We're being watched

Short article, but it includes an interview with the director of ODFW himself, and how various agencies are keeping an eye on anglers to ensure we're following the Stay At Home guidelines. I gotta hand it to ODFW: they could've gone the Washington route or the impending California route, but they're staying the course as long as we all stay cool and follow the guidelines.

https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2020/04/hunting-most-fishing-continue-in-oregon-but-those-venturing-out-encouraged-to-stay-close-to-home.html

Not sure who is doing it, but around Netarts they are continuing to shutdown and post pullouts just about everywhere.   If you can't walk in from where you live, forget it and even then most areas have "No Public Access" signs posted.  Bayocean was only signed as "Road Closed" last Friday but now there is a gravel berm across the road and signs that say "No Public Access".  Talked to someone who was up at Gearhart last week to dig razor clams.   There was a sign at the beach access, which they drove around, but they were not confronted on the beach.   Given the better tides this weekend, I doubt that access will be quite that easy.

The City of Gladstone has closed Meldrum Bar Park after two weekends of crowded boat ramps and park-goers who left litter and defecations because of closed restrooms.

So... just another weekend at Meldrum Bar? (lived 1/4 mile from there for 7 years).

Boat ramp crowding will most likely be our downfall. It’s almost a Catch-22: majority of the ramps are closed, so the ones that remain open end up getting overcrowded. Makes ya wonder if it’d be better to have them all open to help spread the herd.

One of the guidelines says “if you show up to a place that’s crowded, go somewhere else.” That’s easier said than done, especially for folks who are traveling to fish. If a person drives 50-100 miles to a launch spot, how much “crowding” would it take at that spot to convince them to turn around and go home? All the more reason to limit travel for fishing IMO.

I don’t get the whole boat ramp closures.  I fish Tillamook Bay quite a bit during the fall salmon run.  Even when there is a long line waiting to launch, I don’t think I am ever within 15 ft of other people.  Then when on the water there is natural distancing.  I get trying to limit crowds at stores etc, but having people outside, I would think would be healthier both mentally and physically.

It's simple: Tillamook is trying to close the city to visitors, and the ramps are just one of the attractions that bring people from elsewhere into town.  If the country had anywhere near adequate test kits for the coronavirus and people knew when they should stay at home, maybe we wouldn't see these closures.

Most of the coastal cities are trying to close because the coast is rural, from the California to Washington borders, and they don't have facilities for more than a handful of seriously ill people.

You know those "ventilators" everyone keeps talking about?  They're the life-support systems folks are on when someone has to decide to pull the plug.  That's it.  That's all we have to try to save the life of the most seriously ill victims of this disease: life support.

We have 22,000 souls in the county where I live, we have four life support systems CORRECTION: we have two life support systems, there are now our first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 here, and they're already in the only hospital we have.  We'd definitely prefer not to get even one more case.

If we use all of our ventilators for COVID-19 patients, what happens to the kid who falls and seriously injures their head, the person with a massive stroke, the people injured in a car wreck?  Do we pull the plug on someone to save someone else?

It may seem unfair for cities to try to lock out people who don't live there.  It seems mighty unfair for people who live there year-round to accommodate people from the state's "hot spots" just so they can recreate.

ADDITION: And no, it's not folks on the I-5 corridor causing us the heebie-jeebies on the South coast.  Re-fueling my truck yesterday, the attendant at the one gas station in town told me I was the first person with Oregon plates to gas up since his shift began.  Twenty-some vehicles from California, five from Arizona, and one from Idaho had already fueled there.

This will end.  Be patient.  Try to understand.