A8 The BulleTin • Wednesday, april 21, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Candidates need to
let public know
what they would do
W
hat if there was an election and some candidates
declined interviews and refused debates?
It would make the choice in that
election simple: Don’t vote for them.
We can’t say that is precisely
what is happening in the elections
for the board of the Bend-La Pine
Schools. But the behavior of four
candidates — Jon Haffner, Gregg
Henton, Wendy Imel and Maria Lo-
pez-Dauenhauer — is unusual.
The League of Women Voters, a
nonpartisan group, tried to invite
them to a forum that was scheduled
to be recorded Tuesday. They did
not respond. Their opponents did.
The Bulletin’s editorial board
tried to invite the same four can-
didates to do interviews before we
make our editorial endorsements.
We couldn’t get any of those four to
commit to an interview. Only two
of them have even responded —
Henton and Lopez-Dauenhauer.
But we have been unable to set any-
thing up.
Let’s stop a second and give the
four no-show candidates the ben-
efit of the doubt. None are politi-
cians. It appears that this is the first
time they have run for office. It’s not
the easiest thing to do to answer a
bunch of questions in a League of
Women Voters forum or from a
newspaper editorial board. So they
may just be reluctant right now and
waiting until later after they have
had more time to get up to speed.
There is something to that except
— three of the four other candidates
are relative newbies, too. And all
four of them agreed to the League’s
debate. The editorial board has al-
ready interviewed the other four.
The voter’s pamphlet does tell
you a bit about each candidate.
Haffner, Henton, Imel and Lo-
pez-Dauenhauer all have campaign
websites, which have a strikingly
similar design. Voters could use
more information. Some of them
have apparently been frustrated at
the current board’s policies on re-
opening schools. OK, the schools
are open. What would they have
done differently? What other
changes in board policy would they
like to see moving forward?
We have no reason to believe any
of the candidates running for the
board would not take the respon-
sibility seriously. But part of that
responsibility is providing voters
with information about themselves,
so voters can make a better deci-
sion. Right now Haffner, Henton
and Imel and Lopez-Dauenhauer
are making the decision too easy.
Voters should vote for incumbent
Carrie McPherson Douglass and
newcomers Marcus LeGrand, Janet
Sarai Llerandi and Shirley Olson.
This race should be a debate
about different ideas for school
board policy. Instead, right now it’s
a referendum on which candidates
make a sincere effort to tell voters
what they are about.
Oregon should track
deaths of the homeless
O
regon can’t understand how
acute its homeless issue is
without good information.
The state does not even uniformly
track how many homeless people die
each year.
Senate Bill 850 sets out to change
that. It has moved forward in the
Legislature. It should become law.
The bill makes what seems like a
relatively small change. It’s already
state law that a report of death is
required to include the person’s ad-
dress at the time of death. The bill
requires that the report for a person
who was homeless state the person’s
address as “domicile unknown.”
Most counties across the coun-
try do not track homeless deaths.
Multnomah County was one of only
68 counties and cities in the United
States that did, according to a 2020
study by the National Health Care
for the Homeless Council.
Formally tracking the deaths
more closely will get us a better un-
derstanding of how COVID has
impacted the homeless, as the Or-
egon Law Center pointed out in its
testimony on the bill. It will also en-
able Oregonians to see the impact of
homelessness on the state’s mortality
rates.
Jimmy Jones, the executive direc-
tor of the Mid-Willamette Valley
Community Action Agency of Sa-
lem, told legislators that “the average
age of death in the Salem homeless
community is just 52.” The home-
less often have chronic and manage-
able conditions, but because they are
homeless and have trouble getting
access to treatment and shelter, they
die.
Oregon should better track its
homeless deaths. Pass SB 850.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
Get the vaccine distributed
Oregon’s economy has been trying
to pull itself along throughout this
pandemic. We need to reopen busi-
nesses and restore our economic sta-
bility. However, we must do so safely,
and that will take reaching herd im-
munity.
After an entire year, it is apparent
that getting vaccines into the arms
of nearly every single Oregonian will
be the only way we can return to pre-
COVID normality and people living
without fear.
Government, and private-public
coordination to facilitate this vacci-
nation program is crucial. Working
alongside our health care system, state
and local governments need to help
speed up vaccination rollout across
Oregon. Other states are ahead of us.
We can and must pick up the pace.
Lawmakers should look to health
care distributors — the vital link be-
tween pharmaceutical manufacturers
and pharmacies, hospitals, long-term
care facilities, and medical clinics.
Distributors are experts at delivery lo-
gistics and have a long history of dis-
tributing medical supplies during cri-
ses. We are fortunate they are leading
vaccine distribution during this pan-
demic, bringing doses from manufac-
turers to states across the U.S.
Before we had the promise of a vac-
cine, distributors worked with state
and local governments to deliver crit-
ical medical supplies, helping Oregon
fight back against the pandemic. Now,
with multiple vaccines at our disposal,
this coordination could bring an end
to the pandemic, allowing us to return
to work and a thriving economy.
—Andrew Davis, Bend
Editorial missed the mark
This is in response to your “Almost
dead last is not a great place for Ore-
gon to be” editorial about the corpo-
rate activity tax.
This editorial has missed the mark;
this tax has been a frustration in my
mind since its inception in the fact
that it’s call a “corporate activity tax”,
in essence it’s more of a sales tax. Cor-
porations don’t pay this tax the con-
sumer does. The people taking credit
for making corporations pay more
tax is laughable. Some of our custom-
ers have noticed and complained. We
tell them to call your legislator. Cor-
porations are not paying more; the
consumers are. So, we Oregonians are
chipping in, again and don’t get me
started on the “Privilege Tax”, another
sales tax. So, we Oregonians are chip-
ping in, again.
