Sat Jul 18, 2020, 11:40 AM
Mike 03 (16,382 posts)
'We really need help': Coronavirus overwhelms rural Oregon
Associated Press via Seattle Times
July 18, 2020 at 8:40 am | Updated July 18, 2020 at 9:32 am By SARA CLINE The Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Heather Griggs presses a phone to her ear in a makeshift office in the small brick courthouse that once served as a jail in rural Pendleton, a place best known for its annual rodeo.
Her assured tone masks her exhaustion when she tells the person on the other end that they may have been exposed to COVID-19. It’s a call she has made thousands of times since March, but lately there has been a heightened sense of urgency. The coronavirus has torn through the small Oregon community where farmers grow crops such as potatoes, onions and grains. In Umatilla County, where Pendleton is located, the rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 is about 16%. That’s a measure of how widespread the disease is in the community, and the World Health Organization recommends it stay below 5%. In the county with a population of 77,000, the virus has infected more than a thousand people and killed nine, overwhelming its limited resources and employees. “I’m tired,” said Griggs, who’s working as a contact tracer. The pandemic sweeping through major U.S. cities is now wreaking havoc on rural communities, with some recording the nation’s most new confirmed cases per capita in the past two weeks. The virus is infecting thousands of often impoverished rural residents every day, swamping struggling health care systems and piling responsibility on government workers who often perform multiple jobs they never signed up for. Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/we-really-need-help-coronavirus-overwhelms-rural-oregon/?amp=1
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6 replies, 1159 views
Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum
Replies to this discussion thread
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Author | Time | Post |
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Mike 03 | Jul 2020 | OP |
CrispyQ | Jul 2020 | #1 | |
Midnight Writer | Jul 2020 | #4 | |
leftieNanner | Jul 2020 | #2 | |
LizBeth | Jul 2020 | #3 | |
BigmanPigman | Jul 2020 | #5 | |
LizBeth | Jul 2020 | #6 |
Response to Mike 03 (Original post)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 11:52 AM
CrispyQ (29,290 posts)
1. We're all on our own.
This is the result of voting for candidates who have disdain for government. I never understood why a voter would do that. That would be like hiring the job candidate who wants to see your business fail. Not to mention the hypocrisy of government loathing candidates who gorge from the very trough that government pays for.
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Response to CrispyQ (Reply #1)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 02:07 PM
Midnight Writer (10,389 posts)
4. Like hiring a gardener who sprays everything with Round-up.
Response to Mike 03 (Original post)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 12:13 PM
leftieNanner (9,237 posts)
2. I'm sure Rep. Greg Walden will get right on that
![]() Yeah. He's my Rep. too. ![]() |
Response to leftieNanner (Reply #2)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 12:35 PM
LizBeth (7,621 posts)
3. I have listened to Republicans whine again and again how Brown is abusing them requiring
measures to reduce covid infection on Browns FB messages. These are the people being hit, working hardest against their own best interest.
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Response to LizBeth (Reply #3)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 08:25 PM
BigmanPigman (40,955 posts)
5. Their behavior boggles the mind.
We all told them this would happen and now that it is and they still are their own worst enemy. Why can't they see the obvious?!?
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Response to BigmanPigman (Reply #5)
Sat Jul 18, 2020, 08:29 PM
LizBeth (7,621 posts)
6. Curtail behavior? Be responsible? Think beyond themselves? That doesn't happen with the supporters
and Trump is well aware, gives them an out so they do not have to do any of that stuff.
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