Pacific City
SUN
Neskowin Emergency Egress on track to be completed this fall................. 4
SOLVE invites public to volunteer on Earth Day
Hailing Our History: Post Offices of the Past.................................9
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Michelle Hughes appointed as interim PCJWSA Manager.........................10
Vol. 15, No. 365 • March 26, 2021 • FREE!
Now Open for Travel
Motorists can once again drive over the dune at Pacific Avenue as Tillamook County has reopened the access at Pacific City Turnaround Preparation is the key should natural disaster strike the area “Be Prepared” is not only the Scouts’ motto; it’s also the slogan for the South Tillamook County Emergency Volunteer Corps’ “Prepare Your Neighborhood” program. An outgrowth of the former “Map Your Neighborhood” program, “Prepare Your Neighborhood” emphasizes the importance of having individuals and neighborhoods ready to work together in the event of power outages, weather events, or other natural disasters. Ideally, each neighborhood in South Tillamook County should have a designated coordinator, called a Neighborhood Captain, who will work with interested neighbors in learning how to respond to emergency situations. For those that are curious about the resources that your neighborhood already has available, want to learn more about becoming more resilient to unexpected events, and are willing to organize your neighbors for discussions about emergency preparedness, the South Tillamook County Emergency Volunteer Corps is promising help to get started.
A no-cost, online Zoom training session for individuals interested in organizing their South County neighborhoods will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on April 21. New Neighborhood Captains will be coached in how to build individual, family, and neighborhood emergency plans and will be trained in important skills for dealing with emergencies. To register, send an email message to Marge Jozsa at margejozsa@gmail.com. “The captains are the foundation of emergency preparedness,” Jozsa told the Sun. “They’re the ones that get to know their neighbors, find out what supplies are in neighborhoods, find out what neighbors need, and they’re funnels for information.” It’s because of this critical role that Jozsa said that the STCEVC is making a big push to enlist more neighborhood captains over the next several months. Currently about 20 neighborhood captains are serving the area, but much more are needed. Jozsa said that, currently, the Neskowin area has the most captains and that other areas could use many more volunteers.
“In Pacific City, we have a couple (captains, but) we need a lot more,” she said, adding that there aren’t any currently in the Cloverdale, Hebo, Beaver or Blaine areas. “It’s not hard work,” she said. “If you’re a little bit of a social butterfly, you’ll like it. You get to go to your neighbors on a mission. You’re a welcoming committee. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors and what resources neighborhoods have — before a disaster strikes.” Though it does require a small time commitment, that is more true at the beginning when the time investment is focused on getting a contact list together and determining community assets such as generators, first aid skills and who has ladders. In non-COVID times the neighborhood captain is also tasked with a once a year (or more) potluck/community meeting. For additional information about training and seminars offered by the South Tillamook County Emergency Volunteer Corps, visit STCEVC’s website at http://southcountyevc. org.
Tillamook County remains in moderate risk category for COVID-19 For the second two week periods in a row, Tillamook County will remain in the “Moderate Risk” category under the State of Oregon’s health framework to reduce transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. The county will remain on that level for the next two weeks, March 26-April 8, thanks to only 33 confirmed positive and presumptive COVID-19 cases for the period from March 7-20. “It’s good news that we’re going to stay at the moderate risk level but we can’t let our guard down,” Tillamook County Health and Human Services Director Marlene Putnam told Tillamook County Commissioners on March 24. “Let’s keep those precautions in place especially as we’re in spring break times right now.” Governor Kate Brown announced on Feb. 23 updates to county risk levels framework, framework that uses four different risk levels for counties based on COVID-19 spread — Extreme Risk, High Risk, Moderate Risk, and Lower Risk—and assigns health and safety measures for each level. Effective March 26 through April 8, there will be two counties in the Extreme Risk level, six at High Risk, 14 — including Tillamook — at Moderate Risk, and 14 at Lower Risk. “This week we continue to see the majority of counties at Lower and Moderate Risk, and I want to thank Oregonians once again for making smart choices throughout this pandemic,” said Brown. “As we work to open up vaccine eligibility to all Oregonians by May 1, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel get a little brighter. But, we still have more work to do to reach the level of community-wide protection we need. I encourage all Oregonians to keep wearing your masks, maintain physical distance, stay home when sick, and get your vaccine when it’s available to you.” The recently announced two-week caution period applies to counties facing backward movement. Beginning this week and continuing until further notice, counties that reduced their COVID-19 spread enough to move down in risk level in the previous two-week period, but see their numbers go back up in the next two-week period, will be given a two-week caution period to bring COVID-19 case rates back down again. This week, the caution period applies to two counties — Josephine County and Klamath County. The caution period will allow counties to refocus efforts to drive back down creeping case numbers, and give local businesses additional certainty on their plans for operating. If, at the end of the caution period, case rate data still puts the county at a higher risk level, the county will move to that level. The Oregon Health Authority will examine and publish county data weekly. County risk levels will be reassigned every two weeks. The first week’s data will provide a “warning week” to prepare counties for potential risk level changes. The next assignment of risk levels will be announced April 6 and take effect April 9. Updates to Warning Week data and county risk levels will be posted to coronavirus.oregon. gov. VACCINATIONS MOVING FORWARD Tillamook County Health and Human Services Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Ed Colson announced that as of March 23, 6,610 county residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which equates to 25 percent of Tillamook Country residents. Of those, 11.5 percent have received the twodose set and are considered fully vaccinated. Also of note is the county’s plan to launch an online COVID-19 vaccine scheduling tool on March 29. That tool will be available at https:// tillamookchc.org/coronavirus/vaccines/.
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