September 1, 2024 • 30 mins
The Oregon Health Authority is working to get more children vaccinated against measles to stop an increase in the disease. The Oregon Consumer Protect Act can help you. Oregon Community Colleges are working to get adults to finish their education. OSU research is underway to prevent wind turbine bird deaths.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to local voices. I'm brad Forth. Meazels cases are
on the rise. There's a new state law giving consumers
protection in Oregon. Community colleges are trying to lure more
adults to finish their education, and Oregon State University is
working to reduce the number of birds killed by wind turbines.
Meesels cases in Oregon are on the rise. Oregon State
(00:26):
Health Medical Director of Communicable Diseases, doctor Paul Seieslak explains
what's happening and why.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We've had several waves of beesels cases since the middle
of June. The transmission so far has been limited to
areas in Marion and Clackamus Counties, and we've had one
case in Moltnomah County as well. This is the largest
measles outbreak that Oregon has seen since twenty nineteen, the
(00:53):
year just before COVID. We had twenty eight cases during
that year in association with a much larger outbreak in
Clark County, Washington across the Columbia River, and before twenty nineteen,
you have to go all the way back to the
early nineteen nineties to see case counts this high. The
(01:14):
reason is that we had maintained very high vaccination rates
and very high population levels of immunity. Unfortunately, we've seen
an erosion in the percentage of people who are getting
vaccinated against measles. Since about the year two thousand, more
and more parents are choosing exemptions from vaccination requirements for
(01:38):
their children, and we measure this at kindergarten entry. And
before two thousand, about one percent of kindergarteners would claim
an exemption from school vaccination requirements. Since that time, the
number has risen rather steadily, and in the most recent
(01:58):
school year twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, the
exemption rate has been eight point eight percent, and that
is threatening our herd immunity so called herd immunity or
community immunity to measles. Measles is perhaps the most contagious
disease that we know of. It's spread by the airborne route.
(02:21):
If someone with measles coughs into the air and you
walk into the room an hour later, maybe even after
the person has left, you could contract measles if you
are susceptible simply by breathing the air that that person
coughed into. Virtually all susceptible household members of a case
(02:42):
of measles are going to get the illness. It's that contagious,
and so it takes very high levels of population immunity
in order to stem the transmission of this contagious disease.
We had achieved that in the United States, measles was
declared eliminated. Back in the year two thousand. We went
(03:03):
several weeks in our whole country without seeing any cases
of measles, and we knew we would occasionally see cases
as they came in from overseas. We all know we're
part of the global community, and other countries had much
higher rates of measles than the United States did, and
we've seen many introductions of measles into Oregon since that time,
(03:27):
but transmission hasn't been sustained. In general, the virus will
keep running into a wall of immune people. Because of vaccination,
the measles vaccine is highly effective. This is one of
our best vaccines. Two doses provide ninety seven percent community
against measles, and if enough people are vaccinated, we can
(03:51):
again stop transmission within Oregon. The fact that we've seen
such sustained transmission over two months means that at least
in these parts of our state. We don't have enough
vaccinated people to stop the transmission, and so it goes
on and as of now, we don't see an end
(04:13):
to it. Many people may think, you know, with some accuracy,
that they're not at very high risk for measles because
we haven't seen transmission, and so they may have avoided
getting vaccinated for that reason. But we're here to tell
you that as of today, there is measles transmission in Oregon.
(04:35):
You are susceptible. You could get it if you're exposed.
People are contagious with measles for up to four days
before they show the characteristic rash of measles, So someone
could not even know that they have measles yet and
be transmitting it for four days, you know, out in public,
(04:56):
taking public transportation, in a grocery s or wherever, and
you could be exposed in that way. And that's why
we recommend highly that everybody be up to date on
their measles vaccination. In a few weeks, school will be starting,
and because measles is now being transmitted, the people who
(05:19):
are the children who are susceptible to measles may find
themselves excluded from school should there be an exposure there,
and the exclusion would be for seven to twenty one
days after their exposure. So if your child is under vaccinated,
now would be a great time to get your child
(05:40):
up to date on measles vaccination so that you're not
looking at exclusion from school should a case of measles
appear there. If you develop a rash and you are
susceptible to measles, we ask that you not simply drop
in on an emergency department or on your doctor office
(06:00):
where you might expose other people. We ask that you
call ahead of time and arranged to be seen where
other people wouldn't be exposed and you could be evaluated
and tested. That way, people with measles with the rash
should stay at home until at least four days after
their rash onset. After four days, you're no longer contagious.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Doctor Sarah Present is Clackamas County's health officer.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So in Clackamas County, as in other Oregon counties, pockets
of unvaccinated people raise the risk of infection in the
communities where they live. That's why the counties reach out
to every case that's identified and try to determine exactly
where they've been while they've been infectious. As doctor Ceslac said,
it's important to remember if someone with measles can be
spreading it up to four days before that typical rash appears,
(06:47):
and their symptoms may be mild during that time. So
OEHA and the counties will share information about specific locations
that we can identify that individuals are known to have visited,
so that we can let members of the public know
that they may have been exposed to measles. You can
look out for press releases or on our websites for
locations of potential exposures, and we continue to collaborate on
(07:09):
identifying any potential locations as new cases arise and our
epidemiology investigations continue. As doctor Cislack pointed out, it's really
an important time to make sure that students and their
families are up to date on vaccinations as we go
into the new school year. I want to talk a
little bit about what local public health does if there
is a case of musles in a school or in
(07:31):
a healthcare setting. So if a case is confirmed in
a school or childcare or in a healthcare setting, the
public health department will perform a detailed investigation. This involves
working with the administrator or the clinic leadership to identify
who might have been exposed. And anybody in a school
can be exposed because it is so contagious, you know,
(07:52):
it could be the entire school building that might have
had exposure to that one case. We identify who is unvaccinated,
so we review all of the staff and student vaccination
records that the administrators have, and we communicate who needs
to stay home. We also will work with the school
(08:13):
or a health care facility or child care facility to
communicate communicate about the situation to their communities. Keeping children
in school and childcare is an absolute priority, but measles
is a serious disease. It's not just a little rash.
