The vaccination deadline for health care workers, K-12 educators and certain state employees in Grant County arrived Monday, Oct. 18.

When Gov. Kate Brown issued the sweeping order this summer, her announcement was clear: Show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 on or before Oct. 18 or lose your job.

Since then, however, labor unions have worked on ironing out conditions of employment, thousands of workers have requested exemptions, and the state has granted new extensions for certain employees.

Although definitive statistics are hard to come by, vaccination rates for covered employees in Grant County appeared to be running between about 40 and 60% based on available information.

Health care

As of Friday, Oct. 15, 60% of Blue Mountain Hospital’s staff had been vaccinated, according to Var Rigby, director of human resources at the hospital. However, Rigby added that some of the staff had not yet submitted vaccine documentation, so the hospital anticipated that number to increase before the end of the day on Monday.

Rigby said just over 30% have opted for vaccination exceptions along medical or religious lines, adding that the number should increase as the hospital continues to receive employee exception requests before the deadline.

Rigby said the hospital anticipates losing fewer than 10 employees but emphasized that employees can still submit vaccine exception paperwork until the 5 p.m. Monday deadline.

Kimberly Lindsay, Grant County public health administrator, was out sick Monday and was unavailable to comment on how her department might be impacted by the vaccine mandate deadline.

School districts

Casey Hallgarth, Prairie City School District superintendent, said about 42% of his staff had been vaccinated and that 58% had opted for medical or religious exceptions.

“We have a directive from Gov. Brown, and we have to follow it,” Hallgarth said. “Some of our staff are for and some are against, but at the end of the day, we have to comply to keep our jobs.”

Hallgarth said there were several conversations with the staff and community about the man date, and his sense was that the majority felt getting the jab should be a choice.

“Some people are upset because they are being forced to do something they might not believe in,” Hallgarth said. “And I think that is OK, but I also think that the people that think the vaccine is necessary and people should get it is OK, too. Like I said, people just want to have a choice in the matter.”

On Friday, Hallgarth said he did not anticipate losing any of his staff over the vaccine mandate.

For his part, Grant School District Superintendent Bret Uptmor said 58% of his district’s staff had been vaccinated as of Monday, with 42% being granted medical or religious exceptions.

Like his counterpart in Prairie City, Uptmor said he does not anticipate losing any staff due to the mandate.

Monument School District Superintendent Laura Thomas said all staff within her district had been vaccinated or were given a religious or medical exception.

Thomas said the district lost one staff member due to the mandate.

Brandon Haberly, Dayville School District’s superintendent, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Law enforcement

Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley noted that the vaccine mandate did not apply to his office. He did, however, mention in a session of the Grant County Court on Wednesday, Oct. 13, that the local Oregon State Police substation could lose state troopers due to the vaccine mandate.

Capt. Stephanie Bigman, government and media relations spokesperson for the Oregon State Police, said Friday that she had no data on resignations due to the governor’s executive order, nor did she have data specific to Grant County.

Bigman said that as of Oct. 12, OSP’s current staffing was at 1,271. At that point, 68% of troopers were in complete compliance with the mandate.

The remaining 32% of the agency’s work force were not fully in compliance with the mandate; she said that works out to 406 OSP employees across all divisions and programs.

Bigman said 2% of OSP employees had submitted a request for a medical exception as of Oct. 12, and 15% had submitted a request for a religious exception. Another 12%, which works out to 152 OSP employees, had not taken any steps to get vaccinated or submit exception paperwork.