A4 The BulleTin • Monday, May 3, 2021
Science
DEAR ABBY
Write to Dear Abby online at dearabby.com
or by mail at P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069
Dear Abby: I just got en-
gaged, and I couldn’t be hap-
pier. But my fiance is referred
to by the entire town as the
“bad guy” because of his past.
He’s changed a lot, and I re-
ally want this to work out, but
people come to me and say
he’s not marriage material, and
they try to make us break up
(one of his exes in particular).
He told me about his past,
and I don’t judge him for it be-
cause everyone has a past. He
really wants to get married.
How can we have a wedding
without everyone knowing
about it, especially our family?
— Marriage-Bound
in West Virginia
Dear Marriage-Bound: If
the whole town — including
your family — thinks that
marrying your fiance is a bad
idea, it may be time to hit
the pause button. Marriage
is something you want to do
only once. The chances of it
being successful will be better
if you don’t go rushing off to
the altar.
Make your engagement long
enough that your fiance has
time to prove to your parents
and the community that he is
a changed man. No one can
“make” you break up, but it
would be in your interest to lis-
ten to those exes (including the
one in particular) and compare
what each has to say. If the sto-
ries they each tell are similar, it
may be your Mr. Right is the
wrong man for you.
Dear Abby: My confident
17-year-old daughter had an
uncomfortable experience
today, and when she shared
it, I didn’t have answers for
her. She was waiting outside a
take-out place when she was
approached by a grandfatherly
man. He started chatting with
her about her shoes, but pro-
ceeded to stare at her legs. He
then loudly announced, “I
may be 80 years old, but I can
appreciate a great pair of legs!”
She understands that there
are generational differences
and that he may have in-
tended it as a compliment, but
the blatant staring made her
feel objectified, uncomfortable
and unsafe. It also made her
question her (very appropriate
for a teenager) outfit.
What should we have said
to her? She was disgusted and
upset, but my husband and I
had no words of wisdom.
— Mom Without Answers
Dear Mom: You should
have thanked your daughter
for telling you and validated
her feelings about the inci-
dent because her instincts
were 100% accurate. The in-
dividual who harassed her —
and that is what it was — was
out of line and extremely in-
appropriate.
Dear Abby: My husband
of 30 years, whom I love
dearly, has started singing all
the time. I mean ALL THE
TIME. If he’s not on the phone
or involved in a TV show or
conversation (and sometimes
when he is), he’s singing the
same few songs over and over,
and not well. I don’t feel I have
a right to ask him to stop.
What should I do?
— Karaoke All Day
Dear Karaoke: Tell your
husband (sweetly) it’s time to
expand his repertoire because
his playlist is getting repeti-
tive. Good luck!
YOUR HOROSCOPE
By Madalyn Aslan
Stars show the kind of day you’ll have
DYNAMIC | POSITIVE | AVERAGE | SO-SO | DIFFICULT
MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important deci-
sions today. The Moon is in Aquarius.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021: You are well
spoken, practical, persistent and ever the optimist! As your new personal
year begins, you are entering a time of hard work, building and construction.
Shore up the framework of your world. Be dogged and persistent. Similarly,
you can increase your own body strength through physical exercise and oth-
er activities. You’ll be pleased with the results.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Whether it’s your earnings or how you want to spend your money to-
day, you feel discouraged. You feel blocked in some way. Possibly, you don’t
have enough money or the means to meet the obstacles you face. Courage.
“Even a hurricane lasts only a day.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Today the Sun is in your sign at odds with stern Saturn at the top of
your chart. This means that dealings with bosses, parents, teachers, VIPs and
the police won’t be easy. Avoid authority figures if you can. This is not the day
to ask for permission or approval.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
Today you feel vaguely discouraged. You might not even know why
— it’s just a feeling. In part, this is because you have to face rules and regu-
lations and perhaps live up to responsibilities, but you don’t want to do this.
Get dressed and do something. Small beginnings make a difference.
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
This is a poor day for financial discussions about shared property,
inheritances, taxes and debt, because you won’t get your way. You will en-
counter obstacles and reasons why you can’t do something. Just ride this one
out. You know that tough times are character building.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
Relations with partners and close friends, especially bosses and par-
ents, will be dicey today. (Incidentally, this includes the police.) Don’t be lippy.
Do not oppose others — not today. Today you must accept some self-disci-
pline and stay within the guidelines. It is what it is.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
We all have to deal with rules and regulations in addition to the laws
of the land. That’s life. Today your wants and desires will run counter to some
kind of authority. It’s just a fact. Accept this and don’t waste energy fighting
it. Live to fight another day!