There are very frequent complications and up to one to
three and every thousand children who get measles can die
(08:33):
from it. An unvaccinated person who's exposed to measles will
not be allowed to go to school or childcare during
the period when they could become sick, and this is
usually for twenty one days after the exposure, which actually
may be extended if there are continued to be cases
in that school. You're asked to stay home to avoid
exposing others in the community. For school teachers and other
(08:54):
staff members or healthcare workers. If an exposure occurs in
a healthcare setting, your employer may not have your vaccination records,
and public health will really want to ensure that it's
safe for everybody to be at work. So if you
work in one of these settings and you have been vaccinated,
now is a really good time to locate your vaccination
records so that you can have them on hand and
not have to miss work. If you can't find them,
(09:16):
you can even talk to your primary care provider about
getting a blood test to prove your immunity so that
you won't face time off work when you're not truly
at risk. Exposures in these settings can lead to lost
vacation time, lost work time, and can potentially be very
challenging for families. We do try to work on ensuring
you have resources, but it can be a significant burden
(09:39):
to not be able to go to school when you're
exposed to this illness. Of course, the burden of getting
the illness is greater. Like I said, it is a
serious disease that has multiple complications. So now it's the
best time to make an appointment with your healthcare provider
and get your family all vaccinated with the MMR vaccine,
which is one of our most effective and one of
(10:01):
our safest vaccines. It's been used in this country for
decades since the nineteen seventies and has proven to be
safe and effective.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
That's doctor Sarah President Klacamus County's health officer. You can
learn more about measles in the vaccine on the Oregon
Health Authorities website. Oregon has a new law protecting your
personal data. Kristin Hilton is with the Oregon Depropty of Justice.
Kristin what does the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act mean to us?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Traditionally, consumers have had rights to privacy and in certain
places such as their home and the right to be
left alone, but they haven't had a lot of control
over their personal data. And so what the new privacy
law does is to give power back to individual consumers
(10:47):
over data like their name, email address, home address, anything
that reveals private information about them like their race, ethnicity, religion,
physical health, mental health, or things like their genetic or
biometric data.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So how can a person know whether this law will
apply to them?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
So the law applies to any individual or entity that
conducts business in Oregon or that provides products or services
to Oregon residents, if during a calendar year, that individual
or entity has the personal data of at least one
(11:30):
hundred thousand Oregon consumers or twenty five thousand Oregon consumers
and they derive over twenty five percent of their gross
revenue from the sale of personal data. So that would
be entities like data brokers that have been in the
news more frequently lately. But there are also other exemptions
(11:53):
in the law for different types of businesses or entities
that have data that's regulated under other federal privacy laws.
So it's really up to the individual businesses to look
at our statute and make a good faith determination as
(12:13):
to whether the company or the activities that they engage
in would apply to the law. But if a business
is subject to the law, then every consumer in Oregon
has a right to exercise their privacy rights with respect
to that business.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So it sounds complex. Do you have a way that
people can learn more about it so they can understand
how this works.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yes, we have a lot of materials on the Oregon
Department of Justice website if people want to look up
on a web search Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, it's the
first thing that comes up. We have lists of frequently
asked questions for businesses, frequently asked questions for consumers, some
(13:03):
handout materials that simplify some of the provisions of the
law and into more digestible bits. There are also some
checklists that we have published for businesses about how to
comply with certain provisions of the law, such as performing
what's called data protection assessments.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did you give an example of how this might work?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Absolutely? You know, a person might be utilizing a particular
business's website and they maybe have been customer of the
business for years, but they no longer want to do
business with them, so the customer could check the businesses
privacy notice. Under Oregon's new consumer privacy law, the business
(13:51):
should have certain information in their privacy notice about how
consumers can make a price saucy rights requests. So there
should be like a link to a web form or
an email address, and then an individual can reach out
to that business and say, I would like you to
(14:14):
delete my data, or I would like to know what
all data you have about me, or I would like
to receive a copy of my data, and on the
website that I mentioned, we also include a letter that
consumers can look at and can help them phrase or
(14:34):
draft a privacy rights request to businesses.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So should we expect to hear from some companies about
these new protections if our name is part of their database.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Generally no, you may be hearing about businesses that are
updating their privacy notices. I can say from personal experience,
I've gotten a couple emails in the last week from
businesses saying, just to let you know, we've updated our
privacy notice to keep up with new laws. You know,
(15:05):
please take a look at this link. But generally it's
it's on the individual consumers to reach out to those
businesses or businesses that the person thinks might be subject
to Oregon law and to make that privacy rights request.
