This is KGW news at five
together we managed to trim back
tsunami of new infections that
very nearly swamped
our health care system. The
Oregon Health Authority says COVID
numbers are headed in the right
direction this holiday weekend.
It is worried about a possible surge,
like in other states,
but for now it's easing up the mask mandate.
In some places, Galen Ettlin
explains the changes for you
and students in school. For
months, Oregonians have had
to wear face covers outside in
crowded areas to prevent COVID-19,
but now Oregon Health Authority
is lifting that mandate recall
where we were. When the mask regulations
were first implemented last summer,
our daily cases were numbering in the
four digits and our hospital census
was more than double what it is today.
The numbers show that progress as of
the week of Thanksgiving, Oregon.
COVID cases are down 64% since early
September, giving the state the
fourth lowest number of cases and
sixth lowest number of COVID deaths.
In the country, hospitalizations
for COVID are down to about 66%,
but for now, OHA is not thinking about
removing the indoor mask mandate.
This disease remains incredibly
unpredictable, and we've seen
over 30 states now seeing
significant increases in COVID,
we know that that could be in our future.
OHA says it was caught off guard earlier
this year when restrictions eased up and
the Delta variant spreads so quickly.
It's now taking a more cautious approach, so
Oregonians have realistic expectations and.
Maintain trust in public health.
We don't want to, you know,
set a metric today that looks good today.
But a month or two or three or
whatever it is from now all of a
sudden turns out to be the wrong
metric and we have to change it.
And then what?
People feel I think is a sense.
In some cases of betrayal.
The other big update
Tuesday was about schools.
The Oregon Department of Education
says now if students are exposed to
COVID in a school setting with masks,
they can remain in school as long as
they continue to test negative will
greatly reduce the number of students
who missed school due to quarantines.
This new test to stay protocol would
not apply to those exposed during
extracurricular activities or outside school.
The state is urging parents
to get kids 5 and up,
vaccinated to further reduce transmission
risk and the need to quarantine.
OHA also encouraged adults to
get COVID booster shots with
so many people trying it once.
That's kind of tough,
especially in more populated
areas like Portland.
But maybe a bit of time before they're
able to get those appointments
this time without help of the
National Guard and collaboration
of major health providers.
It's unlikely mass vaccination
sites will return, so OHA says,
be patient during the first big wave. Those
people get through the system
and the and the demand gets much
more manageable pretty quickly.
Oregon's most severe cases remain among
those unvaccinated Galen Ettlin KGW news.
A number of people have told us
it's been difficult to schedule an
appointment to get the COVID-19 booster,
but there are other ways to get the shot.
For instance, the Costco website says
many locations are able to accommodate
walk-ins on the Oregon vaccine website.
Other pharmacies like CVS and
Safeway are doing the same thing.
They're also free walk in clinics
like this one at Tektronix,
a business in Beaverton.
The Washington County website says
it's one of the clinic locations.
The Oregon Health Authority
is helping organize.
We spoke with one woman from Hillsboro
who told us she'd been looking for
appointments at different pharmacies,
but kept striking out.
Yeah, we were just surfing on the
web and trying to find the right.
You know one and wanted to get it done
before Thanksgiving and so saw this one.
And so it was an open clinic so we just
decided to drive over and get in line.
The best source of booster
information are state websites that
get vaccinated oregon.gov site as
well as the vaccine locator site
for Washington state from vaccine
boosters to vaccine exemptions now,
and a doctor in Washington who's giving
out those exemptions for a price.
Maggie Vespa is here with more
on that Maggie general as you know our
sister station King five in Seattle got
a tip about this doctor and basically
her deal which boils down to in short,
one a medical exemption for
the COVID vaccine well.
In her office you can get
it for a couple 100 bucks.
The investigative team found that out by
taking hidden cameras into that office and
posing as patients time and time again,
the team found Dr Anna Alperin of Ellensburg,
WA issued medical exemptions
for the COVID vaccine,
and in some cases for wearing masks.
All of this in exchange for a fee,
usually 150 to 200 bucks,
four undercover appointments produced,
4 vaccine exemptions.
Here's a preview of this piece,
starting with investigative
reporter Chris Engles interviewing
one of his producers,
who again posed as a patient.
Did the
doctor ever ask you if you had a
medical condition that would exempt
you from a vaccine? Nope, there
was zero discussion about why I
wanted this medical exemption,
and you know, she asked me,
are you healthy otherwise
and then I explained, yeah,
and you never asked her if she had a medical
condition. I would have no way
of knowing any of this based off
just a vaccine exemption form.
