SALEM, Ore. — A high school in a remote Oregon town ordered a halt to in-person classes Friday after eight people there tested positive for COVID-19, and Republican lawmakers accused the Democratic governor of prioritizing urban over rural residents for vaccine distribution.
The development in the high school in Vale, a town of 2,000 residents in Eastern Oregon, comes as Gov. Kate Brown has faced criticism over prioritizing educators over senior citizens for vaccine eligibility in her effort to get schools across the state to reopen. All teachers became eligible to receive scarce vaccines on Monday, even though eligible health care workers, who were prioritized first, haven’t all been vaccinated.
Alisha McBride, superintendent of the Vale School District, said all in-person instruction and activities at Vale High School would be paused from Monday through Feb. 11. The eight individuals who had been in the building tested positive for COVID-19 this week. McBride would not say if the eight were students or teachers, but that they apparently became infected outside the school.
She said she did not know how many teachers have been vaccinated in the school district in sprawling Malheur County.
