A4 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021
Patchwork
COVID-19 | U.S. death toll passes 500,000
Continued from A1
The states’ fragmented war
on COVID-19 has resulted in
a resounding defeat. No corner
of the planet has been ravaged
like the United States. The na-
tion makes up 4% of the world
population, but has accounted
for 20% of the nearly 2.5 mil-
lion killed in the pandemic, ac-
cording to the Johns Hopkins
Coronavirus Resource Center
and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The political equivalent of
herding cats has continued
with the arrival of two vaccines
that could snuff out the virus.
The Pfizer and Moderna vac-
cines require two shots, given
about a month apart.
States have been allocated a
portion of the available vaccine
equal to their percentage of the
national population.
For Oregon, that comes out
to about 1.3%.
With the initial shipments,
state health agencies were sent
a long list of recommendations
on how to parcel out the shots.
But in the end, the final pri-
ority list for the scarce vaccine
was up to each of the 50 gov-
ernors.
Ethicists call these “lifeboat”
decisions — who, when and
why someone could be chosen
to live or die. An inoculation
against a potentially deadly vi-
rus fits the bill.
Gov. Kate Brown promised
Oregon would distribute the
shots with equity.
The decisions are necessary,
but the fragmentation of eval-
uating a comparative value of
human lives through 50 dif-
ferent prisms, was going to be
problematic from the start.
Governors and health offi-
cials are human beings who
bring their own beliefs to de-
cisions. Any choice will at-
tach a social value to people or
groups.
The start was the easiest part
from an ethical standpoint.
The first shots were sent to
protect doctors, nurses, and
other health care workers. The
pandemic took a toll on hospi-
tals and medical centers, where
severe illness and sometimes
death affected the very people
whose jobs were to save lives of
others.
The long months of the pan-
demic had also shown soci-
ety’s weakest points. Nursing
homes reported just 5% of all
COVID-19 infections nation-
wide. But the often frail resi-
dents and close quarters mean
these residents account for just
over one-third of all deaths.
Oregon is one of 10 states
where more than half of all
deaths are from these “congre-
gate care” facilities, according
to the New York Times.
Residents and staff of the
homes were put next to med-
ical workers at the top of the
priority list.
At that point, the states’ una-
nimity ends.
St. Charles
Continued from A1
The medical techs voted
94% in favor of authorizing the
strike and sent a 10-day no-
tice warning of the impending
walkout, according to the state-
ment.
St. Charles Health System
described the move as “disap-
pointing,” in a press release, es-
pecially while it is coping with
COVID-19 patients and large-
scale community vaccination
clinics.
“While this strike notice
cannot slow our efforts to
meet these critical community
needs, it just adds new — and
unnecessary — challenges
when our community needs
us most,” said Aaron Adams,
president of St. Charles Bend
and Redmond.
The federation represents
about 150 technical employ-
ees at the St. Charles campus
in Bend.
The strike would only affect
technical employees at the St.
Charles Bend hospital campus.
It would have no impact on the
health care system’s other hos-
pitals or clinics in Redmond,
Madras and Prineville.
“This is our last resort to
improve the conditions at the
hospital,” said DeeDee Schum-
acher, an ultrasound technol-
ogist who has worked at St.
Charles for 40 years. “We don’t
want to strike and would rather
continue working in our com-
munity, so we hope the hospi-
‘It’s very hard for me to imagine an American
who doesn’t know someone who has died’
Associated Press
F
or weeks after Cindy
Pollock began plant-
ing tiny flags across her
yard — one for each of the
more than 1,800 Idahoans
killed by COVID-19 — the
toll was mostly a number.
Until two women she had
never met rang her doorbell
in tears, seeking a place to
mourn the husband and fa-
ther they had just lost.
Then Pollock knew her
tribute, however heartfelt,
would never begin to convey
the grief of a pandemic that
has now claimed 500,000 lives
in the U.S. and counting.
“I just wanted to hug
them,” she said. “Because that
was all I could do.”
