Witty

Two more Baker County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

The Oregon Health Authority reported on Thursday, Jan. 27, that an 82-year-old man who tested positive on Jan. 22 had died Jan. 25 at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City.

The presence of underlying medical conditions has not been confirmed.

The man was the 41st county resident to die after testing positive for COVID-19.

The county’s 42nd COVID-19-related death was a 74-year-old man who tested positive Jan. 10 and died Jan. 26 at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise. He had underlying conditions.

Four county residents died during January after testing positive.

The number of COVID-19-related deaths during December was three, following four deaths in November, five in October and six, the most in any month during the pandemic, in September.

The Health Department reported 33 new cases on Thursday, Jan. 27, and 36 the previous day.

For the first five days of the current measuring week — Jan. 23-29 — the county reported 134 new cases. That’s on pace to set a new weekly record high for the third straight week.

Previous weekly totals were 183 (Jan. 16-22) and 176 (Jan. 9-15).

With 596 cases in January through the 27th, the month has set a new record. The previous record was 465 cases during September 2021, the peak of the surge driven by the delta variant.

Baker schools continue in-person

Despite the record number of cases this month, the Baker 5J School District has continued to have in-person classes.

That’s a testament to students and staff wearing masks, washing their hands and following other precautions, as well as to parents heeding the district’s advice to keep their kids home if they’re ill, Superintendent Mark Witty said on Thursday, Jan. 27.

“I’m proud of my staff and the students for doing the right thing,” Witty said. “We’re not perfect but we’re pretty good.”

Witty said the district’s overriding goal is to avoid having to return, even briefly, to online classes, known as comprehensive distance learning (CDL).

“CDL is pretty challenging for families,” Witty said. “The staff wants to keep kids in school.”

Witty said the percentage of students absent on Thursday, Jan. 27, was lower in most district schools than the previous week.

He said the percentages include all students missing for any reason — some, he said, certainly are due to either a COVID-19 positive test or a possible exposure.

The absentee percentage, by school:

• Baker Middle School, 30%. Witty said a few sports teams were quaranting due to COVID-19, which boosted the absentee rate at BMS.

• Baker Early Learning Center (kindergarten), 20%.

• Baker High School, 18%.

• South Baker Intermediate, 14%.

• Brooklyn Primary, 14%.

• Keating Elementary, 8%.

• Haines Elementary, 2%.

Employees being absent, rather than students, is the biggest threat to continuing in-person schools, Witty said.

On Thursday, Jan. 27, the school with the most staff out was South Baker, with seven from a total of about 45.

Baker Middle School had four of its staff of about 37 out that day.

As with students, some of the absences are due to COVID-19, although the district doesn’t know the exact breakdown, Witty said.

He said the number of absent employees has remained low enough that all schools have been able to continue operating. The situation has been in effect balanced, he said — as a few employees have to stay home, a similar number of workers who had been out are able to return to work.

“We’ve been able to make it work,” Witty said. “It hasn’t been easy for sure, and the staff deserves a lot of credit.”

The OHA’s weekly outbreak report lists case totals for Baker County-area schools over the past month.

• Baker High School, 20 students, two staff, most recent onset of symptoms, Jan. 20.

• Baker Middle School, 15 students, no staff, Jan. 19.

• South Baker Intermediate, six students. no staff, Jan. 19.

• Brooklyn Primary, four students, no staff, Jan. 18.

• Pine Eagle Charter School, Halfway, four students, no staff, Jan. 19.

• North Powder Charter School, three students, no staff, Jan. 14.

• Haines Elementary, two students, no staff, Jan. 9.

• Eagle Cap Innovative High School, one student, no staff, Jan. 16.

The outbreak report also lists one outbreak in a Baker County business — six cases at Marvin Wood Products in Baker City, with the most recent onset Jan. 16.

Breakthrough cases

For the most recent week, Jan. 16-22, Baker County had 65 breakthrough cases — infections in fully vaccinated residents — out of 183 total cases, a rate of 35.5%.

The breakthrough case rates for the previous two weeks were 31.8% and 38.5%.

The statewide breakthrough case rate for Jan. 16-22 was 28%, up from 21% the previous week.

“We’ve been able to make it work. It hasn’t been easy for sure, and the staff deserves a lot of credit.”

— Mark Witty, Baker School District superintendent