The City of Eugene and Eugene Water & Electric Board are working together to distribute CARES Act dollars that have been allocated to the City for distribution to utility customers impacted by COVID-19 as part of the City’s community recovery efforts.
Licensed childcare providers and non-profit agencies providing direct services to clients impacted by COVID-19 can apply for a utility grant equal to the lesser of $4,000 or your average monthly EWEB bill.
Approved applicants will receive the grant as credit on their EWEB bill. The credit will be applied to the total balance due, including EWEB charges for electricity and water, existing EWEB loans or payment plans, and City services that appear on the EWEB bill (stormwater and wastewater).
The total funding available for non-profit and childcare providers is $100,000 and will be made available beginning October 2020 until funds have been fully allocated.
To be eligible for a grant, the applicant must be a childcare facility licensed with the State of Oregon and currently providing services, or a 501c3 agency whose facilities are primarily used to provide essential services such as shelter, housing, medical, mental health, nutrition, personal hygiene or direct service to low-income clients who are not eligible for LIHEAP or other Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) due to citizenship status.
As wildfires continue to endanger homes throughout the west, this forum on Thursday evening is of special interest. Two speakers from the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department, and Tim Ingalsbee, a fire expert at the UO, will discuss the risks of fire in our wooded urban environment, and what we can do to reduce the hazard. This forum was initiated by the Friendly Area Neighbors and is supported by the Neighborhood Leaders Council for the benefit of neighbors citywide.
The event will run from (Thursday, October 29th) 7:00 – 9:00 PM
See the event flyer with more details on the speakers and topics.
Submit an entry for a chance of winning $500! The City of Eugene is seeking submissions from people ages 14-30 living in Lane County for Stop the Spread, a community COVID-19 messaging contest geared toward young adults.
Stop the Spread encourages anyone ages 14-30 to submit visual (graphic design or illustrative) or video content (no longer than 30-seconds) in English or Spanish that emphasizes to their peers the importance of the preventing the spread of COVID-19.
All submissions must be received by 11: 59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6. Visit Engage Eugene for full contest rules and entry form.
City of Eugene and EWEB team up on new assistance programs
Some Eugene Water & Electric Board residential customers will soon see a $250 bill credit on their EWEB account, while nonprofit agencies and childcare providers can apply for a new utility grant program. EWEB and the City of Eugene are teaming up to distribute $250,000 in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act dollars that have been allocated to the City to help Eugene utility customers impacted by the pandemic.
To qualify for the credit, EWEB customers need to live in Eugene and be pre-approved for the Energy Assistance Stability CORONAVIRUS Relief Program (EASCR), a federal program administered by Lane County that provides financial assistance to income-qualifying households for home heating and energy bills. Once qualified for EASCR on Lane County’s Energy Assistance website, the $250 CARES credit will automatically apply to the EWEB bill. The credit will be applied retroactively for EWEB customers that already receive EASCR.
A second program focuses on licensed childcare providers and nonprofit agencies providing direct services to clients impacted by COVID-19. Those organizations can apply for a utility grant equal to the lesser of $4,000 or their average monthly EWEB bill.
Non-profits and childcare providers can apply for the utility grant on EWEB’s website.
Happy Safe Halloween
There are plenty of ways you can have fun this Halloween while avoiding the scare of being exposed to COVID-19 or unknowingly spreading the virus. Lane County Public Health is recommending that residents avoid traditional door-to-door trick or treating and “Trunk or Treat” events because these are high-risk activities for crowding among people outside your household.
Please consider low-risk alternatives with members of your household like carving pumpkins, doing a Halloween craft, or watching a spooky movie. If you dress up in costume, be careful to plan a costume that allows you to wear a face covering. Halloween masks will not protect you or others from coronavirus.
A lower-risk, family friendly option is Halloween Downtown presented by City of Eugene Cultural Services and Downtown Eugene Merchants. Bring your family or pod downtown from 12-4 p.m. and check out the spooky windowfront walking tour, a frightfully fun scavenger hunt, Coffin Race graveyard, costumed entertainment and a photo opportunity. If you choose to attend, you are required to follow public health precautions to keep yourself and others safe by wearing a mask, washing your hands and maintaining physical distance. Read more about Halloween Downtown.
Wear a Face Covering– indoors and outside when you can’t maintain 6 feet of space, it’s a statewide requirement.
Watch Your Distance – stay 6-feet apart from those outside your household and limit your gathering size.
Wash Your Hands – often with soap and water for 20 seconds throughout the day.
Wait It Out – stay home if you are sick.
COVID-19 Resources
See a list of Community Resources for physical and mental health, food, housing, businesses, employees, schools and children, as well as information in Spanish.
Also learn how you can help. Our partners have a significant amount of information available online. Please visit these resources for the most up to date information:
Governor Kate Brown added Lane County to the State’s County Watch List on Friday, October 16 – yet another sign that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in our community.