After a year that has dark-
ened doorways across the
U.S., the pandemic surpassed
a milestone Monday that
once seemed unimaginable, a
stark confirmation of the vi-
rus’s reach into all corners of
the country and communities
of every size and makeup.
“It’s very hard for me to
imagine an American who
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
recommended that those
over age 65 be next in line.
About 80% of deaths from
COVID-19 in the United
States are aged 65 and over.
Risk rises with age so that
while someone 85 is only
twice as likely as a 17-year-old
to become infected, they are
7,900 times more likely to die,
according to the CDC.
All but five states followed
the recommendation, includ-
ing California and Washing-
ton.
Oregon did not.
Gov. Kate Brown decided
teachers, school staff and day
care workers should be next in
hopes of jump-starting a re-
turn to school this spring by
students shuttered at home
with “virtual learning.”
Brown argued that 153,000
educators and school staff
were a relatively small num-
ber of people to put ahead of
the 795,000 Oregonians over
the age of 65. Oregon Public
Broadcasting estimated that
about 86 seniors would die for
each week of delay.
It was a price Brown be-
lieved was worth it to get the
state’s future functioning. The
governor and health officials
portrayed it as a short delay.
“I know there will still be
some who disagree with this
tal will avert this by settling a
fair contract.”
Strikes in the health care
field rarely last longer than a
week, said Potter, primarily
due to the high cost of tempo-
rary replacement healthcare
workers. Strikes by technolo-
gists are uncommon he added.
“We have only been able to
identify a single prior example
in the last few decades in the
United States. That strike lasted
only two days,” said Potter.
The St. Charles medical
techs unionized in 2019 and
have since been bargaining for
their first contract. Pay and
working conditions are the pri-
mary issues of contention. The
federation also alleges that the
hospital broke federal labor
laws by changing pay for some
health care professionals.
The federation said hospi-
tal management subsequently
agreed to mediation, but has
delayed establishing timely
bargaining dates. It alleges
that more than 90% of medi-
cal techs are being underpaid
and the hospital’s proposals fall
short of adequate wage adjust-
ments.
“Since September of last
year, we have been offering to
meet on nights, weekends and
even holidays in order to com-
plete this contract in a timely
manner,” said Potter. “The ad-
ministration of St. Charles re-
fused every such offer and on
December 3rd walked away
from the table entirely. Our
members are no longer willing
Evan Vucci/AP
During a speech at the White House on Monday, President Joe Biden
reads the number of Americans who died from COVID-19. <Today,
we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone,= he said.
doesn’t know someone who
has died or have a family
member who has died,” said
Ali Mokdad, a professor of
health metrics at the Univer-
sity of Washington in Seattle.
“We haven’t really fully un-
derstood how bad it is, how
devastating it is, for all of us.”
Experts warn that about
90,000 more deaths are likely
in the next few months, de-
spite a massive campaign to
vaccinate people. Meanwhile,
the nation’s trauma continues
to accrue in a way unparal-
leled in recent American life,
said Donna Schuurman of
the Dougy Center for Griev-
ing Children & Families in
Portland.
In recent weeks, virus
deaths have fallen from more
than 4,000 reported on some
days in January to an average
of fewer than 1,900 per day.
COVID-19 by the numbers
COMPARING TOTAL POPULATION ...
World: 7.745 billion • U.S.: 333 million • Oregon: 4.3 million
... WITH COVID-19 NUMBERS
U.S. as percentage of world population ...............................................................4.47%
U.S. as percentage of COVID-19 deaths ............................................................ 20.23%
Oregon as percentage of U.S. population ............................................................. 1.3%
Oregon as percentage of COVID-19 deaths .......................................................0.43%
Source: Bulletin research
choice,” Brown said at a press
conference Jan. 22. “The harsh
reality is we are managing a
scarce resource right now.”
The blowback was immedi-
ate. Senior advocates, medical
groups and even her own Gov-
ernor’s Commission on Senior
Services weighed in against
Brown’s decision.