You know. We do have a concern that some scammers,
(15:28):
UH may use the privacy law as a tool to
try to get more information from consumers, such as you know,
sending a text message or an email saying you should
click here if you want to make a rights request,
and that is not how the law works. So if
anyone starts getting those types of links from from businesses
(15:51):
that you don't actually have a relationship with, or you
haven't reached out to, please contact the Oregon Department of
Justice because we want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
That's Kristin Helton with the Oregon Depropment of Justice explaining
the new Oregon Consumer Privacy Act. You can find out
more on the Oregon Department of Justice website. New reports
show the need to bring adults back to community colleges
to start or complete a credential. Elizabeth Cox's brand is
the director of the Student Success c at the Oregon
(16:20):
Community College Association. In general, what are the surveys show
about bringing adult students back to community colleges.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Well, in general, it shows us that Oregon Community college
students they value and place a high value on human connection,
whether that's with their faculty, with their advisors, whoever it
may be. They really are valuing that connection and that
may be something that we're seeing more of coming out
of COVID when everyone was so isolated in everything. The
(16:49):
connection with another human is really important. But more importantly,
what it is showing us is that personal and family
challenges for students are paramount even more so than financial
barriers may be. You know, things like substance abuse or
(17:10):
domestic violence, or some deaths in the family. Things like
that where items that students really pointed out to us,
which for reasons that derailed their dream of completing at
the community college.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
How would you address that? What? You know, what you've
talked about the situations that some of the adults are
you know, facing and returning to community college. Can anything
be done to help them with that?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Well, you know, with the community college, it can't do
everything right. As much as we'd like to, we can't
do everything. However, again, having that human connection and even
having someone on campus who knows your name and cares
and can help you to get connected to those who
can help make those those appropriate interventions for the students. So,
(17:58):
for instance, we've been given the funding to have benefits
navigators at our campuses, but we need more so that
we can help address some of the issues that the
students have been bringing up around, especially mental health. We
are not mental health professionals, nor do we strive to be,
so we need to do more partnering with community based
(18:19):
organizations or with professionals in our area so that we
can get the students the help that they need and
we can help them make that connection. That's more of
the role of what our colleges can do.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Sure, why are community colleges best served to help these people?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Well, you know, even as a first first foyer into this,
over half of our students are over the age of
twenty five, so they're not going to be an oddity,
if you will, being on a community college campus, Whereas
if you look at the public universities, over half of
their students are eighteen to twenty four years old. So
(18:56):
having someone who's thirty five forty years old is going
to feel actually a little more out of place at
some of the public universities. In fact, with this survey
that we just completed, the average age was more than
thirty four, So these were students who are a little
bit older, mid thirties. But that's what our students, that's
(19:18):
who our students are. We also have flexible classes. They
are on a variety of different platforms, but if students
want to have face to face courses in person, community
colleges by design are close by. There are campuses within
easy driving distance for students, and many times, especially if
(19:41):
you look at Eastern Oregon, community colleges are the higher
ed choice for the students in their area. And on
top of that, when we look at the course offerings
and the program offerings for community colleges, community colleges have
workforce based training, short term credentials, stackable credentials. So if
(20:03):
students aren't wanting to necessarily start out by saying, hey,
I'm going to get a bachelor's degree, they can come
to the community college, take some courses, take a short
term credential, get skilled up, and return to the workforce,
but then also keep working on a further education if
they choose to stack those credentials until they can complete
(20:25):
a degree and then maybe transfer. So it's really much
more flexible for the students, and it's close to home,
which is so important for our students, especially when again
you get the rural areas.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Many students will start with the community college and then
for some reason they'll stop. What does a survey show
about students with some college but no credential outcome?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Well, we don't have the labor market outcomes for students,
but we do know that a recent Georgetown Center on
Education and the Workforce report indicated that by twenty thirty one,
one seventy one percent of jobs in Oregon are going
to require at least some post secondary training, if not
(21:08):
a credential, and that's up from what they had previously
predicted at sixty percent of our jobs would need that
same level of post secondary education. So we know that
students need more than just a high school diploma in
order to be competitive in our workforce and also to
keep Organ's economy growing and keep us competitive with other states.
