A4
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, AuguST 21, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
BEHIND THE NEWS
‘We have had a lot of sick patients’
latsop County is in the top half of
Oregon counties in vaccinating
residents against the coronavirus.
But the metric has not spared the
county from a surge of new virus cases
and hospitalizations linked to the delta
variant. August is on pace to become the
worst month of the pandemic so far.
Most of the people getting sick are
unvaccinated.
“It’s hard not to get
disheartened by the fact
that the staff are seeing
what they’re seeing and
the situation is entirely
preventable,” said Chris
Strear, the chief med-
DERRICK
ical officer at Colum-
DePLEDGE
bia Memorial Hospi-
tal in Astoria. “If we
had the vaccination numbers that we had
hoped for, and that we should have, this
wouldn’t be happening right now.
“And it’s really hard to work as hard
as they are taking care of a situation that
didn’t have to happen.”
Columbia Memorial, among the coun-
ty’s largest employers, has had some of
the same difficulties as other businesses
in convincing workers to get vaccinated.
More than a quarter of hospital staff —
27% — are unvaccinated.
“If you’re not vaccinated already,
you should get vaccinated,” said Strear,
an emergency room doctor who joined
Columbia Memorial in June after nearly
two decades at Legacy Health in Portland.
In an interview via Microsoft Teams,
Strear discussed how hospital staff are
coping with the challenge of more virus
patients, his guidance for the unvacci-
nated and vaccinated and whether polit-
ical polarization during the pandemic
will leave the country more vulnerable to
future public health threats.
Q: Columbia Memorial was for-
tunate not to see very many hospital-
izations from COVID-19 for much of
the pandemic. Now that’s changing.
The surge in new virus cases driven by
the delta variant came after most gov-
ernment restrictions were lifted and
many people felt like life was return-
ing to normal. How are your doctors,
nurses and other staff coping with the
challenge?
A: Everyone’s doing OK. We’re work-
ing as hard as we ever have, but people
are really pulling together here.
There’s a lot of work to do. People
are really stepping up. They’re working
extra shifts. They’re filling in in areas that
maybe they wouldn’t normally be work-
ing. It’s really something to see everybody
rise to the challenge.
And it’s a pretty big challenge, because
we have had a lot of sick patients. We’ve
been seeing both volumes and acuity that
C
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Chris Strear is chief medical officer at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria.
really, in some cases, is unprecedented
here.
Q: Many of the people who are
being hospitalized for the virus are
unvaccinated. What are you hearing
from them when they come in and they
are sick?
A: Most of the patients who are being
hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated.
In general, the few breakthrough cases
— where the patient was vaccinated but
still hospitalized — even in that case the
severity of illness tends to be much less.
Honestly, a lot of the patients that are
coming in — as an ER physician, when
I see them — it’s not really something
they’re in a position to talk about. A lot of
times, they’re so ill, they’re not really in a
position to talk about anything.
But those that do frequently express
regret that they didn’t get the vaccine
because, gosh, when we see them, a lot of
the times they are in just horrible shape.
Q: The pace of vaccinations has
slowed in the county over the summer.
A significant number of people appear
to have tuned out messages from politi-
cal and public health leaders. As a doc-
tor, what is your advice for people who
are unvaccinated?
A: I don’t know if they have tuned it
out. I think the people that aren’t getting
vaccinated either have pretty strong con-
victions — and it’s not that they aren’t lis-
tening to the message, it’s just that the
message isn’t persuading them or they
don’t believe the message.
I’m hopeful that when the FDA (Food
and Drug Administration) gives approval
of the vaccinations, then we will see
another significant uptick in people get-
ting vaccinated.
The vaccines have been around for a
year now — hundreds of millions of peo-
ple have been vaccinated. The data is
pretty amazing at how good a job it does
of protecting people from serious illness.
And the data is pretty amazing at how low
the significant side effects, or complica-
tions, are from the vaccine.
I can tell you again, as an ER physi-
cian, I’m in a position to see people who
have had problems with the vaccine, and
I’m in a position to see people who’ve
had problems from COVID, and I’m not
sure that I’ve ever taken care of anyone
who had a serious, life-threatening reac-
tion to the vaccine. That has happened,
but really not more so than vaccines in
general.
But, boy, I’ve spent the last year and a
half of my career taking care of some of
the sickest patients I have ever seen in my
life because of COVID. I personally — I
don’t understand the choice of declining
the vaccine.
All the hardships that people are going
through — both as caregivers and as
patients who are sick from COVID, and
as patients who are sick with other things,
but can’t get the care that they need, can’t
get the resources that they need, because
the hospitals all across the state and all
across the country are so overwhelmed
taking care of COVID — the choice to
not get vaccinated if you can just doesn’t
make sense to me.
And I guess that’s what I tell people.
Q: What guidance do you have
for people who have been vaccinated
and are worried about still getting the
virus?
A: Well, especially with the delta vari-
ant, we’re learning that that absolutely
happens. It happens probably much more
commonly than we might think.