“The Watch List signifies caution,” Governor Brown said. “When we are able to address community spread early on, the more likely we are to be successful in curbing that spread. While OHA offers support and resources to help county officials prevent further case spikes, it remains up to all community members to do their part.”
By being included on the watch list, the state will prioritize resources and assistance for Lane County, including increased monitoring and communication from OHA, contact tracing help, case investigation, and technical assistance. Lane County will remain on the Watch List for a minimum of three weeks and until our sporadic case rates drop below specific thresholds.
Every one of us needs to continue to take this threat seriously. The choices we make affect not only us and our families but our neighbors, our communities and the most vulnerable people among us.
The current Lane County COVID-19 alert level remains at high. We must continue to be vigilant about taking measures to limit contact and modify everyday activities to reduce exposure – washing our hands, wearing a mask, maintaining our distance and staying home when sick.
Face Covering Update – Face Shields No Longer Recommended
Effective October 19, Oregon Health Authority updated statewide guidance on face coverings. This includes new provisions about workplaces, markets and events, some educational facilities, as well as information about face shields.
Updates to the statewide face covering requirements include:
Face coverings are recommended in place of a face shield, except in limited situations when a face shield is appropriate such as when communicating with someone who is deaf or hearing impaired and needs to read lips.
Face coverings are now required in all private and public workplaces.
Face coverings are required in outdoor and indoor markets, street fairs, private career schools and public and private colleges and universities.
If you’re planning to hit the trail, make sure to bring your mask!
Masks or face coverings are required outdoors when you are within 6 feet of others. Many of our trails are narrow, requiring a mask when passing others.
Please remember these additional guidelines to keep you and your fellow hikers safe:
Stay 6 feet apart.
Walk single file and step aside to allow others to pass.
Do not gather and avoid crowded areas.
Stay home if you have a fever, respiratory symptoms or are just not feeling well.
There are plenty of ways you can have fun this Halloween while avoiding the scare of being exposed to COVID-19 or unknowingly spreading the virus. Lane County Public Health is recommending that residents avoid traditional door-to-door trick or treating and “Trunk or Treat” events because these are high-risk activities for crowding among people outside your household.
Please consider low-risk alternatives to trick-or-treating and in-person celebrations. These could include activities with members of your household like carving pumpkins, doing a Halloween craft, or watching a spooky movie. If you dress up in a costume, be careful to plan a costume that allows you to wear a face covering. Halloween masks will not protect you or others from coronavirus.
Holiday gatherings on Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day led to increased case counts. This Halloween be extra mindful of your choices. Choosing low-risk Halloween plans can help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 illness, decrease the impact on our health care system and save lives.
Wear a Face Covering– indoors and outside when you can’t maintain 6 feet of space, it’s a statewide requirement.
Watch Your Distance – stay 6-feet apart from those outside your household and limit your gathering size.
Wash Your Hands – often with soap and water for 20 seconds throughout the day.
Wait It Out – stay home if you are sick.
COVID-19 Resources
See a list of Community Resources for physical and mental health, food, housing, businesses, employees, schools and children, as well as information in Spanish.
Also learn how you can help. Our partners have a significant amount of information available online. Please visit these resources for the most up to date information:
Governor Kate Brown announced on Friday that Lane County has been added to the County Watch List, bringing the total number of counties on the Watch List to five.
Counties are placed on the Watch List when COVID-19 is spreading quickly and public health officials cannot trace that spread to specific sources—creating a potentially dangerous dynamic. Specific markers of this rapid community spread include when there is a sporadic case rate of 50 or more per 100,000 people in the last two weeks and the county has had more than five sporadic cases in the last two weeks (sporadic cases are those that cannot be traced to a source; they indicate community spread). Counties remain on the Watch List for a minimum of three weeks and until their sporadic case rates drop below these thresholds.
The complete County Watch List now includes the following five counties: Benton, Clatsop, Lane, Malheur and Umatilla. Learn more in the press release.
Bloodworks NW provides 100% of the blood it collects to Lane County. Due to COVID-19, we have had to suspend all of our mobile drives (which makes up 60% of our blood collections). While we have established Pop-Up Donor Centers, we are not seeing the recovery of the 60% loss in blood collection. Additionally, hospital usage has increased by 20% during this time.
As our community embarks into the fall season, what the future holds is still unknown. The effects of the pandemic are still unfolding and our local hospitals are addressing many of our community’s needs – including the need for blood – during this busy season. Bloodworks is helping to meet the need by continuing to hold Pop-Up Donor Centers around our region through the end of the year. Help us maintain the health and stability of the local blood supply.
Every donation makes our community stronger, including those who need it most. Below are exciting Pop-Up Donor Centers in your area, where you can book your next appointment. Or, you can visit the Eugene Donor Center if that’s more convenient for you.
The Neighborhood Leaders Council is putting on a series of Zoom events related to preparing for future fires that may spread through urban areas such as our neighborhood. I have attached the poster, please spread this information by circulating the flyer of the Fire Preparedness Forum as widely as possible. If you would be willing to post any paper versions of the poster, please let us know.
