UMATILLA COUNTY — More than 2 out of every 5 workers in Umatilla and Morrow counties are subject to the state’s vaccine mandate.

For many of them, the clock struck midnight on Monday, Oct. 18.

Large regional employers such as CHI St. Anthony Hospital, the Pendleton School District and the Hermiston School District reported high vaccination rates among their staff, with most unvaccinated staff granted a medical or religious exemption to stay on or with their employer.

For state workers at one of the region’s largest employers, the Oregon Department of Corrections, the hard deadline to get the shot was pushed out to the end of November.

Both prisons in the county reported more than 89% of their security officers, ranked from correctional officers through captains, are vaccinated against COVID-19. That means 60 of the 615 officers between the two prisons are facing joblessness, according to a spokesperson with the Oregon Department of Corrections.

County-wide data

Roughly 13,000 of the 30,300 jobs that comprise Umatilla County’s workforce are under the vaccine mandate, according to Dallas Fridley, a regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department.

And in Morrow County, roughly 2,700 out of the 5,900 workers there are mandated, or nearly 46%, Fridley said.

Many of those jobs are in large firms, including the Amazon data center in Boardman or the many Walmart facilities around Umatilla County, Fridley said.

Statewide, roughly 57% of all jobs fall under the mandate, Fridley said, or less than 3 out of every 5 employees.

In an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, Gov. Kate Brown announced the mandate in August as the delta variant rocked the state’s health care system and inundated hospitals across Eastern Oregon with unvaccinated patients.

Since May, more than 90% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Umatilla County have been unvaccinated, according to data from Umatilla County Public Health. In that same time frame, 52 county residents who contracted the virus have died.

Hospitals

Emily Smith, a spokesperson for CHI St. Anthony in Pendleton, said in an email that 88% of the hospitals’ staff are vaccinated. She said approximately 60% of employees who requested an exemption got one, and some requests are pending.

Those who are not vaccinated and who have not received an exemption “will be placed on unpaid administrative leave for 90 days, during which time they can reconsider vaccination,” Smith said. Unvaccinated employees who get the shot later “will be eligible for rehire at a later date,” Smith added.

Smith said in an email the mandate prompted an 18% increase in the hospital’s vaccination rate. She added the hospital is “adjusting staff so that operations will be minimally impacted.

EO Media Group sought that information from Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston.

Caitlin Cozad, a spokesperson for Good Shepherd, said in response to questions, “Good Shepherd is compliant with the state mandate and fully operational.”

The Oregon Health Authority has not updated its public dashboard showing vaccine uptake among health care workers in individual counties since Oct. 4. But the two-week-old data shows that roughly 30% of all health care workers in Umatilla County, and 24% of health care workers in Morrow County, were unvaccinated at that time.

In all, 18% of Oregon’s health care workers are unvaccinated, according to state data.

More than 1.1 million Oregonians work in jobs that are under the mandate, or 3 out of every 5 working residents, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

The website guidestar.org specializes in collecting public information about nonprofits. A 2020 tax return available through the website shows St. Anthony had 412 employees in 2019. Tax returns filed in May 2021 shows Good Shepherd has 887 employees.

The Morrow County Health District, which includes Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, did not respond to a list of questions prior to press time. An official in the county’s human resources department on Oct. 18 was unable to provide data before deadline on how many workers the health district employs.

Schools

In public education, Eastern Oregon’s two largest school districts won’t face any labor shortages as a result of the vaccine mandate and have already filled the vacancies it created.

In Hermiston, Superintendent Tricia Mooney reported 85% of district staff were vaccinated as of Oct. 15. Another 14.5% had secured a medical or religious exemption while three Hermiston staff, or 0.5%, left the district as a result. Mooney said the district is filling those positions with a combination of substitutes and temporary hires.

Pendleton Superintendent Chris Fritsch said his district’s vaccination status hadn’t changed too much since he shared a preliminary report with the Pendleton School Board earlier this month. About 90% of Pendleton’s staff is vaccinated, with most of the rest obtaining exemptions to stay employed while remaining unvaccinated.

Fritsch on Oct. 18 said one staff member resigned as a result of the mandate, and the district placed another on unpaid leave. He added that a third employee resigned several weeks ago perhaps because of the mandate, but he couldn’t confirm it.

According to Fritsch, no employees were terminated for noncompliance with the mandate. Fritsch said the district already has filled all of its vacancies with permanent hires.

“We’re pretty happy with the quality of candidates,” he said.

Prisons

Two of the largest employers in Umatilla County are its state prisons.

Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton, employs 425 prison staff, according to Lindsey McKnight, the facility’s human resources manager. The Oregon Department of Corrections reported Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, has 468 employees.

Both prisons reported high vaccination rates among their staffs. TRCI reported 35 of its 325 security officers have not notified the state they have gotten vaccinated. At EOCI, 25 out of its 290 officers have not reported having gotten the shot, according to Jennifer Black, communications manager for the corrections.

Black said unvaccinated staff who inform the prison during the work day on Oct. 18 that they have begun the vaccination process “will have a grace period until Nov. 30th to become fully vaccinated.” This only applies to AFSCME Security and Security Plus employees, Black said in an email to the newsroom.

“Now, the majority of Department of Corrections employees have more time to comply with the governor’s vaccine mandate,” she said.