33 COVID-19 Cases
There have been 33 more cases reported for the Florence area in just a week since the last Lane County Public health update to the Oregon Health Authority website. That makes the total number of known cases to date at 1833. As reported yesterday there have been a number of patients that have been seen and have been admitted to Peace Harbor hospital. According to Dr. Willie Foster, ED director, they are mild cases and some were even cases that were diagnosed while patients were in for another reason or a scheduled procedure. It is not known how many cases in yesterday’s numbers were breakthrough cases though the state is averaging around 58% currently. Yesterday Lane County cases totaled 96
Mapleton Pool Treading Water
Supporters of the effort to revive the Mapleton Pool are stepping up efforts to convince the Mapleton School Board to reconsider a decision that could doom the facility that is housed in a building on school grounds. Pool supporters will hold a public meeting next Wednesday, July 27th at 6 pm at the Mapleton Lions Club. In a social media post this week pool advocate Vanessa West says they want to show community support, come up with more fundraising ideas and talk about how to approach the school board for cooperation. Following more than a dozen years of working with supporters of the Siuslaw Regional Aquatics Center the Mapleton School board voted June 15th to step away from any further efforts to salvage it. The school district recently received word of a USDA grant that would pay for renovation of the building, but not the pool. Nor would it pay for any ongoing operations costs. Those operations costs are what prompted the original closing of the pool by the school district in 2009.
Crash Safety
A crash on Highway 101 at Munsel Lake Road Tuesday presented additional risks to emergency responders. Emergency responders had just arrived at the crash and quickly put out traffic cones intended to stop traffic then went right to work providing patient care. Western Lane Emergency and Fire Authority chief Michael Schick said some drivers ignored the cones and kept going.
“Unfortunately that’s not unusual. It’s tough for us to get information out immediately to everybody that’s on the road that hey, you know, you might have to stop.” -Chief Schick
Schick says that adds an unnecessary hazard to operations that are already putting responders at risk.
“We’re trying to provide care to our patients and we’re not always paying attention to vehicles trying to drive by. It’s unsafe for everybody involved, but primarily for our emergency responders.”- Chief Schick
In this case no responders were injured and none of the occupants of the involved vehicles suffered serious injuries. This time of year along the Oregon Coast some drivers can become impatient and try to “squeeze” through a crash scene. Law enforcement officials say that’s not only dangerous for everybody, but it could get you a citation.