(21:33):
One thing in particular that we wanted to point out
with our students from this survey that we did is
we found that the percentage of students who indicated their caregivers,
which either means they have children, or they are taking
care of older adults, or they somehow have some dependence
that they need to help support Oregon, we were at
(21:56):
about forty percent of the students who completed the survey
their caregiving and that's higher than the national average. Another
thing that we found that was really start was the
number of respondents to the survey who indicated I experienced anxiety, depression,
(22:16):
or other mental health issues. In our survey, the respondents
almost sixty one percent of our respondents indicated that, which
was much higher than what the survey instruments had gleaned
in other states. So we really do have a mental
(22:37):
health issue that we need to help our students address
in all areas of our state, not only with the
kids that are coming out of high school, but with
our adult learners and those that are returning to our campuses.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Other or any other results from the survey that you'd
like to pass along that maybe we didn't talk about.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
I would really really love to say the Oregon take
a focus on these learners. We know Oregon's population has
lost some numbers in recent years. We have a very
low birth rate, so those eighteen year olds coming out
of high school aren't necessarily going to be the robust
(23:18):
group that they always have been. This is a population
of individuals in our state who is growing and as
a matter of fact, they are Oregonians that need us
to step forward and help them to be able to
get the training and the education they need to move
their families into living, sustainable wage jobs.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How many community colleges are there in Oregon seventeen when
they're scattered all across the state, Yes.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
They are from Treasure Valley to southwestern Oregon.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
They really serve as a way that people if they
want to continue their education and maybe get a better
job that the education is offered through the community college.
It's really a terrific resource for being able to do that.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Absolutely, absolutely, And like I had mentioned earlier, we're in
their neighborhood. I mean, community is in our name, so
we're we have branch campuses all over the state so
that we can try better to serve those people in
the community, so they don't have to drive for hours
to get to some sort of higher education institution.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Elizabeth, thanks for joining us. That's Elizabeth Cox's brand, the
director of the Student Success Center at the Oregon Community
College Association, with details on new studies that show the
need to bring adults back to community colleges to start
or complete a credential. A researcher at Oregon State University
is working to reduce the number of birds that are
killed when they hit wind turbines. Christian hagensues to property fisheries,
(24:44):
wildlife and Conservation Services joins us on local voices. Christian
explain what's happening and what's causing the bird deaths.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
What typically happens with wind turbines is much like a
bicycle tire or your car wheel right when it's moving
at high revolutions per minute, it becomes kind of a blur, right,
It's hard to see what's there. And so the same
sort of principle happens with these turbine blades. They become
a large blur on the landscape, and so birds have
(25:17):
a hard time being through that are seeing that as
an obstacle, right, And so the concept is if we
paint one of the blades black, it interrupts this sort
of blurred, invisible thing on the landscape and it makes
(25:37):
it more apparent to something that's flying through the landscape.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Now, in Norway they tried painting one blade black kind
of in the first experiment for this. How did that work?
And then tell us how that ties in with your research.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
What they did in Norway, they were trying to reduce
the effects on I believe it's the Imperial Eagle kind
of synonymous to our bald eagle, and what they found
and painting just four one blade of four turbines black,
they reduced the mortality by a believer around seventy percent
(26:14):
or so. And of course, folks heard about that study
here in the States got very excited about potentially implementing it.
Across broad scales. From a science standpoint, a sample size
of four. Granted they saw large effects, but right you
wouldn't necessarily want to start promoting a new prescription drug
(26:38):
based on a sample size of four. So if not,
what they did.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Was wrong or needed a wider sample.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Exactly, And so that's our goal is to take what
they did and replicate it. Right, But we're going to
have thirty six turbines with one blade painted black and
thirty six controls, so we can rigorously evaluate the change
over time in terms of strikes as it relates to
(27:07):
painted blade.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
How long will the research take to complete?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Right now, we've scoped it out for about a four year,
a four year window to evaluate the initial effects.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Interesting, where's the where is the work being done?
Speaker 6 (27:22):
It's near Glen Rock, Wyomings.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Any particular reason that you chose that site.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
In part because they that particular wind energy facility had
excellent monitoring of golden eagles prior to blade painting. So
we get this before and after, and we can compare
that to our controls before and after. So it really
(27:49):
sets itself up to a really rigorous study design.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Is it more than counting the number of birds? That
have been killed by the turbines. Is it. Are you
going to be looking at their flight patterns? I don't
know if you can look at that or not.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Yes, yeah, So my PhD student, Nazi A. Jabesh Kavili,
she is developing a movement model based on radio telemetered
golden eagles. There's a sample of golden eagles that we've
been given access data to, and so she's building a
(28:24):
movement model that will allow us to evaluate in three
dimensions if a eagle is moving sort of uninhibited through
the landscape, or if it's coming up against a barrier
and making a decision to go one direction or another.
And so she's building this model outside of the painted blades.
(28:47):
And then once the model is built, we will then
be using telemetered golden eagles to see if in fact
they are showing avoidance behavior.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Anything else you'd like to add, Oh, I.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Just would mention that you know, this study is the
result of a huge collaboration with federal scientists from the USGS,
scientists from the wind industry, as well as the wind
industry itself. So it's really kind of unprecedented in terms
of not only the scale in which we're working, but
(29:23):
the broad collective team that we have assembled to try
to answer this question, so this is not just an
OSU thing, This is much much broader.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Thanks. That's Christian Hagen and OSU's Depropmt of Fisheries, Wildlife
and Conservation Services with details on his research to make
wind turbine blades more noticeable to birds to reduce the
number of fatal collisions. Thanks for listening to Local Voices.
