Shake Alert System Goes Into Effect
Tomorrow is the day that the new Shake Alert Earthquake early warning system goes on line. Apple users will be able to load an app on their phone that will tell them when an earthquake will hit. Android users can sign up for notifications. Althea Rizzo with the Oregon office of Emergency Management says the warning will not give individuals a lot of time to prepare, but it might be enough to save lives.
“You will get seconds, to tens of seconds worth of warning depending on how close you are to the earthquake.”
She says it may not seem like a long time, especially if you do not maintain your composure.
“but that’s enough time for you do drop, cover and hold on.”
Rizzo says the best time to prepare for an emergency is to start before an emergency occurs. Information of the shake alert system can be found at orshakealert.us.
Gas Prices
Some individuals have been decrying the political climate for the recent jump in gasoline prices, but Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon says the current Oregon average of $3.04 a gallon is right on target with numbers in January of 2020 before the pandemic began. What’s more she says is that there was no interruption in fuel supplies like there was recently with the extreme storm that blew through the country. The current average price for a gallon of regular in Florence has jumped to $2.93 a gallon about another .10 cents higher than last week. Dodds says we could likely see $3.25 a gallon in the spring, but then some relief would likely come in the summer. Rising crude prices coupled with recent weather events is causing the current climb in prices. Dodds says a reduction in refinery output is also a contributor.
Low Case Count for COVID-19
Lane County only reported 17 new or presumptive cases of COVID-19 yesterday. In their daily report LCPH noted that there were only 90 people on the list being monitored for possible infection and currently only 12 people are in the hospital. 7 of those 12 however are in Intensive Care and one is on a ventilator. With the exceptions of hospitalizations the state of Oregon continues to show improvement as well, but 15 more individuals were added to the hospital list yesterday. The Florence area is still at 174 for total cases. Concerning vaccinations the state has now received a total of 1,418,455 doses and of those doses 1,179,510 have been administered.
Vaccines
While the federal government is hoping that most Americans that want the COVID-19 vaccine will be able to receive it by mid summer, Jason Davis with Lane County Public Health says that vaccine confidence needs to increase with the public that is concerned about the vaccine effectiveness. Davis says that it will be a little longer for Oregon to be at a point where large scale outbreaks are a thing of the past.
“Dr. Ludtke had laid out a plan 70 by September, so 70% of our population vaccinated by September which will help us achieve herd immunity.”
He says a portion of the population is still leary about receiving the shot and there needs to be an open dialogue with those individuals.
Shoot Out Death – Reedsport
Highway 101 had to be closed for about 4 hours last night near Winchester Avenue in Reedsport as Douglas County sheriff’s were dealing with a traffic stop. A vehicle was pulled over with two occupants. One individual was initially detained but the other became hostile. Members of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Crisis Negotiation team had been negotiating with the armed suspect as they attempted to deescalate the situation. at 10:44 pm shots were fired at the scene and the suspect, whose name is being withheld at this time was pronounced dead by EMS personnel. Douglas County Major Crimes Team has taken over the investigation.
