Airport Looks to Upgrade Weather System
The City of Florence will consider application for a grant to update the Florence Municipal Airports AWOS system. AWOS is the Automated Weather Observing System and predates the current ASOS system in place at over 900 airports. The main difference between the two systems is that the older AWOS updates in 20 minute intervals but does not report rapidly changing weather whereas the ASOS updates hourly but has the ability to recognize changing weather patterns. The cost of replacing the system will be half a million dollars, but, if the money is approved through the Critical Oregon Airport Relief Grant application, the city would only have to pay $50,000 of the cost. The Florence City Council will receive direction from the staff at their meeting Monday evening at 5:30. The council will also look at accepting a Transportation Growth Management grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation and consider approving funds for the purchase of a new 2020 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor for the police department. The meeting will be held virtually and information on how to access the meeting is available on the city of Florence website at ci.florence.or.us.
Latest Coronavirus Numbers
The latest Lane County numbers for the coronavirus is 1,328. That includes 18 new cases yesterday. Lane County Public Health issued their latest report and noted that cases include 1 new case associated with a long term care facility, a new workplace cluster and 3 new social clusters. One of the new cases has been listed for the 97439 zip code increasing the Florence number to 24. LCPH liaison Jason Davis says even though the numbers continue to be high, there is good news in report. Davis says infections have dropped by 24 yesterday.
“It is far too soon to claim any kind of victory or celebrate on that number but every day we see that number but every day we see that infectious number decrease, that’s good news.”
Davis says increasing numbers are a concern, but a drop in infectious rates is the primary indicator of where the virus is going. Statewide there were 363 new cases yesterday for a cumulative total of 33,862 cases and one new death to report raising that total to 560.
Local COVID-19 Case
One of the recent new cases of COVID-19 in Florence is connected with the Siuslaw Public Library. The library’s district director, Meg Spencer released a letter yesterday to inform the community. Spencer says the test results were received yesterday and the staff member involved had not been present at the library since the 25th of September. She also said the infection was not contracted locally, but rather due to a vacation out of the area. They have verified through Lane County Public Health that this case is considered a low-risk case for other employees and for the community at large. Spencer says out an abundance of caution the library went through a deep cleaning process. She also assures the public that all current protocols for staying the spread of the virus were occurring during the time the infected employee was at work. The library has implemented curbside pickup of library materials, limited public access for computer appointments and has temporarily suspended book donations.