I'm brad Ford. You can hear past episodes on the
iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab. Local Voices is a
public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio
Welcome to local voices. I'm brad Forth. Meazels cases are
on the rise. There's a new state law giving consumers
protection in Oregon. Community colleges are trying to lure more
adults to finish their education, and Oregon State University is
working to reduce the number of birds killed by wind turbines.
Meesels cases in Oregon are on the rise. Oregon State
(00:26):
Health Medical Director of Communicable Diseases, doctor Paul Seieslak explains
what's happening and why.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
We've had several waves of beesels cases since the middle
of June. The transmission so far has been limited to
areas in Marion and Clackamus Counties, and we've had one
case in Moltnomah County as well. This is the largest
measles outbreak that Oregon has seen since twenty nineteen, the
(00:53):
year just before COVID. We had twenty eight cases during
that year in association with a much larger outbreak in
Clark County, Washington across the Columbia River, and before twenty nineteen,
you have to go all the way back to the
early nineteen nineties to see case counts this high. The
(01:14):
reason is that we had maintained very high vaccination rates
and very high population levels of immunity. Unfortunately, we've seen
an erosion in the percentage of people who are getting
vaccinated against measles. Since about the year two thousand, more
and more parents are choosing exemptions from vaccination requirements for
(01:38):
their children, and we measure this at kindergarten entry. And
before two thousand, about one percent of kindergarteners would claim
an exemption from school vaccination requirements. Since that time, the
number has risen rather steadily, and in the most recent
(01:58):
school year twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, the
exemption rate has been eight point eight percent, and that
is threatening our herd immunity so called herd immunity or
community immunity to measles. Measles is perhaps the most contagious
disease that we know of. It's spread by the airborne route.
(02:21):
If someone with measles coughs into the air and you
walk into the room an hour later, maybe even after
the person has left, you could contract measles if you
are susceptible simply by breathing the air that that person
coughed into. Virtually all susceptible household members of a case
(02:42):
of measles are going to get the illness. It's that contagious,
and so it takes very high levels of population immunity
in order to stem the transmission of this contagious disease.
We had achieved that in the United States, measles was
declared eliminated. Back in the year two thousand. We went
(03:03):
several weeks in our whole country without seeing any cases
of measles, and we knew we would occasionally see cases
as they came in from overseas. We all know we're
part of the global community, and other countries had much
higher rates of measles than the United States did, and
we've seen many introductions of measles into Oregon since that time,
(03:27):
but transmission hasn't been sustained. In general, the virus will
keep running into a wall of immune people. Because of vaccination,
the measles vaccine is highly effective. This is one of
our best vaccines. Two doses provide ninety seven percent community
against measles, and if enough people are vaccinated, we can
(03:51):
again stop transmission within Oregon. The fact that we've seen
such sustained transmission over two months means that at least
in these parts of our state. We don't have enough
vaccinated people to stop the transmission, and so it goes
on and as of now, we don't see an end
(04:13):
to it. Many people may think, you know, with some accuracy,
that they're not at very high risk for measles because
we haven't seen transmission, and so they may have avoided
getting vaccinated for that reason. But we're here to tell
you that as of today, there is measles transmission in Oregon.
(04:35):
You are susceptible. You could get it if you're exposed.
People are contagious with measles for up to four days
before they show the characteristic rash of measles, So someone
could not even know that they have measles yet and
be transmitting it for four days, you know, out in public,
(04:56):
taking public transportation, in a grocery s or wherever, and
you could be exposed in that way. And that's why
we recommend highly that everybody be up to date on
their measles vaccination. In a few weeks, school will be starting,
and because measles is now being transmitted, the people who
(05:19):
are the children who are susceptible to measles may find
themselves excluded from school should there be an exposure there,
and the exclusion would be for seven to twenty one
days after their exposure. So if your child is under vaccinated,
now would be a great time to get your child
(05:40):
up to date on measles vaccination so that you're not
looking at exclusion from school should a case of measles
appear there. If you develop a rash and you are
susceptible to measles, we ask that you not simply drop
in on an emergency department or on your doctor office
(06:00):
where you might expose other people. We ask that you
call ahead of time and arranged to be seen where
other people wouldn't be exposed and you could be evaluated
and tested. That way, people with measles with the rash
should stay at home until at least four days after
their rash onset. After four days, you're no longer contagious.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Doctor Sarah Present is Clackamas County's health officer.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So in Clackamas County, as in other Oregon counties, pockets
of unvaccinated people raise the risk of infection in the
communities where they live. That's why the counties reach out
to every case that's identified and try to determine exactly
where they've been while they've been infectious. As doctor Ceslac said,
it's important to remember if someone with measles can be
spreading it up to four days before that typical rash appears,
(06:47):
and their symptoms may be mild during that time. So
OEHA and the counties will share information about specific locations
that we can identify that individuals are known to have visited,
so that we can let members of the public know
that they may have been exposed to measles. You can
look out for press releases or on our websites for
locations of potential exposures, and we continue to collaborate on
(07:09):
identifying any potential locations as new cases arise and our
epidemiology investigations continue. As doctor Cislack pointed out, it's really
an important time to make sure that students and their
families are up to date on vaccinations as we go
into the new school year. I want to talk a
little bit about what local public health does if there
is a case of musles in a school or in
(07:31):
a healthcare setting. So if a case is confirmed in
a school or childcare or in a healthcare setting, the
public health department will perform a detailed investigation. This involves
working with the administrator or the clinic leadership to identify
who might have been exposed. And anybody in a school
can be exposed because it is so contagious, you know,
(07:52):
it could be the entire school building that might have
had exposure to that one case. We identify who is unvaccinated,
so we review all of the staff and student vaccination
records that the administrators have, and we communicate who needs
to stay home. We also will work with the school
(08:13):
or a health care facility or child care facility to
communicate communicate about the situation to their communities. Keeping children
in school and childcare is an absolute priority, but measles
is a serious disease. It's not just a little rash.
