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Wednesday, August 4, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Vaccinated and
masking up
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer¾s name, address, and
phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions
not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond, or ask for a
response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items
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In defense of McDonald’s
To the Editor:
I am writing this in defense of McDonald9s
[regarding false reports of firefighters being
turned away].
The people that work there are always cour-
teous and treat us with respect, and believe me,
we eat there more than we should. The help is
always primarily young people that are trying
to do what they are told to do. Some of them
are from foreign countries and may not speak
English as their first language.
When the firefighters come in the morning,
they are not charged for their breakfast. I know
the manager would not treat them poorly. I9m
sure there was some confusion by the young
people as to what to do that close to closing
with such a large group coming in. Granted,
it was not the best response, but I9m sure they
did not mean it to be disrespectful.
I know the manager has received a lot
of calls with people swearing at them. That
doesn9t need to happen, and shows no maturity
See LETTERS on page 24
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Making music...
Tony Furtado Trio played Sisters Art Works in the
Sisters Folk Festival’s Summer of Festival Concert
Series last Friday. The series wraps up later this month.
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
By Cliff Brush
Guest Columnist
COVID-19 is going Delta
and making a comeback.
Here is how I9m respond-
ing and trying to help get it
under control. Please con-
sider your own response.
I accept the virus mutates
and creates variants. Bomb-
throwing accusations that
a doctor or researcher lied
because they said one thing
earlier, and something else
later, don9t help. In my teens,
doctors operated on my
right leg, already amputated
below the knee, to straighten
the femur. After seven
months in a modified body
cast, I could not walk. It was
too painful. The knee carti-
lage had disintegrated. The
doctors didn9t lie when they
said the operation would
help me. They were right,
at the time. But my body
changed. We looked at the
X-rays together. It was clear.
I needed another amputation.
It turned out for the better.
This virus will change.
We deserve straight, factual
talk about Delta and other
variants as they emerge.
Which they will. The
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) needs
to get its communications
act together. The CDC9s
message just went from
masks off to masks back on.
The data came later. That9s
backward. The explana-
tion should come before
the action. The CDC9s lat-
est message, a combination
of higher vaccination rates
and masking would flatten
the infection curve in a few
weeks.
I read and try to under-
stand the supporting data.
But that9s not my job. The
CDC needs to explain its
findings and advice in ways
the public can understand.
Politicians aren9t doing any
better 4 starting at the top.
The former and current pres-
ident sent misleading or con-
fusing messages. COVID-19
will not magically disappear.
The pandemic did not end
July 4. Both took a vaccine.
They should appear together,
on camera, and encour-
age eligible citizens to get
the jab. Oregon has its own
unsolved leadership issues.
Meanwhile, there9s Delta
to deal with. Information
I rely on tells me the Delta
variant is many times
more infectious. One of
my sources is Dr. Irwin
Redlener, physician, pedia-
trician, and founding direc-
tor of the National Center
for Disaster Preparedness
at Columbia University9s
Earth Institute. He9s careful
to say what he knows today,
not predict what he9ll know
tomorrow. In an interview
for the Daily Beast, Dr.
Redlener reports someone
infected with the original
COVID-19 strain could
infect another two or three
people. Someone with the
Delta variant could infect
five to nine. On July 27,
Oregon recorded 1,032
new COVID cases, roughly
a recent week9s worth.
Hospitalizations increased
25 percent overnight.
Forecasts by Oregon Health
& Science University and the
University of Washington
show Oregon9s winter infec-
tion and hospitalization lev-
els could match last year9s.
Higher vaccination rates
will help prevent that. Rates
in this area are mixed. On
July 30, the Daily Situation
Update reported these per-
centages of fully vaccinated
citizens in local counties:
Crook, 51; Deschutes, 72;
Jefferson, 56. The tri-county
area is highly mobile. So is
the virus.
I use two defenses: the
jab, and the mask. Vaccines
work. Reliable sources
report 97 percent of newly
hospitalized patients are
unvaccinated. That9s the
point. To avoid serious ill-
ness and hospitalization.
Vaccination does not guar-
antee I won9t be infected.
No vaccine is 100 per-
cent effective. Masking is
my second line of defense
against an unlikely, but pos-
sible, breakthrough case.
There9s video evidence
for masking. For exam-
ple, on YouTube at bit.ly/
YouTubeMasks1 (includes
brief reference to condoms);
or at bit.ly/YouTubeMasks2
(includes brief appearance
of adult beverage). You can
skip the ads. Consider this:
Should a surgical team feel
free to leave their masks off?
Why? Then should we feel
free to leave ours off during
a COVID breakout? I don9t
want anyone to become
a patient like the ones
described by Birmingham,
Alabama, Dr. Brytney
Cobia.
<I9m admitting young,
healthy people to the hospi-
tal with very serious COVID
infections. One of the last
things they do before they9re
intubated is beg me for the
vaccine. I hold their hand
and tell them that I9m sorry,
but it9s too late.=
I9m doing what I can
to keep COVID inside the
vaccine and masking con-
trol line until we contain it.
Please do the same. Just ask-
ing. One viral wildfire was
enough.
Views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.