Hood River County Emergency Management Director Barb Ayres told County Commissioners and Hood River City Councilors during a joint meeting on energy and emergency preparedness that there is a lack of backup power for key services.  Ayres says the list of facilities without backups for when electricity goes out is large.  Ayres did say she has written several grants to try to address the issue, and has received a couple of small ones.  She emphasized the importance of power within emergency response, cutting across all sectors.

The Oregon Health Authority’s Wednesday COVID-19 numbers did not add any new confirmed or presumptive cases in Wasco or Hood River counties.  Wasco County remains at 328 total cases for the pandemic, with 214 recovered, defined by the North Central Public Health District as 30 days after the onset of symptoms and in stable medical condition.  Hood River County is currently at 268 total cases for the pandemic with 256 reported as out of isolation.    Gilliam County is at eleven with three added to the recovered list for a total of seven, and all 18 of Sherman County’s cases are listed as recovered.  The OHA reported 390 new confirmed and presumptive COVID cases on Wednesday, moving the total to 38,160.  There were six deaths from between October 2 and Tuesday reported, moving that number to 608.  Klickitat County remained at 215 total COVID cases on Tuesday but its number of active cases dropped to three, while Skamania County’s Monday numbers showed no active cases.  The Washington Department of Health said it could not update its data on Sunday or Monday due to processing issues, but expects to resume today.  Washington was at 93,035 total cases for the pandemic, with 2,190 deaths.

The City of The Dalles and Wasco County are looking at waiving the annual license fees for all food service facilities in the County.  City Manager Julie Krueger told The Dalles City Council she had been approached by the County about sharing the cost of such a move, which would cost each agency about $39,000 apiece.  Councilors were supportive of the idea, and gave Krueger a consensus to move forward with the County to develop a plan.  Krueger said the City has about $400,000 worth of economic recovery funds available, and the City can cover its costs from that pool of money.

The Oregon Department of Forestry’s Regulated-Use Closure in the Central Oregon District that includes Hood River and Wasco counties will be terminated at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning.  Fire managers say recent cooler weather and widespread precipitation across the district have reduced the risk of rapid fire spread and these prevention measures are no longer necessary.  In addition to the removal of the Regulated-Use Closure for the District, the Industrial Fire Precaution Level east of Highway 35 will be reduced to Level 1.  Fire season remains in effect, with open burning and debris burning without a permit prohibited on ODF protected lands.  Additional county or local fire department restrictions may also be in effect.  While campfires and warming fires are allowed, the public is reminded to never leave a fire unattended, clear the area around the fire of flammable material prior to lighting and keep the fire small.  Having a shovel and water nearby are also safe practices to limit risk of the fire escaping.  Current restrictions can be found at ODFcentraloregon.com.

Efforts continue by local governments and health authorities to message to people of all ages to wear face coverings in public and to practice social distancing in an effort to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading.  Wasco County Commissioner Kathy Schwartz, who is a former director of the Wasco County Health Department, said they’ve done quite a bit in that area, but it’s not easy to combat mixed messaging at times from government and misinformation on social media.  Schwartz noted the Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam counties’ Unified Command has started an initiative on Instagram to reach a younger population.

The Stevenson-Carson School District says it will reopen Wind River Middle School in Carson for students in grades 6-8.  The building had been closed since 2012 for operational savings, but a review by district administration found the savings expected from the closure weren’t realized.  The district board voted to reopen Wind River to accommodate social distancing for COVID-19, provide a more age-appropriate atmosphere by separating middle school students from much older high school students, and to plan for more robust learning opportunities if taxpayers vote to replace the Educational Programs & Operations Levy expiring at the end of 2020.  The additional facility may permit district students to make the transition from remote learning to returning to school earlier.

The White Salmon Valley School District is in the planning stages for bringing K-6 students back into classrooms in a hybrid format, but there is no date set for when that will occur.  District Superintendent Jerry Lewis says they are looking at bringing groups of students in two days a week, with the rest of the week online.  Lewis added there are number of challenges still to be worked through, including balancing the workload for teachers who will be ask to provide instruction both in-person and online.  Lewis said a recent preliminary survey indicated 77% of parents wanted to send their children back to school, but he added they plan to send out another survey before opening.  He added parents will get at least a week of lead time before a change is made.

Climate change, energy independence, and emergency preparedness are on the agenda Tuesday for a joint meeting of the Hood River City Council and County Commission.  County Commission Chair Mike Oates says they will discuss a wide range of topics, including the County’s energy plan, energy resilience, emergency planning, and Pacific Power will update their PSPS plans.  PSPS stands for public safety power shut-offs, which Pacific Power has proposed using during times of extreme fire danger.  They are now in use by a number of privately-held utilities in California, where Pacific Gas & Electric was the subject of numerous lawsuits after some of its equipment was found to have caused major wildfires in that state.  Tuesday’s meeting will be held online at 4:45 p.m.  For information on how to observe it go to cityofhoodriver.gov.

The North Wasco County School District 21 board reached consensus on policies for establishing committees and naming schools, programs, and properties during a Thursday evening worksession.   Once formally approved by the board during a regular meeting later this month…that will set the stage to move forward with a review of the name of Colonel Wright Elementary School.  Board member Jose Aparicio said during the meeting he sees a multi-phase process starting with a committee exploring whether to re-name the school or not and making a recommendation to the board.  In other business, the resignation of Zone 7 representative Michael Sullivan was accepted.  The process to find a replacement will begin soon.

The Oregon Health Authority released a survey of 1,000 Oregonians on COVID-19, and it found over 80 percent say they are wearing a face mask indoors, but many are also continuing to gather socially on a frequent basis.  The survey by DHM Research found roughly half of Oregonians report attending four or more social gatherings for the previous two weeks, and one in five say they have attended at least one gathering of more than ten people in the past two weeks.  The OHA’s Robb Cowie said what concerned public health officials was 16 percent of respondents saying they participated in 11 or more social gatherings in the previous two weeks, and they tend to express skepticism that masks and social distancing works.  The survey shows about four in ten Oregonians are “very worried” about the COVID-19 situation in Oregon, and fewer than one-quarter are “very worried” about getting sick from the virus.