— Hector Vijarro, Bend
Don’t destroy Worrell Park
Grinding down Worrell Park and
spending $2.5 million to do it for the
sake of parking places, really? Have
a heart whoever is in charge of this
delightful little piece of old Bend.
Perhaps spend a little of that money
to enhance it with even more native
plant species. I like the idea from let-
ter writer Donna Owens of adding it
to the pollinator trail.
— Alice Elshoff, Bend
Thanks for keeping us safe
My family wanted to give a massive
thank you to everyone involved with
the Deschutes County COVID Vac-
cine Clinic in Redmond. St. Charles,
the county’s Health Department and
the Oregon National Guard have
done an amazing job with the entire
setup. Everything is organized and
flows seamlessly. My grandmother
really enjoyed the way they take care
of the disabled and elderly. For those
that need it, they have golf carts that
follow you to your parking spot, pick
you and any escorts up, and take you
to the door where they have waiting
wheelchairs available as well. She was
so amazed and just had to make sure
I made a note of how awesome that
was. Paperwork is quick and easy,
and getting your vaccine is a simple
process from there. Overall, the expe-
rience was beyond anything I would
had thought it would be.
On behalf of my grandmother,
Betty, and myself thank you so much
to the doctors, nurses, soldiers, and
volunteers who make the clinic run at
peak performance everyday. You all
are the reason Deschutes County will
come out of this pandemic stronger
then we were before.
Stay safe out there everyone! We
got this.
— Devin Linker, Redmond
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Public norms on mask-wearing outside need to shift, but slowly
BY DANIEL DREZNER
Special to the Washington Post
I
n the spirit of full disclosure, let
me confess that I hate wearing a
mask. It is not because of govern-
ment mandates or coronavirus skep-
ticism; the science on mask-wearing
in indoor, poorly ventilated spaces is
clear. I also wear glasses, however, and
even the best masks inevitably lead to
some fogging up of my lenses. I really
prefer being able to see if I’m out in
the world.
Since April of last year, my default
has been to not wear a mask when
outside walking my dog. Of course,
if anyone started approaching me, I
would immediately mask up (or, if I
forgot to bring one, get the heck out of
the other person’s way). Experts knew
early on that the risk of catching the
coronavirus from brief outside inter-
actions was rare. Mostly, I was putting
the mask on to alleviate the concerns
of my Massachusetts neighbors.
Another confession: I cannot shake
the hygiene theater impulse. It was
clear last summer that the coronavi-
rus was highly unlikely
time. Last week, Slate’s
to spread through
Shannon Palus wrote,
fomites. This
“now, as we’ve come
month, the Cen-
to know more
ters for Disease
about the virus, as
Control and Pre-
vaccinations are
vention finally
ramping up, and
acknowledged
as we’re trying to
that catching the
figure out how to
coronavirus via
live with some level
contaminated sur-
of COVID in a sus-
faces was improbable
tainable
way, masking
123RF
and that costly “deep
up outside when you’re
cleaning” was no longer nec-
at most briefly crossing paths
essary.
with people is starting to feel barely
Still, when I go to the supermar-
understandable.”
ket, do I wipe down the handle to
Variations of this point have also
my shopping cart? Yes, yes I do. I am
been made this week by The Atlantic’s
embarrassed to say it makes me feel
Derek Thompson, Reason’s Robby
better even though I know that it does Soave and The New York Times’ Da-
vid Leonhardt. Doctors in Massachu-
not appreciably affect my chances of
setts are acknowledging it.
contracting the disease.
Even if one is wary about the risks
I bring these behavioral quirks up
because the United States is either ap- right now, those risks will abate con-
siderably over the next month. More
proaching or has gone past the point
than half of all eligible Americans
where mask-wearing outside is un-
have received at least one coronavirus
necessary. Zeynep Tufekci has been
vaccination shot, which means that
banging this drum for quite some
by the end of May more than half of
Americans will be fully vaccinated.
A growing body of evidence suggests
that fully vaccinated Americans are
highly improbable vectors for trans-
mitting the disease. This means the
need for mask-wearing should be re-
duced even further.
And yet, just as mask-wearing
was politicized last year, not wearing
masks will be politicized this year.
Because I am quite sure I am not the
only person to act in a less-than-fully
rational way when it comes to this
pandemic. Add in the power of social
norms and the mask-wearing habit
looks tougher to change.
What to do? First, recognize that it
will take some time to adjust. Brown
University’s Ashish Jha acknowledged
to Leonhardt that, even though he
had been fully vaccinated by the end
of February, he had been reluctant to
meet a vaccinated friend for drinks
without a mask. “It was hard — psy-
chologically hard — for me,” said Jha,
a physician. But in the end, he did. My
wife, who has been fully vaccinated
for a month, has gone through the
same process.
True conservatives — who, let’s
be honest, are the ones more likely
to push for ending mask mandates
— should recognize the idea that
social change is best when it pro-
ceeds slowly. So they should let those
still reluctant about giving up their
masks to do so of their own accord.
No mask-shaming in either direction
right now.
Just let time work its magic. As
more and more vaccinated people feel
comfortable going maskless outside,
the social norm of putting on a mask
will subside slowly, then suddenly.
Finally, Americans should recog-
nize this for the champagne problem
that it is. Encourage the United States
to export the vaccine to hard-hit ar-
eas of the globe as soon as humanly
possible. Get the rest of the world in
a position to have these same debates
sooner and not later.
e e
Daniel Drezner is a professor of international
politics at the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University.