Anyone who is interested in joining the SHiNA Board should attend the next SHiNA Board meeting on Zoom, see the invitation below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Ron Bevirt – SHiNA Co-Chair is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting:
Topic: SHiNA Board meeting Time: Tuesday Oct 13, 2020 6:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Lane County continues to see large increases in new COVID-19 cases every day. The current Lane County COVID-19 alert level remains at high, meaning we must continue to be vigilant about taking measures to limit contact and modify everyday activities to reduce exposure.
Community spread among all ages
Unfortunately, Lane County is experiencing multiple COVID-19 outbreaks from off-campus gatherings, private social events and workplace spread.
While a number of new cases are attributed to the 18-27 year old age group, those new cases account for 35 percent of all new cases in the past two weeks. Over 50 percent of new cases are adults over 30 years old. See testing data for Lane County online.
As of last week, there had only been a 4 percent increase in cases of 18-27 year olds over the previous two weeks. The data indicates we are seeing widespread distribution of cases across all age groups and the percentage breakdown by age groups has remained relatively stable.
The story the data tells us is the growth in cases we are experiencing is not isolated to one group. Therefore, the solution can’t be isolated to just one group, and shaming any group is not helpful. People who feel like they will get in trouble are less likely to cooperate with contact tracers or in some cases to get tested and quarantine at all. The best thing each of us can do is be vigilant in focusing on our own actions and talk kindly to our family and friends about correct behavior.
We must all remain committed to adhering to public health guidance to wear a mask, keep social distance, use good hygiene and avoid gatherings.
Roll up your sleeve
Getting a flu vaccine this fall can reduce your risk of getting flu and help save scarce medical resources needed to care for people with COVID-19. It’s important for everyone to do their part to stay healthy this flu season. Prevent the spread of flu and other respiratory illnesses:
Mask Up: Cover your nose and mouth with a mask when out in public.
Lather Up: Wash your hands frequently with soap and water.
Sleeve Up: Roll up your sleeve to get a flu shot.
The more people vaccinated against flu, the more people protected from flu. Learn more from the CDC.
Halloween is not canceled – but some traditions may look different this year to keep everyone safe.
Community members are asked to consider alternatives to trick-or-treating, which poses a high risk for transmission of COVID-19. There are plenty of other ways families can have fun while avoiding the scare of being exposed or spreading COVID-19. Check out this list below for low risk activities.
This year, it’s more important than ever to put safety first because COVID-19 cases have risen recently and holiday gatherings on Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day led to increased case counts. So, this Halloween, be extra mindful of your choices. Choosing low risk Halloween plans can help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 illness, decrease the impact on our health care system and save lives.
Governor Kate Brown announced this week a plan to deploy a huge influx of rapid COVID-19 tests from the federal government. Oregon will be receiving 60,000 to 80,000 COVID-19 rapid tests per week until the end of the year.
“With this increased testing capacity, we hope to be able to diagnose more people quickly so they can get the care they need,” said Governor Brown. “We want to identify more cases of COVID-19 so we can also isolate and quarantine people, helping contain the virus. Testing is an excellent tool in giving us a more full picture of where the virus is hiding in our communities. Unfortunately it is not a cure-all or the solution to all of our problems. We cannot test our way out of this pandemic.”
A full transcript of Governor Brown’s remarks is available here. A recording of Governor Brown’s press conference is available here.
COVID-19 Resources
See a list of Community Resources for physical and mental health, food, housing, businesses, employees, schools and children, as well as information in Spanish.
Also learn how you can help. Our partners have a significant amount of information available online. Please visit these resources for the most up to date information:
Since trick or treating is not recommended this Halloween, parents will be looking for safe, but still spooky, ways to create a fun and memorable holiday. Children may be disappointed, but there are lots of fun possibilities. Consider involving your children in the planning to add to their enthusiasm for the holiday.
Here are some ideas of ways to celebrate safely:
Host an online costume contest with friends and family both near and far away. (Governor Kate Brown is hosting one on her Facebook page using #SpookySafeOregon. Make sure you include a face covering!)
Watch a scary Halloween movie online.
Carve pumpkins with members of your household.
Have a neighborhood jack-o’-lantern contest.
Tour a neighborhood yard and home displays with household members.
Decorate your house, apartment or living space.
Make your own Halloween candy or caramel apples.
Have a Halloween scavenger hunt in or around your home.
Remember that the safest activities are celebrating with members of your own household. If you gather with people outside your own household, you can decrease the risk by being outside, maintaining at least six feet of distance, and wearing a mask.
In November, voters will be asked to weigh in on four state ballot measures. Residents of several cities in Lane County will also be asked to approve 10 issues, primarily bond and levy measures. To help voters better understand these measures, the League of Women Voters of Lane County will hold a webinar on Sunday, October 11 at 2:00pm to impartially discuss them.
SHiNA 