“There are 45 other states
that are listening to the science
and vaccinating vulnerable se-
niors,” commission members
said in a Jan. 28 letter to the
governor.
Adding to the timeline trou-
bles was a Feb. 3 federal court
order requiring Brown to im-
mediately start vaccinating
about 12,000 inmates at Ore-
gon prisons. About 28% of in-
mates had been infected with
COVID-19, compared to 3%
of Oregon’s overall popula-
tion. The delay in vaccination
violated the U.S. Constitution
ban against “cruel and unusual
punishment.” The state did not
appeal the ruling.
Caplan, the NYU ethicist,
said governors who deviate
sharply from federal guidelines
risk cracking public consensus.
“Why are elderly in group
homes vaccinated, but the el-
derly living on their own must
wait?” Caplan asked rhetori-
cally. “Why are teachers more
important than the grocery
store bagger or UPS guy?”
The governor’s objectiv-
ity was called into question
because she had received
$240,000 in contributions from
the Oregon Education Asso-
ciation PAC in her 2018 race
for governor, a relatively small
portion of the $18.5 million
she raised for the race.
to let St. Charles set the sched-
ule.”
Potter said the medical techs
are prepared to remain on
strike as many days as neces-
sary “to secure the recognition,
respect and fair treatment they
deserve.”
St. Charles insists the on-
again-off-again talks had been
going in the right direction and
the timing of the notice is not
consistent with the latest agree-
ments. As recently as Saturday,
the two parties were in discus-
sion with a federal mediator to
set new dates for bargaining,
the hospital said in a statement.
Rebecca Berry, vice presi-
dent of human resources for St.
Charles Health System, blames
the federation for dropping out
of the bargaining.
“If (the Federation) be-
lieves that progress is not be-
ing made, it needs to look at its
own decisions,” said Berry.
March 10 had already been
scheduled for another bargain-
ing session, said a St. Charles
OBITUARY
Dixie D Shave
Shaver
November 7, 1954 - February 12, 2021
Dixie grew up in Sisters, Or and graduated
from Redmond High School.
She is survived by Royal Jacobsen, Gary
Jacobsen, and Darla Bender, brothers and
Sister and Larissa Shaver and Brandon Shaver,
daughter and son.
There will be no memorial services. In lieu of
û owers she would want contribu} ons made
to your favorite charity. Arrangements by City
View Funeral Home, Salem, Oregon.
Still, at half a million, the
toll recorded by Johns Hop-
kins University is already
greater than the population
of Miami or Kansas City,
Missouri. It is roughly equal
to the number of Americans
killed in World War II, the
Korean War and the Vietnam
War combined. It is akin to a
9/11 every day for nearly six
months.
“The people we lost were
extraordinary,” President
Joe Biden said Monday, urg-
ing Americans to remember
the individual lives claimed
by the virus, rather than be
numbed by the enormity of
the toll.
“Just like that,” he said, “so
many of them took their final
breath alone in America.”
The toll, accounting for 1
in 5 deaths reported world-
wide, has far exceeded early
projections, which assumed
that federal and state gov-
ernments would marshal
a comprehensive and sus-
tained response and individ-
ual Americans would heed
warnings.
Some union officials said
even with the vaccine, they
might not go back to the class-
room without wider vaccina-
tion of the public. The CDC
announced last week that
schools could safely reopen
without vaccinating teachers.
Brown also had Oregon go
its own way for age-related
vaccinations. Eligibility was
staggered, beginning with
those 80 and older on Feb. 8,
two weeks after the educa-
tion group. The minimum age
for eligibility would drop five
years every week until every-
one 65 and older was eligible
March 1.
Vaccine shortages hit ev-
ery state. But media reports
of 65-year-old residents lucky
enough to get an early appoint-
ment at mass inoculation sites
like Disneyland and Dodger
Stadium in California stoked
resentment in Oregon.
“States are amending their
criteria of who is eligible —
sometimes adding millions of
people — but without any ad-
ditional supply,” Caplan said.
