A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Embracing a
bright outlook
T
wo years ago, COVID-19 had yet to ar-
rive, officially, in Baker County.
But its effects certainly had.
The county’s first confirmed case of the virus
didn’t happen until May 6, 2020. Only three of
Oregon’s 36 counties had their first case later
than Baker County’s.
Yet even as we waited, through March and
April, for the inevitable confirmation that a resi-
dent had been infected — undoubtedly the virus
was here earlier — we were being affected much
as other counties were.
Events were canceled.
Restaurants were limited to takeout meals.
Students attended classes via computer
screens in their homes rather than in class-
rooms.
We hoped at that time that this societal up-
heaval, unprecedented for so many residents,
would end relatively soon.
And although some of the restrictions did ei-
ther ease or go away altogether over the ensuing
months, the specter of the pandemic persisted.
After the relatively brief period of tranquil-
ity in the late spring and early summer of 2021,
the delta variant drove case totals and infection
rates to then-record highs during September.
There was another lull for much of the au-
tumn and early winter, before the omicron vari-
ant — much more contagious but also consid-
erably less dangerous — broke delta’s records
during January.
But today the outlook is much brighter than it
has been since the beginning of the pandemic.
The omicron surge peaked almost two
months ago.
Baker County’s weekly case count has
dropped for seven straight weeks, plunging
by 96% over that period. The county reported
seven cases for the week March 6-12 — the few-
est since July 18-24, 2021.
But the situation is even more promising than
those statistics suggest.
The number of people, locally and elsewhere,
who have significant protection from becom-
ing seriously ill with COVID-19, through vac-
cination or natural infection, is higher than
ever before.
This prompted Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and
other officials to make the reasonable decision
to end mask requirements.
(Masks are still required in some settings, in-
cluding hospitals, where the added layer of pro-
tection is sensible.)
Some people will choose to continue donning
a mask in some situations. We should respect
that decision, which is of course a personal mat-
ter and one that doesn’t affect others.
As we look forward to a spring and sum-
mer that should be much more normal than
the 2020 and 2021 versions, there are still steps
some of us can take to further strengthen the
barriers thwarting the virus.
If you haven’t been vaccinated but are eligible
(everyone 5 and older), consider doing so.
Although some experts, including vaccine
proponent and inventor Dr. Paul Offit from
the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, haven’t
endorsed booster shots for children and young
adults based on the negligible benefits for those
groups who are at low risk for serious consequences
from COVID-19, they continue to strongly support
two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.
Baker County has a regrettably low rate of
vaccination — 55.7% of residents 18 and older
have had at least one dose, according to the Or-
egon Health Authority. That’s the fifth-lowest
rate among Oregon’s 36 counties.
Vaccines haven’t been as effective at prevent-
ing omicron infection, to be sure. But the statis-
tics are clear — people who are vaccinated are
less likely to contract COVID-19, and substan-
tially less likely to get severely ill or die. From
July 2021 through February 2021, of the 3,761
COVID-19-related deaths reported in Oregon,
74% were in unvaccinated residents.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
COLUMN
Biden treads fine line with Ukraine
BY NEIL LANCTOT
The shocking Russian invasion of
Ukraine has left most Americans bewil-
dered, angry and deeply troubled. But
exactly how our nation should respond
remains unclear. Polls have shown a sur-
prising number of Americans uncertain
about the desirability of sanctions or the
admission of Ukraine into NATO, al-
though most wholeheartedly support
President Joe Biden’s refusal to deploy
combat troops.
But few recognize that another Dem-
ocratic president, also in office less than
two years, faced a near-identical crisis
over 100 years ago. In the early weeks of
World War I in 1914, news of the bru-
tal German invasion of Belgium reached
President Woodrow Wilson and the
American public.
Wilson, though deeply sympathetic to
the Belgians, recognized that the attack
complicated his vision for America’s place
in the European war. The United States
and its people, he had believed, must re-
main “impartial in thought as well as in
action.” Only then would the nation be in
a position to play a significant role in the
eventual peace process and postwar re-
construction of Europe.
The president, then, consciously re-
fused to denounce the German invasion,
a decision Wilson’s great political adver-
sary Theodore Roosevelt came to vio-
lently oppose. But Roosevelt initially be-
lieved Wilson had handled the situation
appropriately. The Belgians’ dilemma,
Roosevelt observed, was unfortunate
but not surprising. “When giants are en-
gaged in a death wrestle,” he wrote, “they
are certain to trample on whoever gets
in the way of either of the huge, strain-
ing combatants.”
Just as today, few Americans pos-
sessed more than a rudimentary under-
standing of what had caused the war in
Europe or even the Belgian invasion.
“We are a very shortsighted and igno-
rant people in international affairs,”
Roosevelt grumbled. Still, most desper-
ately wanted to do something for Bel-
gium. Some Americans enlisted in the
French or British armies, but the easiest
way to help was to give to the now-ubiq-
uitous Belgian relief charities. Even chil-
dren willingly participated, dutifully
surrendering their pennies to “adopt”
their starving counterparts in Belgium.
For the celebrated social worker Jane
Addams, these activities were simply not
enough. As a pacifist who viewed war as
especially destructive to the reforms she
had advocated for years, Addams believed
the Wilson administration needed to do
much more. “Our neutrality should be
a vigorous and dynamic kind that is not
content to sit still with folded hands wait-
ing for Europe to cease fighting,” she said.
“Such peace is not worthy of a great peo-
ple. Nor is it enough to send shiploads of
food and clothing to destitute Belgians,
splendid as that is.”
