2021: Images from the COVID-19 pandemic’s second year
By OPB staff (OPB)
Dec. 31, 2021 2 p.m.
COVID-19 dominated headlines nearly every day of 2021.
The year started with growing access to vaccines, first for health workers and older people, then more and more populations. Students who had attended class via video sessions for months began to return for hybrid or full-time in-person learning. The hope brought by vaccinations and a gradually reopening world was overshadowed, for a time, by surging infections and overwhelmed hospitals. People frustrated by mask and vaccine mandates vocally protested public health policies that seemed destined to never end.
As we close out the year, younger children are now able to receive vaccines. A new variant — omicron — is spreading fast, but seems to make people less severely ill. And the next stage of the pandemic remains a mystery. Here are some of the images that defined how we understood the coronavirus in the Pacific Northwest in 2021.
Home health care workers began receiving COVID-19 vaccinations on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, in Portland, Ore., at a drive-thru vaccination clinic. The clinic was a partnership between SEIU and Oregon Health & Science University, aiming to vaccinate Oregon's 32,000 home health care workers and their patients.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Medical professionals from Oregon Health & Science University load syringes with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, in Portland, Ore., at a drive-thru vaccination clinic. The clinic was a partnership between SEIU and Oregon Health & Science University, aiming to vaccinate Oregon's 32,000 home health care workers and their patients.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Pharmacist Colleen Naughtin, right, administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a Jan. 10, 2021, drive-thru vaccination clinic in Portland, Ore.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Eden Aldrich, right, medical director for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Russ Hatch at the Deschutes County Public Health Department in Bend, Ore., Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
Brooke Zornado, left, and Lynn Iggulden prepare the vaccination stations at the Oregon Convention Center, Jan. 27, 2021. The clinic was supported by four Portland health systems and aimed to give 2,000 vaccinations per day to pre-registered recipients.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The end of the 2020-2021 school year and the start of the 2021-2022 school year were both fraught with challenges for educators, parents and students. At Ellsworth Elementary School in Vancouver, Wash., students who had been learning remotely were able to enroll in hybrid remote and in-person schooling. Arrows and dots informed students where to stand at the school in this photo from March 1, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Students walk outside of the school to library or other activities, one of the safety measures implemented for hybrid learning at Ellsworth Elementary School in Vancouver, Wash., March 1, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
While some people embraced mask mandates and vaccine requirements, others saw these public health measures as infringing on their personal freedoms. On March 6, 2021, families gathered at the Idaho state Capitol building to burn masks at a protest over COVID-19 restrictions.
Sergio Olmos
Donna Shultz and Cecilia Becerra wave goodbye after they received their COVID-19 vaccines at a drive-thru clinic at Portland International Airport, April 9, 2021. The clinic was a joint operation hosted by Oregon Health & Science University, the Port of Portland and the American Red Cross.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff/ OPB
Portland's 116-year-old amusement park reported a horrible year in 2020 due to pandemic shutdown, but it was able to reopen this spring. Amy Yerman of Vancouver, Wash., was thrilled to return to skating at Oaks Park on April 13, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Scientists don’t yet know how strong of an immune response patients with Sasha Mallett's immune deficiency will have to COVID-19 vaccines, so the Portlander felt the vaccine wasn’t an option for her. Her has life changed significantly as a result of the pandemic, and she continued to be cautious even as vaccines allowed more of the world to open up.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
In this photo taken from video footage, Acosia Red Elk, a world champion dancer, jingle dances on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation as part of filming for an Oregon Field Guide episode.
Stephani Gordon
A late summer surge in severe COVID-19 infections worsened the burden many health care workers were already feeling. Julie Kleese, RN, cries after sharing her experiences as an ICU nurse at OHSU Hospital in Portland, Ore., Aug. 18, 2021.
Hanin Najjar / OPB
Karla Mayorga, RN, tends to a patient. Every person on this intensive care unit at Oregon Health and Science University was critically ill with COVID-19 on that day, Aug. 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Amanda Bryant, RN, tends to a patient. Every bed in this intensive care unit at Oregon Health and Science University was filled with a patient critically ill with COVID-19 on Aug. 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
COVID-19 patients require more hands-on and direct nursing care, with one nurse caring for 1-2 patients. Every bed in this intensive care unit at Oregon Health and Science University was filled with a patient critically ill with COVID-19 on Aug. 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Every bed in this intensive care unit at Oregon Health and Science University was filled with a patient critically ill with COVID-19 in Portland, Ore., Aug. 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The House floor was empty at the Oregon Capitol on Tuesday, Sept. 21, after legislators halted in-person meetings following news of a COVID-19 exposure the previous day.
Sam Stites / OPB
COVID-19 vaccines became available to children ages 5 and older in November. Sumeet Singh, left, comforts his daughter Mila Frey-Singh, 6, of Clackamas, before Mila receives her vaccination. Clackamas Community College nursing student Melissa Christensen looks on at a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine clinic held at Clackamas Town Center, Nov. 10, 2021 in Happy Valley, Ore.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Jenni McCord, right, comforts her son as he receives a vaccination at a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine clinic held at Clackamas Town Center, Nov. 10, 2021 in Happy Valley, Ore. The clinic was offered by the Clackamas County’s Department of Public Health and offered Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children ages 5 through 11 years old.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
(Left to right) Nursing students Maya Hermens and Melissa Christensen administer a vaccine for Ava Schwartzkoph, 9, as her brother Flynn, 8, looks on at a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine clinic held at Clackamas Town Center, Nov. 10, 2021 in Happy Valley, Ore. The clinic was offered by the Clackamas County’s Department of Public Health and offered Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for children ages 5 through 11 years old.
