ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Bi-county
COVID-19
response a
wise move
T
he decision was somewhat of
a muted one, but the move by
the Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners last week to unite
its COVID-19 response with Morrow
County was a good one.
In retrospect, the decision was an obvi-
ous one. The two counties are intricately
linked and as the COVID-19 pandemic
continues to gain ground locally, it was a
wise judgment by elected leaders.
Going forward, the two counties will
coordinate policies and resources regard-
ing the pandemic, and that should be a
piece of good news for area voters.
The bad news, though, continues
unabated. More cases of COVID-19 are
reported every day, and across the state
hospitals are nearly out of capacity for
patients who suffer serious complications
from the infection.
The unfortunate aspect to the entire
COVID-19 response is how it has become
politicized on a truly epic scale.
Fueled by conspiracy theorists and
blatantly false information on social
media, many voters are unsure — or
opposed — to vaccinations. No one can
be, or should be, forced to be vaccinated.
It should remain a personal choice or a
decision reached between a patient and
their health care provider.
Yet, when information is so distorted
that it resembles fiction, it isn’t difficult to
see why so many are wary of the vaccine.
The controversy, though, over the
vaccine isn’t a new phenomenon. It is a
product of our times. All one must do is
look to the last two presidential elections
to see how information was manipulated
— by both major political parties — and
crafted to tell a specific narrative. That
kind of work on information isn’t news or
“spinning” a subject. It’s propaganda.
The COVID-19 pandemic is burning
like a wildfire across Umatilla County
and misinformation isn’t productive. In
fact, it’s downright dangerous.
Once Americans trusted their medi-
cal personnel, they trusted the scientists
and listened carefully to the information
available on a specific issue. Then they
acted.
We’ve reached the point now, though,
where those who are subject matter
experts on the COVID-19 virus are just
another special interest group.
It shouldn’t be that way.
The final decision to be vaccinated is
a personal one. But it is sad that one must
spend hours searching for information
to be able to decide whether it is the best
choice.
But that is where we are. We urge
anyone who has doubt about COVID-19
vaccines to spend some time searching
for correct, and reasonable, informa-
tion. Not by clicking on the newest
social media crackpot, but by carefully
researching the science behind vaccines
and what the nation’s leading medical
personnel report.
LETTERS
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters
of 400 words or less on public issues and public
policies for publication in the newspaper and
on our website. Letters must be signed by the
author and include the city of residence and a
daytime phone number. The phone number
will not be published. Unsigned letters will not
be published.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
YOUR VIEWS
EO editors should
follow the science
The virus behind the COVID-19
pandemic is not political. It is neither
liberal or conservative, rural or urban.
It is a biological entity that opportunis-
tically infects, mutates and replicates
before infecting new hosts.
The delta variant is now the
predominant strain in Oregon. One
individual can on average infect up to
seven people. As of Monday, the Pfizer
vaccine has received full approval
from the FDA. It is safe and effective.
The Moderna vaccine will likely get
full FDA approval shortly.
The Aug. 19, 2021, Our View titled
“Vaccine skepticism isn’t a rural urban
issue” stated: “Our combining of state
data shows more than half of unvac-
cinated adults — 56% — live in the
state’s 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 ideological statement.”
The EO Editorial Board did not
document their data source or their
methodology in the above statement.
I went to the public data from the
Oregon Health Authority to exam-
ine recent COVID-19 cases for the
past seven days for each county as of
Monday, Aug. 23: public.tableau.com/
app/profile/oregon.health.authority.
covid.19/viz/OregonCOVID-19Up-
date/DailyDataUpdate.
Raw numbers and percentages
are skewed by the population of each
county. I chose the number of new
cases in the past seven days for each
county, standardized based on the
population of the county. In other
words, the number of new cases in
the past week per county for 100,000
people.
For the five most populous coun-
ties, the average COVID-19 seven-day
case rate per 100,000 people was 270.
For the six northeast counties (Baker,
Grant, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and
Wallowa) the average was 588 — more
than twice the rate in the Willamette
Valley.
Similarly, the positive test results
for the two regions parallel the case
rate trend with an average positive
rate in the Willamette Valley of 11.4%,
while the northeast counties were
twice that at 26.53%.
Take the time to follow the science.
COVID-19 is rapidly spreading, filling
our intensive care unit beds, and can
be deadly. The vaccine works. It may
not completely block this variant, but
it is effective in preventing hospital-
ization in most cases. Get the vaccine
and mask up to protect yourself, your
family and your neighbors.
Ron Fonger
Pendleton
more than it takes away.
It is often said in times of war
that “freedom isn’t free” — freedom
costs money, human life and constant
vigilance to uphold. Here, in the war
against a deadly and highly contagious
virus, freedom is equally expensive.
Either it will cost our community
more lives, personal suffering, medical
debt and stress to small business, or it
will cost each of us the discomfort of
wearing a mask. Either way, it won’t
be free.
In America, freedom is a set of
mutually beneficial limitations, and it
always has a price. I hope our leaders
will acknowledge that masks are the
cheaper way to uphold freedom in our
COVID-19 world.
Sarah West
Cove
Opinions don’t matter
Wearing a mask is a small to a deadly virus
price to pay for freedom
I am appalled by the conversations I
Local leaders have used freedom as
an argument against mask mandates.
While I agree that masks are unpleas-
ant, I don’t agree that they infringe
on the freedoms granted to me in the
U.S. Constitution. Using that terminol-
ogy in opposition to a widely accepted
public health recommendation is a
disservice to our community.
As Union County Sheriff Cody
Bowen knows, unchecked freedom
is chaos. His job is to uphold law and
order, and these are achieved by limit-
ing freedom to a narrower band in
which our lives are more predictable
and safe. Laws, rules and mandates
provide a protected space in which we
can enjoy our rights to self-expression,
community and enterprise. In this
country, freedom has never been carte
blanche to do anything we want. We
accept this limited version of freedom
because, for the most part, it gives
am hearing in response to our current
spike in coronavirus sicknesses
and deaths. This virus has only one
purpose: to replicate itself. And it’s
very good at that.
Our only weapons to stop that
attack are to wear a mask, keep phys-
ically distant and be vaccinated to
lessen the impact on our bodies. There
is no valid opinion that changes these
biological facts.
We have proven that shouting
opinions only keeps us from being
safe. Opinions don’t matter to a virus,
only replication. And so far the virus
is winning by attacking everyone:
young, old, compromised or healthy.
Our choices are clear. Talking it to
death is having no effect. Mask, vacci-
nate, distance and sanitize. The goal is
to stay alive.
Arlene Young
La Grande