KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Vaccine
skepticism
isn’t a rural/
urban issue
L
ast week, Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown reinstituted the mandate
that Oregonians must wear
masks in public spaces to halt the
spread of the COVID-19 delta variant
that threatens to overwhelm hospitals
in some areas.
In announcing the mandate, Brown
singled out rural elected officials for not
taking steps to curb the spread of the
virus.
“I expected local elected officials
to step up and do the right thing,”
Brown said. “What is clear is they are
not taking action. That is why we are
moving forward.”
Brown has misjudged many local
officials who have refused to insti-
tute their own mask mandates. They
did take action in the interest of their
constituents — just not in the way
preferred by the governor. Whether
they made the right choice will never
be known because Brown has made the
opposite decision for them.
It is also wrong to suggest that vacci-
nation resistance is found mostly in
rural areas, or that it is the result of
misinformation or misguided ideology.
It is true when measured as a
percentage, the rates of COVID-19
vaccination are lower in Oregon’s rural
counties than the urban counties. It is
also true that many rural communi-
ties, particularly in the east, are more
openly resistant to Salem’s mandates.
But, by sheer numbers, the bulk of the
state’s unvaccinated adults live in more
urban areas.
Our combing of state data shows
more than half of unvaccinated adults
— 56% — live in the state’s five most
populous, and most liberal, counties.
That suggests to us that deciding not
to get a COVID-19 shot is more of a
matter of personal choice than an ideo-
logical statement.
We have said at the outset that people
who are able should get vaccinated.
While we respect the right of informed
adults to weigh their own options and
decide what is right for themselves, we
think the vaccine is the best option.
Turning COVID-19 vaccinations
into a right/left, rural/urban battle is a
mistake — one that will only harden
the resolve of many who are yet to
be vaccinated.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily
that of the East Oregonian.
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Heat the No. 1 weather-related killer
LARRY
NIERENBERG
EYE TO THE SKY
I
f someone were to take a poll and
ask “what type of weather causes
the most fatalities,” many people
would likely answer tornadoes or hurri-
canes. It is certainly true that the effects
of these two types of weather can be
quite dramatic with all the damage that
they can cause.
Additionally, if the tornado or
hurricane impacts a large area, it will
often garner media attention, and any
number of injuries or fatalities that the
tornado or hurricane may cause is, of
course, tragic.
However, the No. 1 weather-related
killer, by far, is in fact heat.
The Pacific Northwest experienced
a record-breaking heatwave at the end
of June and more heat at the end of
July and early August. The June heat
wave was responsible for more than
200 deaths in Oregon and Washington,
and more than 800 fatalities in British
Columbia, Canada. This far exceeds
the number in a typical tornado or
hurricane and this is one event, though
an exceptional one.
Now that it is mid-August and we
are approaching the cooler fall months,
we should be done with excessive heat
for the year, especially as the days grow
increasingly shorter.
One of the reasons heat ranks so
high on the list of weather that causes
so many fatalities is that excessive heat
can occur almost anywhere. Hurri-
canes are generally a coastal weather
threat, and certain conditions have to
be met for a tornado to form that are not
common in many locations.
As we all learned this summer, heat
waves can occur in places where they
are not common, such as Portland,
Seattle and many other areas. Due to
the rarity of extreme heat, many homes
in these locations do not have air condi-
tioning. It is for these reasons that the
potential impacts from heat are much
more widespread when they do occur.
Even in areas where hot weather is
more common, it is often the number of
days and the actual temperature values
(or temperature combined with humid-
ity in certain parts of the country) that
have the most impact.
While many areas of the world get
hot during their summer and some loca-
tions stay hot all year round, there is a
difference between a normal summer
day in an area and excessive heat. Addi-
tionally, how frequently heat events
occur can also help the body adapt.
Heat tends to affect older people,
young children and those with certain
medical conditions before it affects the
broader population, and one day of heat
can usually be handled with few issues.
