A3
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021
Vaccine: ‘We expect that cases will ramp up quickly’
Continued from Page A1
example, the vaccination
rate was 54%. By late Sep-
tember, it was 63%.
The county initially set
the goal in the hopes of
reaching herd immunity
against COVID-19. But
public health leaders have
cautioned for the past sev-
eral months that it is unclear
whether the 70% target
will be eff ective as variants
such as delta and omicron
emerge.
In a weekly vaccine task
force update, the county also
reported Friday that 80% of
residents 18 and older are at
least partially vaccinated.
“We would just urge
other folks who are, maybe
have been, on the sidelines
thinking it over to ask more
questions and, hopefully,
get vaccinated themselves,”
Tom Bennett, a county
spokesman, said.
The vaccine task force is
planning more booster clin-
ics that off er the Moderna
and Pfi zer vaccines. So far,
more than 9,000 residents
have received booster doses,
the county reported.
While the county marked
the vaccination milestone,
state leaders warned of a
new wave of virus cases
driven by the omicron
variant.
“We’re in a race against
the clock,” Gov. Kate
Brown said during a Friday
afternoon press call.
The new infections come
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Clatsop County has among the highest vaccination rates in the state.
ONLY 4.4% OF ALL VACCINE BREAKTHROUGH CASES HAVE
REQUIRED HOSPITALIZATION, AND 1.3% HAVE DIED. THE
AVERAGE AGE OF VACCINATED PEOPLE WHO DIED WAS 81.
as Oregon is slowly recov-
ering from the delta surge
that began last July and
peaked in early September.
A forecast released by
Oregon Health & Science
University said the new
variant will push out the
dominant delta variant by
the last week of December.
Peter Graven, the lead
author of the OHSU fore-
Merila: Wants to help change ‘bootstrap ideology’
Continued from Page A1
The fi eld of social work
tends to have a high burn-
out rate. B ehavioral health
care can involve listening
to people’s pain in back-to-
back sessions, sometimes
eight in a day.
It is also a profession
where it is possible to see
how the “isms” — racism,
sexism, classism, ageism,
ablism and so on — shape
the individual .
“It’s really important
that, while we are doing
therapeutic work with folks
and helping them to process
through whatever it is they
need to process through,
that we’re also simultane-
ously looking at the ways
that our society has cre-
ated these problems,” Mer-
ila said.
Even well-intentioned
health care providers, she
said, can pressure their cli-
ents to over-own their trau-
matic experiences and posi-
tion in the world, to make
them feel there’s some-
thing basically wrong with
them. Through her work at
Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care , the county’s mental
health and substance abuse
treatment contractor, Mer-
ila said she wants to help
change this “bootstrap
ideology. ”
Merila loves her job .
But when she was younger ,
social work wasn’t the pro-
fession she imagined her-
self going into.
‘IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT
THAT, WHILE WE ARE DOING
THERAPEUTIC WORK WITH
FOLKS AND HELPING THEM TO
PROCESS THROUGH WHATEVER
IT IS THEY NEED TO PROCESS
THROUGH, THAT WE’RE ALSO
SIMULTANEOUSLY LOOKING AT
THE WAYS THAT OUR SOCIETY
HAS CREATED THESE PROBLEMS.’
cast, said omicron doubles
at twice the rate of the delta
variant, doubling the num-
ber of infections every two
days.
“We have about two to
three weeks before we’ll
see omicron accelerate
and become the dominant
strain,” Graven said. “We
expect that cases will ramp
up quickly.”
The OHSU report said
early studies in Europe
show vaccines and earlier
exposure to the virus are
not as eff ective against omi-
cron as earlier variations of
COVID-19.
The Pfi zer and Moderna
two-shot vaccination loses
about 50% of its protective
power with omicron. The
third booster shot of Pfi zer
or Moderna vaccine, now
authorized for anyone over
age 16, off ers signifi cant
additional protection.
The booster is especially
needed for those most vul-
nerable to severe illness,
including immunocompro-
mised residents or older
adults living in congregant
settings.
“I’m calling on 1 million
Oregonians to step up and
get a booster shot,” Brown
said.
The Oregon Health
Authority’s weekly report
on virus cases found
that unvaccinated people
accounted for just under
70% of new infections. Vac-
cinated people accounted
for just over 30%.
The biggest diff erence is
in severity of illness. Only
4.4% of all vaccine break-
through cases have required
hospitalization, and 1.3%
have died. The average age
of vaccinated people who
died was 81.
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.
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Shyra Merila | clinical operations offi cer
at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare
In the early 2000s, Mer-
ila was all over The Asto-
rian’s sports coverage as a
track and volleyball star at
Astoria High School.
After she did her under-
graduate work — initially
at Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity, where she played vol-
leyball, before fi nishing at
Humboldt State University
in Northern California —
she returned to Astoria and
coached track, volleyball
and seventh-grade girls
basketball.
“I really didn’t know
anything about basket-
ball. I just got thrown into
coaching. But it’s not hard
when (the students) don’t
know what they’re sup-
posed to be doing, either,”
she said with a laugh.
To this day, Merila
holds the high school squat
record — 225 pounds
— for her body weight
class (below 130 pounds),
according to p rincipal
Lynn Jackson.
Asked what a profi le
about her would be incom-
plete
without,
Merila
remembered a time in high
school when she ran the
4x100-meter relay . She had
reached the second leg and
realized that she’d left the
baton at the starting line.
“That was probably one
of the most embarrassing
moments of my life,” she
said.
She wondered if Jack-
son tells that story to ath-
letes when they’re having
a bad day.
No, Jackson said in an
email, “but it does pro-
vide me with a very fond
memory.”
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