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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 2022)
COFFEE BREAK B6 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022 Mom-friends take diff erent paths in providing for kids for her birthday, Christmas, etc., Ashley buys the same thing for Mimi. I got my daughter into ice skating three years ago. Ashley then proceeded to buy her daughter professional ice skates, accessories, skating costumes, private lessons and entered her in skate club, shows and competitions. Needless to say, my daughter is sometimes jealous of all the things Mimi gets. For me, it’s not about the money. It’s the prin- ciple that I’m not going to spoil my daughter like that. I remind my daughter she’s still more for- tunate than a lot of other children and she should appreciate what she has. DEAR ABBY: I met my friend “Ashley” and her daughter three years ago. Our daughters are 9 years old. Ashley makes good money and is married. I’m a single mom. I do well as a reg- istered nurse, but I’m not on her level when it comes to money. We all get along great and have a lot in common. How- ever, Ashley buys her daughter, “Mimi,” a lot. Every time we go out, she buys Mimi something. If I buy a gift for my daughter Should I cut ties with Ashley? Should I mention my concerns to her? Or are my daughter and I overreacting? — DOING WELL ENOUGH DEAR DOING WELL: I don’t think you or your daughter are overreacting. In life, you — and she — will always encounter people who have more material things than you. (The reverse may also be true.) Because this is hap- pening regularly, I can see why your daughter feels as she does. If it happened occasionally, I might respond diff erently, but you wrote that this is a frequent occur- rence. A conversation with Ashley is in order. If your relationship survives the conversation, con- sider socializing with her but doing your gift-buying privately. DEAR ABBY: My mother and I have never had the best rela- tionship. It has only gotten worse since my dad passed in 2020, followed by my brother, who passed in 2021. My uncle, Mom’s younger brother, also passed in 2021. My problem is that Mom acts like I have no right to grieve. This is all her grief and HER pain — she has actually told me as much. She has said, more than once, that she doesn’t know why I bother to get so upset. I’m seeing a counselor, but I’m having a hard time for- giving her behavior. I lost my father and my brother! Worse, she tells her friends I don’t care about these losses. Please advise. — GRIEVING AND HEARTBROKEN DEAR GRIEVING: Con- tinue talking with your coun- selor not only about your deep sense of grief over the loss of your dad and your brother, but also about your relationship with your mother. Not knowing her, I cannot decide whether she is deep into her own grief or simply so deep into herself that she can’t relate to you. I am sorry you didn’t mention your age or whether you live with her, but it’s important that you work on becoming, at the very least, emo- tionally independent from her. As ‘stealth omicron’ advances, scientists are learning more weeks earlier. In the United States, BA.2 caused about 4% of COVID cases during the week ending Feb. 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage was lower in some regions and higher in others – hit- ting about 7% in New England. By LAURA UNGAR The Associated Press HOUSTON — The coronavirus mutant widely known as “stealth omicron” is now causing more than a third of new omicron cases around the world, but sci- entists still don’t know how it could aff ect the future of the pandemic. Researchers are slowly revealing clues about the strain, a descendant of omi- cron known as BA.2, while warily watching it become ever more prevalent. “We’re all keeping an eye on BA.2 just because it has done particularly well in some parts of the world,” including parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, said Dr. Wesley Long, a patholo- gist at Houston Methodist in Texas. This week, a technical advisory group for the World Health Organiza- tion advised public health authorities to monitor it as a distinct omicron strain. Early research sug- gests it