As the Hood River Valley Adult Center embarks on a capital campaign to raise funds to do renovations to the 26-year-old facility.  Campaign committee member Gary Young says with the pandemic on-going and the onset of winter weather, it’s a reminder of the role that building plays in local emergency responses.  It’s a key part of Hood River County’s emergency plan.  The Center has prioritized remodeling its kitchen, which serves over 200 area residents in the Meals on Wheels program, for the first phase of its campaign.  For information on how to donate, go to hrvac.org.

North Central Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Mimi McDonell says the increase in COVID-19 cases the Northwest is experiencing is what health officials feared, and it may have arrived earlier than they expected.  McDonell says locally there has been an increase in cases, and sporadic cases, but looking outside the area shows why the current trend is alarming.  McDonell noted the fatigue people are feeling with not connecting with family and friends.  She says health officials throughout the state and locally are observing smaller gatherings of extended family or friends as a key driver in case counts.

The Hood River County Department of Records and Assessment says text messages sent to some residents claiming hundreds of votes will not be counted is untrue.  Department Director Brian Beebe said they are currently in the process of resolving issues with 283 ballots that have been challenged because of signature issues, and that’s a normal step in every election.  Ballots get challenged because the voter did not sign the ballot return envelope, or the signature does not match the signature on the voter’s registration card.  Hood River County Elections mailed letters to all general election voters whose ballots were challenged giving them options to verify their vote.  Voters who have received a challenged ballot letter must return their signed form by 5 p.m. this Tuesday.  The text messages were sent from a non-working number.  Anyone with questions can contact the Hood River County Elections office at: 541-386-1442 or elections@co.hood-river.or.us.

As counties in Oregon deal with challenged ballots, the Oregon House District 52 race remains close after updates on Thursday.  Incumbent Democrat Anna Williams has 19,050 votes to 18,959 for Republican challenger Jeff Helfrich.  Clackamas County says it will issue an update later Friday.  In Washington, where ballots only had to be post-marked by election day, counting continues in Klickitat County.  Dan Christopher continues to hold a narrow lead over incumbent Jim Sizemore…5,716 to 5,607.  The County estimates 429 votes remain to be counted, and will issue another update late Friday afternoon.

Oregon Health Authority statistics released on Thursday added five confirmed or presumptive COVID-19 cases in Wasco County and three in Hood River County.  Wasco County is now at 390 total cases, with 310 listed as recovered by the North Central Public Health District using a 30-day standard since the onset of symptoms and in stable medical condition.  Hood River County is now at 310 total cases for the pandemic, with the County Health Department indicating 287 are out of isolation.  Sherman County remains at 23 cases with 18 recovered, and Gilliam County at 17 with ten recovered.  The OHA reported 1,122 new COVID cases statewide on Thursday to move the pandemic total to 53,779.  There were four COVID-related deaths reported in Oregon on Thursday, moving the total to 746.  Klickitat County reported five new COVID cases on Thursday after not issuing an updated on Wednesday to move to a pandemic total of 242, but the number of active cases is only up by two to 16.  Skamania County added two cases over the last two days to move the total number for the pandemic to 80, with five currently active cases.  The Washington Department of Health reported over the past two days 3,345 new COVID cases for a total of 123,356, and 25 deaths to move that number to 2,507 deaths.

Hood River Shelter Services has placed 13 two-person shelters at Hood River Valley Christian Church, and will be open for those in need on Monday night.  With restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the shelter to abandon its congregate model, the easy to assemble shelters were acquired.  Sarah Kellems of Hood River Shelter Services says the number of structures they acquired should be able to accommodate those in need.  She said they averaged 19 guests per night last winter.  The shelters will be open each night in winter from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., and will accept guest arrivals nightly from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  There is a need for donations to help operate the shelters, go to hoodrivercares.org for more information.

Mid-Columbia Health Foundation’s annual Festival of Trees will take place this year in a different form.  The Foundation’s Cynthia Kortge says they will have a smaller number of trees than usual, and they won’t be having the open gala celebration on Friday, December 4 for their auction, but instead a small invitation-only dinner with the auction streamed online.  She adds they’ve been concentrating on offering a wide array of safe activities for their community day on December 5.  Proceeds will benefit the Celilo Cancer Center as the foundation begins a campaign to acquire a linear accelerator for the center’s radiation oncology department.

Klickitat County currently has 14 active COVID-19 cases, and County Public Health Director Erinn Quinn says coming out of Halloween and moving toward Thanksgiving the numbers are very concerning right now.  Quinn did say both hospitals in Klickitat County are currently in a good position, with no COVID patients at this time, and Skyline Hospital in White Salmon and Klickitat Valley Hospital in Goldendale both have plans and infrastructure ready for a surge.  But Quinn says they are watching the caseloads for Portland area hospitals, where some local patients could be sent.  Quinn added given what they saw with case counts after Halloween and what is possible with the oncoming holidays, she doesn’t foresee the Washington Governor’s office giving Klickitat County the opportunity to move to Phase 3 reopening anytime soon.

Hood River County Health Department Director Trish Elliott says Hood River County wasn’t that far away from being included among those that were put on a two-week pause of gatherings by the state.  Elliott said on Mid-Columbia Today that the number of sporadic COVID-19 cases they had been reporting was concerning, but some of that was related to errors in case reporting.  Those have now been corrected.  Elliott said increases in COVID cases in Hood River County have been consistent with state and national spikes.  She notes testing is up, but so is the positivity rate, which was 6.8 percent last week.

As health officials ask people to double down on efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19, they also advise that case numbers won’t drop right away.  Oregon Health Sciences University Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Renee Edwards says that’s because when a person is infected with COVID, it can take two weeks for symptoms occur.  She says people should not be discouraged if they don’t see an immediate reduction in COVID numbers, and that it would probably take two or three weeks for them to come down if people increase their efforts to curb the spread.  Edwards was part of a press conference Tuesday of medical officials from around the state and Governor Kate Brown, asking Oregonians to use face coverings, maintain physical distancing, and refrain from social gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus and avoid overwhelming the health system.