However, it is the combined effects of
multiple days of heat, coupled with
warm nights that do not allow the body
to cool, that can cause heat stress to
start to occur. Excessive heat also can
impact infrastructure, including the
electrical grid, which would make it
difficult to use fans or air conditioning
to cool off.
So, what should you do in a heat
wave?
First, and most importantly, stay
hydrated. Drink plenty of water or other
nonalcoholic, decaffeinated fluids.
Use air conditioners or fans or, if this
is not possible, spend as much time as
you can in air-conditioned facilities.
Stay inside, if possible, and out of
direct sunlight, especially during the
hottest part of the day. If you must be
outside for work or other reasons, take
frequent breaks out of the sun.
The record-breaking heat wave the
Pacific Northwest experienced at the
end of June was exceptional in many
ways. There will be other heat waves in
the future and, because heat is the No. 1
weather related killer, being prepared
for the next one is always a prudent
course of action.
———
Larry Nierenberg is a senior fore-
caster for the National Weather Service
in Pendleton. Nierenberg leads National
Weather Service community outreach
and hazardous weather preparedness
and resiliency programs.
created this situation. Doing for others
leaves them with their handicap.
You have to combine compassion
with tough love and mentorship. Doing
for people is rarely compassion (far less
is joining in complaining). Compassion
grants others the ability. Com- (together/
with) passion (effort, difficulty) ... liter-
ally, working together. When nobody
does the work, there’s no compassion.
I hope this is getting through.
Mark Elfering
Hermiston
us over $2 trillion of borrowed money.
I can fully understand soldiers who
fought there feeling betrayed, just as
in Vietnam. I just believe as the Sovi-
ets found out, it’s a no-win situation
in that country. It’s a tribal culture,
always has been. We would be there
forever, spending trillions more trying
to make it in our image.
Many men in the country actually
agree with the Taliban’s fundamental
Muslim beliefs in the first place and do
not care for western invaders impos-
ing their lifestyle on them. It’s time
to go. We need to pay more attention
to the myriad of problems in our own
country. This 20-year war reminds me
of an old quote from Jonathan Schell’s
“The Real War”:
“It has been said that the United
States was deceived into entering
and expanding the Vietnam War by
its own overoptimistic propaganda.
The record suggests, however that
the policy makers stayed in Vietnam
not so much because of overly opti-
mistic hopes of winning ... as because
of overly pessimistic assessments
of losing.”
Rob Smith
La Pine
YOUR VIEWS
Compassion is more useful
than charity
I recently was given an analogy in
defense of Critical Race Theory. “Crit-
ical Height Theory — tall people have
more privilege than shorties.” My reply:
And Critical Weight Theory —
Skinny People Privilege. It’s “You have
something I don’t, and the world owes it
to me.” Not equality. Not systemic bias.
It’s self-pity despite insufficient effort.
It’s focusing on what “they” have instead
of my own life. Anything is possible
with enough effort. Equal opportunity
is not equal quality of life. Short people
aren’t “denied” food too high on a shelf,
they simply have an obstacle to over-
come. I can toss items at what I want, use
a long object to prod, etc., until it comes
to me. Even the tall have to, sometimes.
Odds are someone will come to assist
anyway. Nobody has a right to shorter
shelves, just a right to buy the food that
is there. Difficulty is just a handicap to
work through.
Back to CRT, society has already
bent over backward too far. Laws
require businesses meet racist skin color
quotas, regardless of skill or experience.
It’s problematic in many ways and has
How quickly we forget
While the right is piling on President
Joe Biden for the fiasco in Afghanistan,
how quickly they forget former Presi-
dent Donald Trump wanted to get out of
that country.
Does anybody really believe the
outcome with the Taliban would have
been any different if Trump was in
charge? Even the president of Afghan-
istan has now fled the country. Perhaps
the Afghans have become too dependent
on somebody else fighting for them.
We’ve done everything we could to
train an army. It’s time to leave. It’s cost