I think the most important thing for
people who are vaccinated to understand
with breakthrough is that the majority of
vaccinated patients with breakthrough are
asymptomatic or minimally symptom-
atic. And the protection of the vaccinated
against serious illness and hospitalization
from COVID — it remains phenomenal,
absolutely.
I think CDC (Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention) and OHA (Oregon
Health Authority) have guidance for what
to do if you’re vaccinated and exposed,
what to do if you’re vaccinated and symp-
tomatic. It’s important to follow those
guidelines.
It’s important especially with moderate
and severe illness, as rare as that is for the
vaccinated, to still come and be evaluated.
And especially following the PPE (per-
sonal protective equipment) recommenda-
tions, the social distancing and the quar-
antine recommendations, because even
if you are vaccinated and asymptomatic,
you can still be infectious.
And, unfortunately, there’s still a sig-
nificant number of people that aren’t vac-
cinated that are particularly at risk.
Q: The pandemic has fueled a polit-
ical backlash — by about a third of the
country — against many of our insti-
tutions. There appears to be a broader
assault on expertise. Do you worry
this could leave us more vulnerable to
future public health threats?
A: That’s a great question. I really
don’t know, mostly because I’m still —
even after all this time — I’m still so sur-
prised and disappointed.
I don’t understand how wearing a hos-
pital mask for preventing the spread of a
pandemic that’s really crippled our planet
— I don’t think that’s an exaggeration
to say. I don’t understand how wearing
something that goes from your nose to
your chin to save lives — I don’t under-
stand how that can be politicized.
I don’t understand how we got to this
point, and because I still am so mystified
and disappointed with it, maybe it’s a lit-
tle denial on my part to say that I’m not
sure if there’s going to be similar fallout
or polarization with a future public health
concern.
Unfortunately, I think when winter
comes and flu season kicks up, we’ll have
a chance to see.
I would like to think that when we look
back on this, the overwhelming consensus
will be masks were the right thing, social
distancing was the right thing, self-quar-
antining was the right thing and immuni-
zations were the right thing, and it won’t
be an issue in the future.
derrick dePledge is editor of The
Astorian.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Incredulous
find it incredulous that the city of Seaside
thought that bringing tens of thousands
of people to our 7,000 population town
via the volleyball tournament and Hood to
Coast, in the midst of a pandemic, to be a
swell idea.
People all over the county are sharing
concerns about this potential COVID-19
explosion. When is Seaside going to take
any responsibility for being part of a larger
community? My guess is: Never.
SANDY REA
Seaside
I
Lighten up
kin is for touching, or may feel that
way with therapeutic massage or a lov-
er’s touch. There is also unplanned sponta-
neous touch that is one’s personality, a nat-
ural expression of affection, nonsexual and
not easily defined, so we quickly categorize
and chastise.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo prob-
ably touched others in a variety of ways
depending on who, what, where, when, but
we quickly slap a sexual predator label on
the touching … more stories later, perhaps,
with the bandwagon #MeToo.
But using this label may be another
predatory instinct to shame him. This
impulse deadens human relationships, caus-
ing a self-consciousness and worry even
with the slightest contact with another.
This feels equally detrimental as we
attempt to console and connect during a dif-
ficult time. Pandemic times. Trusting each
other helps mental health and strengthens
immune systems.
Let’s remain focused on the pandemic
— not Cuomo’s silly, awkward, unwanted
behaviors — by remembering many males
are inept, often stupid, but are not necessar-
ily dangerous criminals.
S
So let’s lighten up with thoughtful dis-
crimination as we listen to breaking news.
Never far from the madding crowd … hys-
teria lurking.
LYNNE FARRAR
Astoria
Straddling the divide
ne of my first memories of trees is rid-
ing in my mom’s company pickup,
winding our way along a logging road near
Big Creek in search of a Christmas tree.
Two decades later, I’m working on a for-
est ecology Ph.D., and I’m straddling the
divide between two worlds.
O
The forest ecology I study in my gradu-
ate education is deep and fascinating. The
forest industry of the Pacific Northwest
built my house, employed people in my
community and raised me.
Increasingly, I’ve found these two
worlds at odds with one another. While
we should strive to improve, the language
some use to lobby for change in forestry
practices is provocative, and makes dis-
course between stakeholders difficult.
No use is perfect; however, timber is one
of the most sustainable products. Substitut-
ing wood for concrete could reduce global
carbon dioxide emissions by 14 to 31%.
There are many ways people connect with
forests: production, recreation, wildlife and
salmonid habitat, to name just a few. How
can we balance all these needs?
After lawsuits over logging in the Elliott
State Forest, foresters, Indigenous peoples,
loggers, scientists and environmentalists
put forth a plan to transfer the forest to Ore-
gon State University and create the most
comprehensive forestry experiment in the
world.
Before this can become a reality, it must
be decoupled from the Common School
Fund. By removing external financial obli-
gation, this land will still be public land, on
a sustainable path that might just bring the
Pacific Northwest together.
AMELIA FITCH
Royalton, Vermont