There are very frequent complications and up to one to
three and every thousand children who get measles can die
(08:33):
from it. An unvaccinated person who's exposed to measles will
not be allowed to go to school or childcare during
the period when they could become sick, and this is
usually for twenty one days after the exposure, which actually
may be extended if there are continued to be cases
in that school. You're asked to stay home to avoid
exposing others in the community. For school teachers and other
(08:54):
staff members or healthcare workers. If an exposure occurs in
a healthcare setting, your employer may not have your vaccination records,
and public health will really want to ensure that it's
safe for everybody to be at work. So if you
work in one of these settings and you have been vaccinated,
now is a really good time to locate your vaccination
records so that you can have them on hand and
not have to miss work. If you can't find them,
(09:16):
you can even talk to your primary care provider about
getting a blood test to prove your immunity so that
you won't face time off work when you're not truly
at risk. Exposures in these settings can lead to lost
vacation time, lost work time, and can potentially be very
challenging for families. We do try to work on ensuring
you have resources, but it can be a significant burden
(09:39):
to not be able to go to school when you're
exposed to this illness. Of course, the burden of getting
the illness is greater. Like I said, it is a
serious disease that has multiple complications. So now it's the
best time to make an appointment with your healthcare provider
and get your family all vaccinated with the MMR vaccine,
which is one of our most effective and one of
(10:01):
our safest vaccines. It's been used in this country for
decades since the nineteen seventies and has proven to be
safe and effective.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
That's doctor Sarah President Klacamus County's health officer. You can
learn more about measles in the vaccine on the Oregon
Health Authorities website. Oregon has a new law protecting your
personal data. Kristin Hilton is with the Oregon Depropty of Justice.
Kristin what does the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act mean to us?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Traditionally, consumers have had rights to privacy and in certain
places such as their home and the right to be
left alone, but they haven't had a lot of control
over their personal data. And so what the new privacy
law does is to give power back to individual consumers
(10:47):
over data like their name, email address, home address, anything
that reveals private information about them like their race, ethnicity, religion,
physical health, mental health, or things like their genetic or
biometric data.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
So how can a person know whether this law will
apply to them?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
So the law applies to any individual or entity that
conducts business in Oregon or that provides products or services
to Oregon residents, if during a calendar year, that individual
or entity has the personal data of at least one
(11:30):
hundred thousand Oregon consumers or twenty five thousand Oregon consumers
and they derive over twenty five percent of their gross
revenue from the sale of personal data. So that would
be entities like data brokers that have been in the
news more frequently lately. But there are also other exemptions
(11:53):
in the law for different types of businesses or entities
that have data that's regulated under other federal privacy laws.
So it's really up to the individual businesses to look
at our statute and make a good faith determination as
(12:13):
to whether the company or the activities that they engage
in would apply to the law. But if a business
is subject to the law, then every consumer in Oregon
has a right to exercise their privacy rights with respect
to that business.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So it sounds complex. Do you have a way that
people can learn more about it so they can understand
how this works.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yes, we have a lot of materials on the Oregon
Department of Justice website if people want to look up
on a web search Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, it's the
first thing that comes up. We have lists of frequently
asked questions for businesses, frequently asked questions for consumers, some
(13:03):
handout materials that simplify some of the provisions of the
law and into more digestible bits. There are also some
checklists that we have published for businesses about how to
comply with certain provisions of the law, such as performing
what's called data protection assessments.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did you give an example of how this might work?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Absolutely? You know, a person might be utilizing a particular
business's website and they maybe have been customer of the
business for years, but they no longer want to do
business with them, so the customer could check the businesses
privacy notice. Under Oregon's new consumer privacy law, the business
(13:51):
should have certain information in their privacy notice about how
consumers can make a price saucy rights requests. So there
should be like a link to a web form or
an email address, and then an individual can reach out
to that business and say, I would like you to
(14:14):
delete my data, or I would like to know what
all data you have about me, or I would like
to receive a copy of my data, and on the
website that I mentioned, we also include a letter that
consumers can look at and can help them phrase or
(14:34):
draft a privacy rights request to businesses.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
So should we expect to hear from some companies about
these new protections if our name is part of their database.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Generally no, you may be hearing about businesses that are
updating their privacy notices. I can say from personal experience,
I've gotten a couple emails in the last week from
businesses saying, just to let you know, we've updated our
privacy notice to keep up with new laws. You know,
(15:05):
please take a look at this link. But generally it's
it's on the individual consumers to reach out to those
businesses or businesses that the person thinks might be subject
to Oregon law and to make that privacy rights request.