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
You might be disappointed with your fair share of something. This
is one reason why this is a poor day to discuss how to divide or share some-
thing with someone. Furthermore, you might have to be responsible for the
welfare of someone else. Step up to the plate and do it.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Conversations with partners, close friends and older family members
won’t be easy today. Someone in authority will be demanding or they might
restrict your activities. (You need this like a fish needs a bicycle.) Neverthe-
less, you can’t wiggle out of it. Be strong!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
It will be tough to get credit for what you do at work today. Further-
more, work will be tough. (No fair!) It’s just one of those days when you have
to slog it out and finish the job in front of you. Even health issues will be chal-
lenging. “Hard times don’t create heroes. Hard times reveal the hero in you.”
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Children might be an increased responsibility today. Meanwhile,
issues between romantic partners will be discouraging, even difficult. Stay as
strong as you can today and be a support to others, because everyone feels
challenged today. Factoid.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
This is a tough day for family discussions, especially with parents and
older relatives. For starters, you might have to assume responsibility for
someone or help them. Secondly, someone in authority might shoot down
your ideas, which is why you feel discouraged. It’s tough.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
You feel blocked by others today. Although this is true, you are
probably most discouraged by your own state of mind. You’re worried. Re-
member: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but gets
you nowhere.”
Continued from A1
Raising the maximum number of
outdoor diners from 50 to 100 per es-
tablishment:
“Since the start of the pandemic, the
evidence that this virus is hard to trans-
mit outdoors has been very strong,” Chi
said. Fences, tents, and canopies can
increase the chances of the virus trans-
mitting, and it’s still important to wear
a mask when you aren’t eating or drink-
ing.
Limiting capacity at gyms, pools and
other indoor sports facilities:
“When you exercise, your metabo-
lism is much faster,” Chi said. “If you are
a carrier, then potentially there will be
more virus exhaled in the air.”
Limiting capacity at outdoor pools
and other outdoor sports facilities:
Relatively speaking, it’s safer to do
sports outside than it is to do them in-
doors, but sports still represent a high
risk.
“For the kind of sports that involve
very close physical contact, a mask is
very important. Even though it’s out-
door,” Chi said. It’s important that spec-
tators are kept far apart. Like running,
cheering for your favorite team puts out
a lot of virus.
Take it outside:
The most dangerous activities involve
chanting, yelling, singing, exercising,
and playing wind instruments. Wearing
masks and taking those activities outside
makes them much safer.
“Last year I was following the contin-
uous protests in the Portland area,” Chi
said. “The vast majority were wearing
masks, and the cases did not rise.”
Masks, masks, everywhere:
The CDC recently released new mask
guidelines for the vaccinated and unvac-
cinated. In other states, it can mean big
changes. But in Oregon, where public
spaces have been open for much of the
pandemic, not much has changed. If you
are indoors, in most cases the CDC rec-
ommends everyone wear a mask. If you
are outdoors and it is not crowded, you
probably don’t need a mask.
Cases are going down in the U.S.
Why are they going up here?
This is difficult to say. There are a lot
of potential factors.
For much of the pandemic, the prev-
alence of COVID-19 in Oregon has
been low, compared to other states. That
means that fewer unvaccinated Orego-
nians have some level of immunity to
the COVID-19 virus. Simply put, there
could be more people here to infect.
Zip codes
Continued from A1
This ZIP code also recorded
new confirmed or presumed
infections of 37 per 10,000
people during the same week,
up slightly from the previous
week.
97702: Bend
This Deschutes County ZIP
code added 136 cases, raising
its tally to 2,030. That’s the 19th
most in Oregon and 128th
most per capita since the start
of the pandemic.
97301: Salem
This Marion County ZIP
code added 134 cases, rais-
ing its tally to 3,796. That’s the
most in Oregon and 35th most
per capita since the start of the
pandemic.
97233: east Portland/
Gresham
This Multnomah County
ZIP code added 122 cases, rais-
ing its tally to 3,524. That’s the
second most in Oregon and
16th most per capita since the
start of the pandemic.
97601: Klamath Falls
This Klamath County ZIP
code added 117 cases, rais-
ing its tally to 1,239. That’s the
52nd most in Oregon and 69th
most per capita since the start
of the pandemic.
97701: Bend
This Deschutes County ZIP
code added 113 cases, raising
its tally to 1,754. That’s the 27th
most in Oregon and 272nd
most per capita since the start
of the pandemic.
97045: Oregon City
This Clackamas County ZIP
code added 102 cases, rais-
ing its tally to 2,337. That’s the
15th most in Oregon and 121st
most per capita since the start
of the pandemic.
