By LES ZAITZ/Oregon Capital Bureau
and QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Following an urgent, late-night order from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, the Lincoln County School District on Monday will close its 14 schools and keep nearly 5,500 children out of class an additional week to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
Brown’s order, which state officials warned could be extended, is for two weeks. But the state’s public schools were already closing March 23-27 for spring break.
Students aren’t expected to return to classrooms until Wednesday, April 1, and even then they will are likely to face days without assemblies, field trips or concerts. The Lincoln County district said its 600 employees will return Monday, March 30.
“I have heard from superintendents, school board members, teachers, parents, and students that it has now become impossible to functionally operate schools due to workforce issues and student absences,” Brown said in her statement.
Thursday night’s closure announcement followed Brown’s morning news conference were she said school closures were a “last resort,” would come with unacceptable costs, including to low-income children who depend on schools for health care and meals.
But in a dizzying series of events reflecting the rapidly evolving crisis, Washington, Ohio and California announced school closures and top Multnomah County officials recommended the state reconsider closures and start preparing for them. Thursday evening, two suburban Portland school districts shrugged off the state’s admonishments and said closures were the wiser choice. That began a cascade of public and private school closures.
Prior to Thursday night’s announcement, Lincoln County schools said it would suspend any events that might bring groups of 250 or more students, adults, and community members together. It also halted all school-based assemblies and events, such as plays, concerts, family nights, off-campus field trips, and district-wide professional development meetings and events.
All athletic events are cancelled.
Lincoln County School District Superintendent Karen Gray said during the closure that janitorial staff at the schools would emphasize deep cleaning, especially high-touch surfaces in classrooms and common areas.
Gray said the district knows the closure will cause difficulties for many families who rely on schools for meals, health care and shelter.
“Extending spring break is a preventative measure to help slow the rate of coronavirus spread and, as public health agencies explain, flatten the curve of the virus’s impact on our citizens and health care systems,” she said in a news release. “We are also sensitive to the fact that many of our staff are older individuals with whom we share a concern for their health and therefore want to limit exposure.”
The district is working on ways to provide meals for students next week, Gray said, and will alert parents as soon as it has a plan.
Big disruptions expected
The mandatory closures will disrupt life not only at schools but in homes and businesses across Oregon as thousands of parents face the prospect of children at home. The closure will be particularly challenging for low-income or homeless families whose children count on free meals from school.
“So many of our families depend on school in order for parents to go to their jobs, and for students to access health care and receive nutrition,” the governor said. She said she was left with “little choice” but also was blunt that the health threat to Oregonians will persist.
“I want to be very clear,” Brown said. “Sending Oregon children home will not stop the spread of the coronavirus.”
Oregon joins three other states – Michigan, Ohio and Maryland – to order statewide school closures. Another 21 states have closed some schools as federal and state officials deal with what has now been termed a global pandemic.
In Washington state, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered public and private schools closed in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties closed for six weeks, affecting more than a half million students.
Brown acted just hours after a news conference where she announced state restrictions against gatherings of 250 people or more. She said then that it was “critically important” for schools to remain open and said she was heeding the advice of public health experts in deciding to leave schools open.
State officials, however, did advise schools to cancel most group activities, including parent-teacher conferences, field trips and school programs.
Brown had anticipated the need to close Oregon schools in a letter Wednesday to Vice President Mike Pence that sought federal help on several fronts with money and supplies. Among her requests was a relaxation of federal rules governing meals provided in schools heavily populated by low-income students. She also asked permission for closed schools to distribute food supplies to local food banks.
“This is an important tool to ensure that low-income students and their families who qualified for free or reduced price meals do not go hungry when schools close.”
In her announcement Thursday night, Brown said that “districts are tasked with developing plans to continue nutrition services during the closure.”
Brown also asked for federal help for child care providers “to prevent the collapse of the overall child care business, further depleting the supply of affordable child care in the state.”
She said such providers are “often operating within a small profit margin and are easily susceptible to overall business collapse.”
Other developments
The Health Authority on Thursday reported that six more residents at a Lebanon nursing home for veterans tested positive for COVID-19, bringing to eight so far infected. State officials said they didn’t know the source of the disease at Edward Allworth Veterans’ Home.
Pat Allen, Health Authority director, described the home as “state-of-the-art” and that residents had individual rooms.
The additional cases pushed to 30 the number of Oregonians that testing shows were infected with COVID-19. The Health Authority listed confirmed cases in 11 counties. Lincoln County has no confirmed cases.
About eight out of 10 of those who are infected will have mild symptoms. The best step for those individuals is to stay home, health authorities said.
“The vast majority will recover without needing intervention,” said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state health officer.
State and federal health authorities say the elderly are most susceptible to the virus. There is no treatment and no vaccine.
The governor has already commanded that visits be severely restricted to the 30,000 Oregonians living in nursing homes, assisted living and residential care facilities. In detailed guidance issued Thursday, the state is recommending that until at least early April those over 60 or with underlying medical conditions avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, a move that is likely to impact every senior citizen center in Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Corrections acknowledged the emerging health risks, taking the unprecedented step of stopping visits to the state’s 14 prisons and their 14,435 inmates.
Colette Peters, Corrections Department director, said there were no known cases within the prisons and the results were negative for one inmate who was tested for the virus. The agency has identified 1,250 inmates at the highest risk for getting the novel coronavirus.