You know. We do have a concern that some scammers,
(15:28):
UH may use the privacy law as a tool to
try to get more information from consumers, such as you know,
sending a text message or an email saying you should
click here if you want to make a rights request,
and that is not how the law works. So if
anyone starts getting those types of links from from businesses
(15:51):
that you don't actually have a relationship with, or you
haven't reached out to, please contact the Oregon Department of
Justice because we want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
That's Kristin Helton with the Oregon Depropment of Justice explaining
the new Oregon Consumer Privacy Act. You can find out
more on the Oregon Department of Justice website. New reports
show the need to bring adults back to community colleges
to start or complete a credential. Elizabeth Cox's brand is
the director of the Student Success c at the Oregon
(16:20):
Community College Association. In general, what are the surveys show
about bringing adult students back to community colleges.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Well, in general, it shows us that Oregon Community college
students they value and place a high value on human connection,
whether that's with their faculty, with their advisors, whoever it
may be. They really are valuing that connection and that
may be something that we're seeing more of coming out
of COVID when everyone was so isolated in everything. The
(16:49):
connection with another human is really important. But more importantly,
what it is showing us is that personal and family
challenges for students are paramount even more so than financial
barriers may be. You know, things like substance abuse or
(17:10):
domestic violence, or some deaths in the family. Things like
that where items that students really pointed out to us,
which for reasons that derailed their dream of completing at
the community college.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
How would you address that? What? You know, what you've
talked about the situations that some of the adults are
you know, facing and returning to community college. Can anything
be done to help them with that?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Well, you know, with the community college, it can't do
everything right. As much as we'd like to, we can't
do everything. However, again, having that human connection and even
having someone on campus who knows your name and cares
and can help you to get connected to those who
can help make those those appropriate interventions for the students. So,
(17:58):
for instance, we've been given the funding to have benefits
navigators at our campuses, but we need more so that
we can help address some of the issues that the
students have been bringing up around, especially mental health. We
are not mental health professionals, nor do we strive to be,
so we need to do more partnering with community based
(18:19):
organizations or with professionals in our area so that we
can get the students the help that they need and
we can help them make that connection. That's more of
the role of what our colleges can do.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Sure, why are community colleges best served to help these people?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Well, you know, even as a first first foyer into this,
over half of our students are over the age of
twenty five, so they're not going to be an oddity,
if you will, being on a community college campus, Whereas
if you look at the public universities, over half of
their students are eighteen to twenty four years old. So
(18:56):
having someone who's thirty five forty years old is going
to feel actually a little more out of place at
some of the public universities. In fact, with this survey
that we just completed, the average age was more than
thirty four, So these were students who are a little
bit older, mid thirties. But that's what our students, that's
(19:18):
who our students are. We also have flexible classes. They
are on a variety of different platforms, but if students
want to have face to face courses in person, community
colleges by design are close by. There are campuses within
easy driving distance for students, and many times, especially if
(19:41):
you look at Eastern Oregon, community colleges are the higher
ed choice for the students in their area. And on
top of that, when we look at the course offerings
and the program offerings for community colleges, community colleges have
workforce based training, short term credentials, stackable credentials. So if
(20:03):
students aren't wanting to necessarily start out by saying, hey,
I'm going to get a bachelor's degree, they can come
to the community college, take some courses, take a short
term credential, get skilled up, and return to the workforce,
but then also keep working on a further education if
they choose to stack those credentials until they can complete
(20:25):
a degree and then maybe transfer. So it's really much
more flexible for the students, and it's close to home,
which is so important for our students, especially when again
you get the rural areas.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Many students will start with the community college and then
for some reason they'll stop. What does a survey show
about students with some college but no credential outcome?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Well, we don't have the labor market outcomes for students,
but we do know that a recent Georgetown Center on
Education and the Workforce report indicated that by twenty thirty one,
one seventy one percent of jobs in Oregon are going
to require at least some post secondary training, if not
(21:08):
a credential, and that's up from what they had previously
predicted at sixty percent of our jobs would need that
same level of post secondary education. So we know that
students need more than just a high school diploma in
order to be competitive in our workforce and also to
keep Organ's economy growing and keep us competitive with other states.