97305: Salem
This Marion County ZIP
code added 91 cases, raising its
tally to 3,355. That’s the third
most in Oregon and 24th most
per capita since the start of the
pandemic.
97303: Keizer
This Marion County ZIP
code added 90 cases, raising its
tally to 2,340. That’s the 14th
most in Oregon and 63rd most
per capita since the start of the
pandemic.
The weather is another possibility.
“People have spring fever and want
to get outside,” Brett Tyler said. Tyler is
a principal investigator at Oregon State
University’s TRACE project, and the
director of OSU’s Center for Genomic
Research and Biomedical Computing.
TRACE has been conducting random-
ized studies to estimate the prevalence
of COVID-19 in different Oregon com-
munities since the early months of the
pandemic.
But there’s another possibility, and it’s
also something TRACE monitors: dif-
ferent, more infectious COVID-19 vari-
ants.
What versions of the virus are
making Oregonians sick right now?
When the U.S. first documented new
COVID-19 variants circulating, Ore-
gon was somewhat spared. While cases
on the East Coast and in the Midwest
surged because of the more infectious
and more deadly B.1.1.7 variant first
found in the United Kingdom, the West
Coast saw its own, homegrown variants
emerge. The two Californian variants,
B.1.427 and B.1.429, are only slightly
more infectious than the original virus.
But in March, that started to change.
And by the first week of April, B.1.1.7
had become the most common corona-
virus variant circulating in Oregon.
“The fraction in the sequence cases
in Oregon reported to are going up very
sharply for B.1.1.7,” Tyler said. “It went
up from 10% (of cases sequenced in Or-
egon) to 60% from March 14 through
April.”
It’s not clear what caused B.1.1.7 to
take off so rapidly. It is among the most
contagious COVID-19 variants found
so far. It’s also possible, Tyler said, that
spring travel could have brought more
cases of B.1.1.7 to Oregon. Data for April
is still incoming.
The good news: all vaccines avail-
able in the U.S. are very effective against
B.1.1.7. Other variants — like P1, first
identified in Brazil and B.1.351, initially
detected in South Africa — do appear to
be a bit better at getting around vaccines,
but have been much less common.
“They’re both here, they make up
about 2-to-6% of cases, but it’s not dra-
matically increasing in any way,” Tyler
said. Because vaccines may not be as
effective against them, “we’re keeping a
very close eye on them.”
Who is getting sick?
In Oregon and across the coun-
try, hospitals have seen a big shift in
the types of patients they’re treating.
Throughout most of the pandemic, the
most severe cases of COVID-19 have
been in older adults and people with un-
derlying conditions.
Most people in those groups are now
fully vaccinated, so they’re much less
likely to catch COVID-19. Ideally, that
would mean hospitals would be see-
ing very few cases, since younger adults
were less prone to severe infection.
But that’s changed in the last few
weeks. In Oregon, more and more young
people are getting seriously ill from
COVID-19.
“In the past few weeks we are caring
for more patients with COVID in our
(intensive care units) who are sicker,
younger, and without underlying med-
ical conditions,” Oregon Health & Sci-
ence University Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Renee Edwards said in a press con-
ference April 23.
The idea that B.1.1.7, and potentially
other variants, could be behind these
severe cases in young, healthy adults is
supported by anecdotes from around the
world. Michigan also saw intensive care
units full of youthful patients, as did the
U.K. late last year.
Right now B.1.1.7 and another variant
have been implicated in the outbreak in
India.
“The current wave of COVID has a
different clinical behavior,” Dr. Sujay
Shad, a senior cardiac surgeon at Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital in India, told the
New York Times, “It’s affecting young
adults. It’s affecting families. It’s a new
thing altogether. Two-month-old babies
are getting infected.”
What is the latest research
on vaccine efficacy?
These vaccines work. A vaccine is the
best way — besides never getting ex-
posed — to prevent hospitalization from
COVID-19. And even though some vac-
cines are less effective against some vari-
ants, they make you much less likely to
be hospitalized or die.
A study released on Wednesday by the
Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion found that adults over 65 who re-
ceived both doses of either the Pfizer or
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were 94%
less likely to be hospitalized than unvac-
cinated people of the same age.
It also appears that people vaccinated
for COVID-19 are significantly less
likely to spread the disease.
Is one shot enough?
Can I just be half-vaccinated?
One-shot confers some protection,
so once you get it, you can breathe eas-
ier. But you can’t let your guard down.
The same CDC study found that a single
dose of either vaccine made adults just
64% less likely to be hospitalized.