Due to the declining Covid hospitalizations along the west coast, the state health officials are lifting mask requirements in indoor public spaces and schools on March 12, shifting masking decisions to the local level, Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday. Oregon hospitalization rates during the Omicron surge are a third lower[Read More…]
COVID-19
Covid rules stay in place – Oregon, Lane haven’t hit Omicron peak yet
There is some good news, and some not-good news about the Omicron surge that the county is in the midst of grappling with. The good news: The drop in hospitalizations is likely to happen quicker than during the Delta surge in fall 2021. The bad news: We haven’t peaked yet.[Read More…]
Booster or bust: Third shot may have made all the difference
Erin Tierney, Executive Editor Six people walk into a room. Three are boosted. Three get sick. Guess which ones are which? Welcome to my month of January. After apartment hunting for years, Lance and I finally managed to snag a beautiful house mid-December. With only two weeks to make the[Read More…]
Hospitals face staffing crisis; FEMA pulls out of the Grove
ERIN TIERNEY/ THE CHRONICLE. Sen. Ron Wyden speaks at PeaceHealth RiverBend in Springfield last week. As the Omicron variant continues to surge, an unprecedented staffing crisis has smacked local hospitals, leaving the remaining staff stretched thin and exhausted as we enter the third year of the pandemic. Outside of the[Read More…]
Lane County schools reopen; ICU beds near full
Alicia Beymer, chief administrative officer at PeaceHealth Cottage Grove and PeaceHealth Sacred Heart, speaks Saturday with Cottage Grove Mayor Jeff Gowing and others in attendance noting the National Guard’s arrival and support. Covid hospitalizations reached record highs last week before receding slightly, but those numbers remain alarmingly high for hospitals,[Read More…]
Column: Back to school is not back to ‘normal’
Plahn In August it is nearly impossible to ignore the upcoming school year. Every store has mountains of brightly colored mechanical pencils and backpacks with every cartoon character imaginable that seem to shout, “BACK TO SCHOOL,” but the past 16 months have taught us that the traditional “going back to[Read More…]
Delta variant driving surge in local hospitalizations
Chronicle file photo BY THE NUMBERS: Creswell: 73 cases in past two weeks; 496 all-time Cottage Grove: 155 in past two weeks; 769 all-time Pleasant Hill: 17 in past two weeks; 129 all-time Springfield (all zip codes): 684 in past two weeks; 5,265 all-time SPRINGFIELD – After falling into the single[Read More…]
Covid surges for unvaxxed: PeaceHealth restricting visitors, sets mandates
SPRINGFIELD – PeaceHealth officials, facing a surge in Covid patients and packed ICUs during the circulation of the highly contagious variants, instituted restrictions for visitor access that took effect on Aug. 3. “We recognize the importance of having loved ones visit patients in our hospitals and made this decision only[Read More…]
Keep protecting yourself and others
Mary Fey As a nurse practitioner, I have had the honor and privilege of caring for many of you in Dexter, Pleasant Hill, Lowell, Cottage Grove and Creswell. Over the past 35 years, I have stitched up your cut fingers, vaccinated hundreds of your children and helped many of you[Read More…]
‘You’re not the boss of me’
Noel Nash, publisher I am lots of things. Sometimes all at once. I’m conservative. I’m liberal. I’m libertarian, and independent. I’m happy-go-lucky, chill, easy-going and feel an inner peace. I’m angry, downright mad, hateful, spiteful and harbor revenge. My doghouse, it’s been said, has several floors. I’m forgiving, regretful, humble, eager to[Read More…]