The differences between
states were inexplicable to peo-
ple who were eligible across the
country, but not in their own
hometowns.
“It erodes public trust,”
Caplan said. “In the end, it
comes down to ‘I’m just going
to do whatever I have to do to
get a shot.’”
Also souring the pub-
lic mood were reports of
well-connected people getting
shots through dubious eligi-
bility. In Oregon, Providence
Health included its board of di-
rectors — which includes large
donors — in the medical group
at the top of the list.
“We all hate people who butt
in line,” Brown said when told
of the action.
Brown, 60, said on Friday
that she had not been vacci-
nated. Under her current plan,
there is no timeline for when
she would become eligible.
Brown is expected to an-
nounce the next eligible groups
Friday. The actual start date for
those inoculations isn’t likely to
be before early spring.
Often overlooked was the
sheer size of the national effort
to eventually offer vaccination
to the estimated 333 million
Americans.
President Joe Biden made
headlines with a promise to put
100 million shots into Ameri-
cans’ arms in his first 100 days
in office. Since the current vac-
cines require two shots, the
promise covers only 50 million
people. At that pace, vaccina-
tion eligibility for some Ameri-
cans will stretch into 2022.
Problems ahead include get-
ting a vaccine that is safe for
children. The current vaccines
are only recommended for
those 16 and over.
New vaccines could signifi-
cantly shorten the timeline.
The estimates also don’t take
into account Americans who
decline to get vaccinated. Some
estimates put the refusal rate
at 30%.
Caplan says that is the issue
that looms large in the future.
“The focus now is on who
is getting the vaccine,” he said.
“At some point the question
will be who is not getting the
vaccine.”
States will have to navigate
legal and ethical question on
treatment of those who do not
get vaccinated.
Israel has vaccinated al-
most half its population and
is planning laws and rules for
post-pandemic activity. Israe-
lis who are vaccinated received
a “Green Badge” — a certifi-
cate with a unique QR code,
according to the Associated
Press. When museums, con-
cert halls, theaters and other
public venues reopen, the
“Green Badge” will be required
to get inside.
Caplan said a similar system
could be used in the United
States for everything from
football stadiums to neighbor-
hood bars.
How far the prohibitions
facing those who go unvacci-
nated is an ethical debate still
over the horizon for now.
“Can you require vaccina-
tion for a job?” Kaplan said.
“It’s problematic. But it is a
question that’s coming.”
e e
gwarner@eomediagroup.com
spokesperson. A federal me-
diator was slated to be part of
the talks.
St. Charles leaders say they
are concerned that the fed-
eration is “bargaining in bad
faith,” and they plan to file an
unfair labor practice charge
of bad-faith bargaining with
the National Labor Relations
Board.
“We reiterate our disap-
pointment in the Federation’s
decision,” said Berry. “St.
Charles will take all necessary
steps to ensure that care for our
community continues in a safe
and uninterrupted way.”
Richard Dale Johnson
of Sunriver, OR
Arthur “Kelly” Conrad
MD of Bend, OR
March 29, 1939 -
February 17, 2021
Arrangements:
Baird Funeral Home of
Bend is honored to serve
the Johnson family. Please
visit our website,
www.bairdfh.com, to share
condolences and sign our
online guest book.
Services:
A Celebration of Life will
take place at a later date.
Contributions may be
made to:
Bend Humane Society
(hsco.org) or
Deschutes Land Trust
(deschuteslandtrust.org)
Oct 18, 1951 - Feb 15,
2021
Arrangements:
Niswonger-Reynolds
Funeral Home is honored
to serve the family. 541-
382-2471 Please visit the
online registry for the fam-
ily at www.niswonger-reyn-
olds.com
Services:
Celebration of Life for Dr.
Conrad will be held at a
later date.
Contributions may be
made to:
Juvenile Diabetes Re-
search Foundation
www.JDRF.org
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7818,
mkohn@bendbulletin.com
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