nothing was ever put on paper to recognize it.  Wasco County Commissioner Steve Kramer says it’s important to get the arrangement in writing.  The bill was going to originally sent to the Revenue panel, but instead will be referred to Ways and Means.

Baseball Stevenson 9, Onalaska 8   Softball Onalaska 16, Stevenson 1   Track and Field Hannah Polkinghorn, Jessica Polkinghorn, Angel Sanchez, and Juan Acosta won two events apiece for Columbia in a three-school dual meet at Seton Catholic.  

Hood River County Administrator Jeff Hecksel says the County has received an estimate of the amount of American Rescue Fund dollars it will receive of $4.535 million.  The National Association of Counties provided the unofficial estimate.  Hecksel says the County can use the funds to deal with pandemic-related expenses, provide premiums to workers responding to the pandemic, water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, and revenue replacement.  Hecksel adds the County is still awaiting specific guidance from the federal government.  County Commissioners Arthur Babitz and Bob Benton will lead a committee to consider use of the funds and make recommendations to the rest of the Commission.

There is a COVID-19 vaccination clinic scheduled for Friday in Sherman County.  It will take place Friday at the Sherman County Fairgrounds 4-H Pavilion, and is put on by Sherman County Medical Clinic and North Central Public Health District.  Anyone who lives or works in Sherman County and is over the age of 18 is eligible to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that will be administered.  Appointments are available by calling 541-565-3325.  Limited walk-in vaccines will be available.

The Hood River County Health Department will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for eligible groups on Thursday.  The clinic will take place at River of Life Assembly Church in Hood River, and will be using the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine.  Farmworkers are a target of this clinic, but anyone in who is in a group currently eligible to receive the vaccine in Oregon can do so.  To register, go to hrccovid19.org, where an online schedule is available in both English and Spanish.  For more information or help with scheduling call 541-387-6911.

Beginning on Thursday, everyone 16 and older in the state of Washington will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.   If you are eligible beginning Thursday and live in Klickitat County or Underwood, you can call Skyline Health’s COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline at 509-493-1051 now to be placed on their waiting list.   Simply leave a message with your full name, phone number, date of birth and county of residence.  Skyline Health will call back once it knows how much vaccine is available and can begin scheduling appointments.  Due to high call volume, please leave only one message.  Skyline Health does add it can only vaccinate those ages 16 and 17 if is offering the Pfizer vaccine.  The Moderna vaccine is available for those 18 and older.  It is uncertain each week which vaccine will be available to Skyline. Visit covidvaccineWA.org for more information regarding the phases and to determine eligibility.

North Wasco County School District 21 Interim Superintendent Theresa Peters says the district is working on ways to increase the number of students and the amount of time for in-person learning while maintaining safety requirements.  In a letter to parents issued on Friday, Peters says updated guidance from the Oregon Department of Education allows for three-feet of physical distancing in classrooms under certain conditions, but they still must maintain six-feet in other situations.  Peters adds challenges they face include classroom size limitations, serving meals while maintaining the six-foot distancing requirement, staffing issues, and busing implications for school schedule changes.

Over 13,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered as of the week ending April 3 in North Central Public Health District’s three-county service area of Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam counties.  The district says Wasco and Sherman counties have vaccinated 38.2 percent of their population over age 16, and Gilliam County has vaccinated 31.7 percent.  Wasco has vaccinated 65.1 percent of those 65 and older, Sherman 58.6 percent and Gilliam 48.2 percent.  Those now eligible for the vaccine include agricultural workers, all frontline workers and their immediate families, those 16 and older with underlying health conditions and pregnant people 16 and older.  NCPHD currently has Moderna, which is only available to those 18 and older, and the district says it is working with the Oregon Health Authority to get the Pfizer vaccine for those 16 and older in the coming weeks.  To book a vaccine appointment in Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam counties, visit ncphd.org and click the link at the top of the page, or call 541- 506-2600.  NCPHD is also thanking the volunteers who are helping to staff its vaccination clinics.  Over 80 volunteers have given over 800 hours in the effort.

The Washington State Senate has passed and sent to the governor a bill authored by Rep. Gina Mosbrucker that seeks to prohibit the Employment Security Department and Labor and Industries from requiring and using full Social Security numbers from citizens who need their services.  The measure is in response to a massive personal data breach in the state Auditor’s Office affecting those who filed for unemployment benefits in 2020.  House Bill 1455 passed out of the House on Feb. 24 with unanimous approval.  It passed from the Senate 48-1.  It’s Mosbrucker’s second bill to arrive at the governor’s desk during the 2021 legislative session.  Also awaiting the governor’s signature is a measure Mosbrucker authored, House Bill 1315, that would create a task force on domestic violence and workplace resources to identify the role of the workplace in helping to curb domestic violence.