KWSO News for Mon., Feb. 22, 2021

Repairs are taking place on a water main break near the intersection of Beaver Street and Upper Dry Creek Road.  The road is closed until repairs are completed.  There is a Boil Water Notice in effect for Upper Dry Creek due to the water outage that occurred over the weekend.

Last Friday (2/19/21) COVID-19 shots were administered at a Community Vaccination Clinic for eligible individuals 18 and older at the Warm Springs Community Center.  By opening up the vaccination clinic to a wide range, it allows the start of the building of herd immunity for the community.   Anyone interested in getting on the list for a vaccination can call the Health and Wellness Center at 541-553-2610.

Anyone interested in a test for COVID-19, whether you are symptomatic or you are concerned that you may have been exposed – you can get a test at the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center.  Random surveillance testing continues to get a better idea of the prevalence of COVID -19 in our community.  Remember you must stop at the front gate to check in at the health and Wellness Center.  That’s where you can ask for a COVID-19 test.

Despite historic winter weather across the country causing shipment delays and forcing mass vaccination sites to reschedule appointments, Oregon health officials said Friday that the state’s vaccination timeline is still on schedule. While more than 10,000 vaccine appointments were canceled last week, beginning Monday people 70 and older will be eligible to receive doses of vaccine and people 65 and older will be eligible March 1. During the past week, Oregon averaged more than 14,000 vaccinations per day. As of Thursday, 12% of the state’s population has been vaccinated with first doses and 5% of residents have been fully vaccinated.

A report released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon highlights a new effort to better track missing and murdered Indigenous people. Lauren Dake reports that for years, activists have tried to draw attention to a growing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. There have been gaps in data. A lack of resources. And poor communication between law enforcement jurisdictions. But a federal initiative launched in 2019 aims to change that. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative aims to create a more coordinated law enforcement response to missing person cases and improve data collection. As part of that effort, an initial analysis revealed there are currently eleven missing and eight murdered Indigenous people connected to Oregon.  But that, the report noted, is only a snapshot.