I would have to.
Go back to their chart.
I don't have that information.
Storage memory.
Yeah, so that was the doctor herself.
She obviously sat down for
an interview with King Five,
and as you could see, Chris confronted
her with what the team found.
Will have the full investigation
at 6 coming up on the story.
Boy, it sounds like a not
to be missed investigation.
You definitely want
to see it. Thank you Maggie.
And developing in Vancouver tonight,
a 16 year old student at Legacy
High School was hurt in a stabbing.
The good news is the teen has been
treated and released from the hospital.
The stabbing happened yesterday.
Off campus, police say the attacker
was another student at the school.
The 18 year old was arrested.
The suspect called 911 after the
stabbing and turned himself in.
It started with a traffic stop and ended
in a shootout at a home in Happy Valley.
Tonight, we're learning more about
how a Gladstone police Sergeant
was shot in the leg.
A suspect was hit to Kaylee both.
She went to the scene today and he's
in The Newsroom with an update.
Kyle
and Laurel.
This all started as a routine call,
a traffic stop around 8:00
o'clock last night in Gladstone.
Police discovered the driver.
Yvette Lares Garcia had felony warrants
for her arrest out of Texas on theft
charges after police arrested her.
Garcia asked if officers could check on
her two dogs at her home and Happy Valley.
Well, that's when things went bad.
Police say Garcia was able to break
away from officers and run into her
townhouse where she grabbed a handgun.
She started firing,
hitting a Gladstone Sergeant in the leg.
Police returned fire and shot Garcia.
Dozens of officers responded.
Police cars lined the street
near SE Causey and Stevens Rd.
That's near Mount Scott Elementary
in the Eagle Landing golf course.
One neighbor named Denise said
she heard roughly 7 gunshots.
She asked us not to show her face.
I assumed the shots would have been down
the street at least and not right next door.
So right next door,
as on the other side of the wall.
The injured Gladson officer,
identified as Sergeant Travis Hill,
is in stable condition.
The suspect,
Garcia,
is in serious condition and no
word on what charges she will face.
Thank you, Kyle. A Max operator is
being hailed as a hero after he helped
stop an attack on a platform this
weekend and all he needed to do that
was a phone cord and a flashlight
to get the suspect under control.
Chris Parker was driving a Max train
on the Green Line Friday night,
but when he pulled up to the
Clackamas Town Center stop,
he saw a man swinging scissors
at other passengers.
At first he tried to keep
people away from the man,
but the suspect pinned one of
the passengers to the ground and
Chris knew he had to step in.
We're here to make people feel safe,
and so we you know we don't have weapons.
You know that we have at our disposal.
The only thing I had was my flashlight. 10
foot phone cord
that's braided and
so I ended up grabbing that
from my bag and tight his feet
together so I could keep him
kind of like under control.
And I sat on his feet.
Wow, way to go, Chris and Chris says
the two passengers involved were also
key in helping him hold the man down.
The Sheriff's Department did arrest the man.
They believe the attack was racially
motivated. Suspect is now facing
assault and biased crime charges.
The holiday travel season has started at
PDX today and tomorrow are expected to be
some of the busiest days for the airport.
Bryant Clerkley is live at
PDX for us tonight. In Bryant.
We hear travel is way up compared
to last year.
That is right. Hey Laurel,
500,000 people are expected to
come through this airport during
this Thanksgiving holiday season.
That's 300,000 more people than last year.
And as people come through the airport,
they're going to notice a few changes or
some things that they should know about.
There's no longer a hallway
connecting all gates past security,
so you have to make sure you have
the correct departure gate so you
only go through security screening
once and bypass hallways are used
to safely move people around.
Construction sites they may add a
few minutes of walk time though,
and a lot of the travelers we spoke with
say after a long year of no flying there,
ready to see family for the holidays.
Well, to be honest with you.
I was in any airports last year but yeah
I feel fully comfortable on vaccinated
so I'm not really worried about.
Worried about the virus?
Whether I get it or not?
When it comes to food,
solid things like breads,
meats and vegetables can be
packed in your carry on bag.
According to TSA,
liquid should be carefully
packed in your checked bags and
officials want everyone to know
that if you're coming to catch
a flight here at the airport,
since it's going to be so busy,
you're going to want to come
at least two hours before your
plane leaves back to you.
Laurel, we
wish everybody safe travels and a
happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, Brian.