spreads faster than the original omicron and in rare cases can sicken people even if they’ve What’s known BA.2 has lots of muta- tions. It’s been dubbed “stealth” because it lacks a genetic quirk of the orig- inal omicron that allowed health offi cials to rapidly diff erentiate it from delta using a certain PCR test. So while the test can detect a BA.2 infection, it looks like a delta infection. Initial research suggests BA.2 is more transmissible than the original omicron — about 30% more conta- gious by one estimate. But vaccines can protect people from getting sick. Scientists in the United Kingdom found that they provide the same level of protection from both types of omicron. A bout with the original National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Contributed Photo, File This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a Novel Corona- virus SARS-CoV-2 particle isolated from a patient, in a laboratory in Fort Detrick, Md. The coronavirus mutant widely known as stealth omicron is now causing more than a third of new omicron cases around the world. But scientists still don’t know how it could aff ect the future of the pandemic. Worldwide spread already had an omicron infection. There’s mixed research on whether it causes more severe dis- ease, but vaccines appear just as eff ective against it. Overall cases are falling in some places where the variant is becoming more prevalent, off ering some hope that the latest trou- bling version of the virus won’t send cases skyrock- eting again as experts try to learn more. BA.2 has been found in more than 80 countries and all 50 U.S. states. In a recent report, the WHO said BA.2 was dom- inant in 18 countries and it represented about 36% of sequenced omicron cases submitted in the most recent week to a publicly available international database where scientists share coronavirus data. That’s up from 19% two weather | Go to AccuWeather.com Does BA.2 make you sicker? A Japanese lab study suggests that it could, based on experiments with hamsters. Researchers con- cluded that the risk for global health “is poten- tially higher” from BA.2 and proposed that it be given its own Greek letter – a designation for glob- ally signifi cant “variants of AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION Astoria Longview 44/51 Kennewick 41/51 St. Helens 39/53 33/50 Condon 34/48 40/53 A bit of late- night snow A rain or snow shower Baker City La Grande 0 21 40 28 Comfort Index™ 2 44 28 Eugene 0 2 1 42/58 39 36 48 38 51 34 0 3 4 54 32 52 36 1 4 5 1 TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin NATION (for the 48 contiguous states) High Thursday Low Thursday High: 89° Low: -44° Wettest: 2.15” 27° 9° 27° 8° 26° 9° PRECIPITATION (inches) Thursday Trace Month to date Trace Normal month to date 0.51 Year to date 0.38 Normal year to date 1.21 0.01 0.58 1.05 1.85 2.72 0.03 1.46 2.01 5.39 5.28 AGRICULTURAL INFO. HAY INFORMATION SUNDAY 45% S at 8 to 16 mph 8.3 0.07 RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Friday) Phillips Reservoir Unity Reservoir Owyhee Reservoir McKay Reservoir Wallowa Lake Thief Valley Reservoir 3% of capacity 33% of capacity 23% of capacity 42% of capacity 26% of capacity 50% of capacity STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Thursday) Grande Ronde at Troy 1440 cfs Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 1 cfs Burnt River near Unity 7 cfs Umatilla River near Gibbon 171 cfs Minam River at Minam 124 cfs Powder River near Richland 43 cfs Fort Myers, Fla. Seagull Lake, Minn. Oak Ridge, Tenn. OREGON High: 52° Low: 0° Wettest: 0.05” Brookings Antelope Pendleton WEATHER HISTORY A dam in Buffalo Creek, W.Va., gave way on Feb. 26, 1972, after rain and melting snow increased the water level. It killed 125 people. SUN & MOON SAT. Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset 6:36 a.m. 5:35 p.m. 4:23 a.m. 12:41 p.m. SUN. 6:34 a.m. 5:36 p.m. 5:17 a.m. 1:55 p.m. MOON PHASES New Mar 2 First Mar 10 Full Mar 17 Beaver Marsh Powers 48/58 Last Mar 24 44/60 Silver Lake Jordan Valley 19/46 Paisley 27/54 30/53 Frenchglen 29/51 36/62 Klamath Falls 30/54 21/40 Lakeview 25/50 McDermitt 20/48 RECREATION FORECAST SUNDAY REGIONAL CITIES MON. City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Astoria 51/47/r 52/45/r Bend 56/42/c 63/47/r Boise 43/24/c 51/33/c Brookings 56/47/c 56/49/r Burns 46/25/c 49/33/i Coos Bay 57/48/r 56/49/r Corvallis 55/45/r 57/49/r Council 35/19/c 35/28/sn Elgin 40/25/c 41/39/sh Eugene 58/49/r 59/49/r Hermiston 51/33/i 55/45/sh Hood River 50/38/sn 47/42/sh Imnaha 43/34/sf 46/42/sh John Day 46/35/c 50/40/r Joseph 39/29/c 43/36/sh Kennewick 51/31/c 51/40/sh Klamath Falls 54/26/c 57/31/sh Lakeview 50/28/c 55/35/c Grand View Arock 18/46 24/51 Shown is Sunday’s weather. Temperatures are Saturday night’s lows and Sunday’s highs. SUN. Diamond 26/48 Fields Medford Brookings Boise 19/43 44/62 46/56 23/42 25/53 Chiloquin Grants Pass Juntura 20/46 31/49 28/49 Roseburg Ontario 22/42 Burns Brothers 41/57 Coos Bay Huntington 22/45 37/56 Oakridge 8/35 19/39 Seneca Bend Elkton THURSDAY EXTREMES ALMANAC Lowest relative humidity Afternoon wind Hours of sunshine Evapotranspiration Florence 46/57 Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable. 28/46 36/56 Council 16/32 John Day 33/56 Sisters 45/59 44 36 14/33 Baker City Redmond 47/55 Halfway Granite 20/37 40/53 40/57 45/53 40 30 0 29/53 38/55 Newport 36 27 0 28 38 28 Comfort Index™ Enterprise 0 Cloudy with a shower Corvallis Enterprise 21/40 28/38 Monument 32/54 Idanha Salem WED A few afternoon Rain and drizzle showers 16 32 19 Comfort Index™ TUE Elgin 25/40 La Grande 28/52 Maupin MON 28/48 Pendleton The Dalles Portland Newberg 37/58 Lewiston 28/46 Hood River 27/51 44/55 SUN Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 Walla Walla 26/51 Vancouver 37/52 TIllamook TONIGHT concern.” WHO’s technical group said BA.2 should remain under the omicron umbrella. Though the severity experiments were con- ducted in animals, the study is “not something to discount,” said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research Translational Institute. “We should keep an open mind and keep assessing this.” But scientists are fi nding something dif- ferent when they look at people. An initial analysis in Denmark showed no diff erences in hospitaliza- tions for BA.2 compared with the original omicron, which tends to generally cause milder disease than the delta variant. More recently, researchers in South Africa found much the same: a similar risk of hospitalization and severe disease with the original omicron variant and BA.2. “We always have to interpret studies in ani- mals with caution,” Long said. “I place more weight in studies of actual patients and what they’re experiencing.” omicron also seems to pro- vide “strong protection” against reinfection with BA.2, according to early studies cited by the WHO. But getting BA.2 after infection from the original omicron strain is possible, says new research out of Denmark. Study authors noted 187 total reinfec- tions, including 47 with BA.2 occurring shortly after a bout the original strain, mostly in young, unvaccinated people with mild disease. They con- cluded that such reinfec- tions do occur but are rare. Like other early studies on BA.2, this one has been posted online but not reviewed by independent scientists. City Lewiston Longview Meacham Medford Newport Olympia Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Powers Redmond Roseburg Salem Spokane The Dalles Ukiah Walla Walla SUN. MON. Hi/Lo/W 46/36/sh 51/49/r 39/26/c 62/38/r 53/48/r 51/43/r 42/25/c 51/32/c 51/38/c 53/48/r 58/51/r 56/39/c 60/50/r 57/48/r 38/33/sn 48/37/sn 46/32/c 48/38/c Hi/Lo/W 46/42/r 54/52/r 40/36/sh 65/44/r 52/45/r 52/44/r 45/33/sn 48/40/sh 58/52/c 55/51/r 58/50/r 61/43/r 62/52/r 59/52/r 41/38/sn 49/41/sh 48/40/sh 50/45/sh Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice ANTHONY LAKES PHILLIPS LAKE A little snow A little a.m. snow 24 19 36 19 MT. EMILY REC. BROWNLEE RES. A snow shower Cloudy and chilly 32 29 38 24 EAGLE CAP WILD. EMIGRANT ST. PARK A little snow Rain/snow shower 28 20 38 25 WALLOWA LAKE MCKAY RESERVOIR Rain/snow shower Warmer 39 29 52 39 THIEF VALLEY RES. RED BRIDGE ST. PARK A snow shower Rain/snow shower 32 19 Veterans Appreciation Day at Anthony Lakes Complementary skiing for Veterans and their families February 28, 2022 Details at AnthonyLakes.com 38 28