(21:33):
One thing in particular that we wanted to point out
with our students from this survey that we did is
we found that the percentage of students who indicated their caregivers,
which either means they have children, or they are taking
care of older adults, or they somehow have some dependence
that they need to help support Oregon, we were at
(21:56):
about forty percent of the students who completed the survey
their caregiving and that's higher than the national average. Another
thing that we found that was really start was the
number of respondents to the survey who indicated I experienced anxiety, depression,
(22:16):
or other mental health issues. In our survey, the respondents
almost sixty one percent of our respondents indicated that, which
was much higher than what the survey instruments had gleaned
in other states. So we really do have a mental
(22:37):
health issue that we need to help our students address
in all areas of our state, not only with the
kids that are coming out of high school, but with
our adult learners and those that are returning to our campuses.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Other or any other results from the survey that you'd
like to pass along that maybe we didn't talk about.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
I would really really love to say the Oregon take
a focus on these learners. We know Oregon's population has
lost some numbers in recent years. We have a very
low birth rate, so those eighteen year olds coming out
of high school aren't necessarily going to be the robust
(23:18):
group that they always have been. This is a population
of individuals in our state who is growing and as
a matter of fact, they are Oregonians that need us
to step forward and help them to be able to
get the training and the education they need to move
their families into living, sustainable wage jobs.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
How many community colleges are there in Oregon seventeen when
they're scattered all across the state, Yes.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
They are from Treasure Valley to southwestern Oregon.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
They really serve as a way that people if they
want to continue their education and maybe get a better
job that the education is offered through the community college.
It's really a terrific resource for being able to do that.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Absolutely, absolutely, And like I had mentioned earlier, we're in
their neighborhood. I mean, community is in our name, so
we're we have branch campuses all over the state so
that we can try better to serve those people in
the community, so they don't have to drive for hours
to get to some sort of higher education institution.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Elizabeth, thanks for joining us. That's Elizabeth Cox's brand, the
director of the Student Success Center at the Oregon Community
College Association, with details on new studies that show the
need to bring adults back to community colleges to start
or complete a credential. A researcher at Oregon State University
is working to reduce the number of birds that are
killed when they hit wind turbines. Christian hagensues to property fisheries,
(24:44):
wildlife and Conservation Services joins us on local voices. Christian
explain what's happening and what's causing the bird deaths.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
What typically happens with wind turbines is much like a
bicycle tire or your car wheel right when it's moving
at high revolutions per minute, it becomes kind of a blur, right,
It's hard to see what's there. And so the same
sort of principle happens with these turbine blades. They become
a large blur on the landscape, and so birds have
(25:17):
a hard time being through that are seeing that as
an obstacle, right, And so the concept is if we
paint one of the blades black, it interrupts this sort
of blurred, invisible thing on the landscape and it makes
(25:37):
it more apparent to something that's flying through the landscape.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Now, in Norway they tried painting one blade black kind
of in the first experiment for this. How did that work?
And then tell us how that ties in with your research.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
What they did in Norway, they were trying to reduce
the effects on I believe it's the Imperial Eagle kind
of synonymous to our bald eagle, and what they found
and painting just four one blade of four turbines black,
they reduced the mortality by a believer around seventy percent
(26:14):
or so. And of course, folks heard about that study
here in the States got very excited about potentially implementing it.
Across broad scales. From a science standpoint, a sample size
of four. Granted they saw large effects, but right you
wouldn't necessarily want to start promoting a new prescription drug
(26:38):
based on a sample size of four. So if not,
what they did.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Was wrong or needed a wider sample.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Exactly, And so that's our goal is to take what
they did and replicate it. Right, But we're going to
have thirty six turbines with one blade painted black and
thirty six controls, so we can rigorously evaluate the change
over time in terms of strikes as it relates to
(27:07):
painted blade.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
How long will the research take to complete?
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Right now, we've scoped it out for about a four year,
a four year window to evaluate the initial effects.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Interesting, where's the where is the work being done?
Speaker 6 (27:22):
It's near Glen Rock, Wyomings.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Any particular reason that you chose that site.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
In part because they that particular wind energy facility had
excellent monitoring of golden eagles prior to blade painting. So
we get this before and after, and we can compare
that to our controls before and after. So it really
(27:49):
sets itself up to a really rigorous study design.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Is it more than counting the number of birds? That
have been killed by the turbines. Is it. Are you
going to be looking at their flight patterns? I don't
know if you can look at that or not.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Yes, yeah, So my PhD student, Nazi A. Jabesh Kavili,
she is developing a movement model based on radio telemetered
golden eagles. There's a sample of golden eagles that we've
been given access data to, and so she's building a
(28:24):
movement model that will allow us to evaluate in three
dimensions if a eagle is moving sort of uninhibited through
the landscape, or if it's coming up against a barrier
and making a decision to go one direction or another.
And so she's building this model outside of the painted blades.
(28:47):
And then once the model is built, we will then
be using telemetered golden eagles to see if in fact
they are showing avoidance behavior.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Anything else you'd like to add, Oh, I.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Just would mention that you know, this study is the
result of a huge collaboration with federal scientists from the USGS,
scientists from the wind industry, as well as the wind
industry itself. So it's really kind of unprecedented in terms
of not only the scale in which we're working, but
(29:23):
the broad collective team that we have assembled to try
to answer this question, so this is not just an
OSU thing, This is much much broader.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Thanks. That's Christian Hagen and OSU's Depropmt of Fisheries, Wildlife
and Conservation Services with details on his research to make
wind turbine blades more noticeable to birds to reduce the
number of fatal collisions. Thanks for listening to Local Voices.
I'm brad Ford. You can hear past episodes on the
iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab. Local Voices is a
public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio
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