Addams, Roosevelt and Wilson, all
progressives of the early 20th century
stripe, understood that the Belgian inva-
sion and the European war were of critical
importance to the United States. Roos-
evelt, though never quite advocating war,
at least before 1917, believed it was es-
sential for the United States to beef up its
pathetically small army of some 100,000
men. Otherwise, America would be in
no position to assist small nations such
as Belgium violated by predatory powers.
For Addams, militarism of any kind was
never the answer. America’s efforts should
be directed toward finding a way to end
the conflict. “The United States,” she said,
“should throw every bit of its power into
the scale for peace.”
Wilson, like Biden today, faced the
greatest burden. He understood that
much of the country strongly opposed
American involvement in European af-
fairs. On the other hand, American trade
with the Allies and travel to Europe re-
sulted in multiple disturbing incidents
(the sinking of the British ocean liner
RMS Lusitania, among others) between
1914 and 1917, pushing the country dan-
gerously close to involvement in war.
For more than two years, Wilson
managed to thread a very difficult nee-
dle. He placated pacifists such as Add-
ams by his interest in peacemaking and
a future League of Nations, while also
moving toward the military “prepared-
ness” Roosevelt advocated. But ulti-
mately Germany’s decision to resume
unrestricted submarine warfare in early
1917 forced Wilson into a war he never
wanted. By then, he came to believe in-
volvement was necessary if the U.S. was
to have any influence in the peace pro-
cess and a new world order.
Wilson’s decision for war had enor-
mous ramifications. Bolstered by Amer-
ican forces, the Allies decisively defeated
Germany in 1918, imposed harsh condi-
tions at Versailles and set the stage for a
second World War 20 years later. In 2022,
Biden must also weigh the considerable
potential impact of his response to the
crisis in Ukraine. Any move in the wrong
direction might lead to a wider war, a dis-
rupted global order and serious political
setbacks for the Democratic Party, the
identical challenges faced by Wilson be-
tween 1914 and 1917.
But unlike Wilson, Biden has at his dis-
posal 21st century tools such as powerful
economic sanctions and the support of a
virtually united international community.
Only time will tell whether they will be
enough to resolve the current crisis.
Neil Lanctot is the author of “The
Approaching Storm: Roosevelt, Wilson,
Addams, and Their Clash Over America’s
Future.” The book chronicles America’s path
to eventual involvement in World War I.
YOUR VIEWS
Concerned about Putin’s continuing occupation of Austria was, for the most
aid from China! So, what is the ultimate
part, peaceful. Nevertheless, World War II goal of Putin?
quest for power
This letter is in response to a recent ed-
itorial by the editor of the Herald which
took to task those who believe that the
invasion of Ukraine by Russia could pos-
sibly lead to World War III. I believe that a
much closer look is required.
The onset of World War II occurred
when Hitler occupied Austria. He used
the pretext that Austria was historically
a part of Germany and that its citizens
were essentially German. The German
flowed from this initial move of Hitler.
As far as I can determine, Putin moved
against Ukraine claiming that Ukraine
was historically Russian. It seems that Pu-
tin believed that absorbing Ukraine into
Russia would be relatively peaceful. He
miscalculated. He miscalculated the fe-
rociousness of the Ukrainian people in
defending their homeland and he mis-
calculated the strong reaction of the free
world. Yet he persists in his destructive
invasion of Ukraine. He is now asking for
I have concluded that Vladimir Pu-
tin’s frustration in Ukraine will continue
to grow. That coupled with Putin’s un-
quenchable thirst for power could well
lead him to use increasingly desperate
measures which might include a nuclear
strike. Should this happen World War
III could well be triggered. CIA Director
William Burns expressed just such a con-
cern in recent congressional testimony!
Sig Siefkes
Baker City
OTHER VIEWS
The new reading instruction emergency
Editorial from The New York
Daily News:
Three consecutive
chopped-up school years have
had the expected effect on stu-
dent learning. New research
shows that growing numbers
of kids are falling behind in
reading, with Black and His-
panic as well as low-income
and disabled children suffer-
ing the most. American public
schools were no great shakes
at literacy instruction before
COVID. Now we’re in a full-
blown educational emergency.
Among dozens of studies
saying essentially the same
thing: A new report by Am-
plify, a private curriculum and
assessment company, says that
the percentage of kindergar-
ten students at highest risk
for not learning to read rose
from 29% in the middle of the
2019-20 school year to 37%
two years later. According to
a Virginia study, early reading
skills hit a 20-year low last fall.
Last summer, consulting firm
McKinsey & Company esti-
mated that U.S. students had
lost the equivalent of almost
a half a school year in read-
ing instruction. And in every
case, kids who started out dis-
advantaged experienced the
steepest slide.
We don’t know exactly how
bad things are here in New
York City because very few
students took state assessment
tests during the pandemic.
But if we wait for a definitive
diagnosis before intervening
aggressively, it’ll be too late.
Fortunately, the crisis co-
incides with the early days of
a new mayoral administra-
tion committed to improving
on Bill de Blasio’s woefully
unrealized promise to get all
kids on track to be proficient
in reading by the end of sec-
ond grade. Chancellor David
Banks, correctly decrying the
en vogue “balanced literacy”
approach that failed far too
many kids over far too many
years — nearly two-thirds
of Black and Hispanic New
York City public school kids
are proficient in reading — is
wisely pushing phonics-based
instruction in the early years.
Banks should crunch the
data and identify the schools,
whether district-run or char-
ter, that have had the most
success in getting kids of all
backgrounds reading, and
reading well as early as pos-
sible. Share their techniques.
Replicate them. As somebody
once said, leave no child be-
hind.