3 Day Respite From Cases; Overtime Addressed; OCHS Benefit Concert

3 Day Respite From Cases

After Several weeks of bombardment with new COVID-19 cases the Florence area has had 3 days of no new cases.  Florence remains at 662 total cases as cases around the county and the state continue to decline.  Lane County’s daily average has dipped below 120 for the first time in more than 2 months of reporting.  There were still 125 new cases reported yesterday for the county.  Statewide there were 1,453 new cases.  One number that is still concerning for the Oregon Health Authority is the number of deaths occurring from complications due to the coronavirus.  Yesterday the OHA reported 59 new deaths.  The state death toll is now closing in on the 4,000 mark with 3,959 known.  The number is also rising for breakthrough cases as there are now 1 in 4 individuals statistically that are contracting COVID-19.  A smaller percentage of those individuals have had to be hospitalized and less than 1% have died.

Overtime Addressed

One of the biggest Concerns voiced by opponents of the upcoming November ballot initiative for the WLAD Levy renewal was the issue of overtime.  Overtime is one of the significant  items in the WLAD district’s annual budget.  It prompted a closer inspection of recent numbers for the western Lane Ambulance district as it pertains to those Overtime figures.  Overtime is a concern from a budgetary aspect, but according to official numbers from WLAD last year the entity came in under budgeted amounts.  Total overtime budget for the district was $353,588.  The total for the fiscal 2020-2021 was 291,880.  Total operating income last year exceeded the district’s budget by over $300,000.  Voters will have a chance to vote on whether or not they want to renew the current levy on November 2nd.

OCHS Benefit Concert

Two accomplished with a combined two-dozen albums to their credit, and individual performances ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC will present a live concert Sunday afternoon that will benefit the Oregon Coast Humane Society.  Kathy Parsons with the society says the two, Dan Chadburn and Tom Nichols had previously performed in Florence as part of a series of fund-raising “house concerts” she hosted.

The two have different styles but Parsons says the pair blend well together.  “So, sometimes it’s piano, guitar and vocal.  And sometimes it’s just piano.”

This time due to COVID restrictions the pair will be performing  from their home in Florida and streaming live on YouTube beginning at 3PM Sunday.  Parsons says there is a link to the stream from the Oregon Coast Humane Society home page.   “There’s a small picture of the two of them on the right hand side and you can click on that and that’ll take you right on over to YouTube.”

There is no cost to log on to the stream but organizers say there will be ample opportunity for viewers to donate.   Money raised during Sunday’s streamed event will go towards improvements at the local shelter.