Friday, September 10, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
County plans booster shot rollout against virus
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Clatsop County plans
to hold mass vaccination
events once federal authori-
ties approve booster shots for
people who have received a
COVID-19 vaccine.
The county’s tentative
plan was to open the clin-
ics later this month, but “I
would not be surprised if the
launch date is delayed a lit-
tle bit,” Margo Lalich, the
interim public health direc-
tor, said.
The Biden administra-
tion set a Sept. 20 deadline
to begin making boosters
available, but experts at the
U.S. Food and Drug Admin-
istration and federal Centers
for Disease Control and Pre-
vention have said the agen-
cies may not have the infor-
mation by then to determine
when and whether the extra
jab is necessary.
The booster shot dis-
cussion is happening as the
more contagious delta vari-
ant circulates on the North
Coast and across Oregon,
leading to a spike in virus
cases and hospitalizations.
The likely locations for
the booster clinics will be
the Clatsop County Fair-
grounds and Camp Rilea
Armed Forces Training
Center in Warrenton. Camp
Rilea is becoming a coro-
navirus response hub: tests,
vaccinations, boosters, as
well as the Public Infor-
mation Call Center, will all
be on site. Tom Bennett, a
county spokesman, said the
county is seeking volunteers
for the call center and vacci-
nation clinics.
The booster is meant to
extend a vaccinated person’s
ability to fi ght off the virus.
As with other vaccines, the
eff ectiveness of COVID-19
vaccines wanes over time.
Breakthrough infections —
cases of vaccinated people
getting the virus — do occur
but are less likely to lead to
hospitalization and death.
For most people, the
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services rec-
ommends a booster at least
eight months after receiving
the second shot of Pfi zer or
Moderna or the single-shot
Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
People
with
weak
immune systems — such as
those severely infected with
HIV or being treated for
cancer — can get the booster
28 days after a shot. They
often need an extra dose to
achieve the normal immu-
nity that others get from one
or two doses.
Rebecca Coplin, the
interim chief executive of
Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal, said in an email: “While
the CDC only recommends
that people with moderately
to severely compromised
immune systems receive an
additional dose, we encour-
age anyone who is eligible
to do so.”
The boosters will be
given in the same order of
priority as were the fi rst
vaccinations:
emergency
responders and health care
workers, then senior citizens
and fi nally the wider popula-
tion, the county said.
Bennett said the Public
Health Department hopes
it can inform people who
got their vaccinations ear-
lier this year at a county-run
clinic when they are due for
a booster.
People will not be able
to get their fi rst vaccine at
booster clinics, he said.
Coplin added: “For
everyone, our best defense
in the fi ght against COVID
is to get the COVID vaccines
you are eligible for, continue
to wear masks indoors, out-
doors when physical dis-
tancing isn’t possible, and to
keep your hands clean.”
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CREMATION
SPORTS
Athletes ready for a normal sports season
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
Looking forward to a nor-
mal high school sports year?
For Oregon high schools,
the fall sports schedules
are out, and — barring any
unforeseen
complications
or interruptions — the Ore-
gon School Activities Asso-
ciation has plans for a full
school year of sports for the
fi rst time since the 2018-19
season.
Over halfway through
the 2019-20 school year, the
coronavirus brought sports to
an end, canceling the entire
spring season.
The 2020-21 school year
featured shortened sea-
sons, with much-abbrevi-
ated schedules. Fall, spring
and winter sports — in that
order — took place over a
fi ve-month span, with unoffi -
cial state championships and
tournaments held for selected
levels and sports.
The 2021-22 academic
year promises to be an excit-
ing year for local sports.
The fall season could
belong to the Warrenton
Warriors, defending league
champions in football, vol-
leyball and boys cross-coun-
try. And all three squads have
enough athletes returning to
repeat as league champs and
contend for state titles.
Seaside boys soccer was
senior-laden in 2020, but the
Gulls reload every season,
and are always a solid pick
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R.J. Marx
Seaside football players do tackling drills at Broadway Field.
to win the Cowapa League.
After not fi elding a varsity
team last spring, the Astoria
boys soccer program will be
back up and running this fall.
In girls soccer, the Lady
Fishermen made the fi nal
eight “showcase” tourna-
ment last spring, losing 6-2
to Marist. Still, Astoria hopes
to pick up where it left off in
the regular season, in which
the Fishermen won six of its
last seven games.
On the gridiron, Asto-
ria and Seaside football will
both be hot on the trail of the
Banks Braves. The Fisher-
men’s only league loss in the
short season came against
Banks, 49-18. Astoria will
host the Braves on Oct. 1 in
what should be the Cowapa’s
Game of the Year.
At the 2A level, Knappa
football survived a rebuild-
ing season last March, as
they answered two crushing
defeats with two lopsided
victories. Knappa may have
lower numbers than normal,
but so does every team in the
Northwest League. The Log-
gers fi nished the shortened
2021 spring season with
league titles in boys basket-
ball and baseball, and will
return this fall as the league
favorite in football.
As promised, several local
up and coming cross-country
teams came through with big
fi nishes last spring.
The Warrenton boys
placed fourth in the fi nal
“state” meet, unoffi cially
the highest fi nish ever for
the Warriors. The Warrenton
harriers will look to make it
offi cial this fall, when they
return all but two runners
for a team that will — liter-
ally — be in the running for
a state championship.
At the 2A level, Knappa
sophomore Isaiah Rodriguez
fi nished third behind two
seniors in the fi nal meet gath-
ering, making him the top
individual returner this fall in
boys’ 2A cross-country.
The Loggers and coach
Amanda Isom hope to have
enough runners on the boys’
side to score as a team in the
big meets.
On the volleyball court,
the top spot in the 3A Coastal
Range League is reserved for
Warrenton, which has won
the regular season league
title all three years of the
league’s existence.
Astoria picked up points
in the preseason coaches
poll for 4A volleyball, while
Jewell is ranked eighth at
the 1A level. The Bluejays
tied St. Paul for last season’s
Casco League title, with both
teams at 6-0 in league. Jew-
ell opened the season with 13
straight victories.
Across the river, every-
thing appears back to normal,
as the Naselle Comets will be
chasing a league title in vol-
leyball, and Naselle is always
among the state favorites at
the 1B level in almost every
boys’ sport. Once again, the
Comets will be crushing
their league competition on
the football fi eld.
Here’s to the 2021-22
school year, and — hope-
fully — a full, fans-in-the-
stands, uninterrupted sports
season.
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PREP ROUNDUP
Gulls football dominates North Marion
Seaside Signal
In local nonleague action
last Friday, Seaside won
55-0, and the Gulls fi nished
the game with 427 yards in
total off ense, to just 11 yards
for North Marion.
Astoria hosted Cottage
Grove at CMH Field, where
the Fishermen won 45-7.
This week, Astoria
plays at Gladstone, Sea-
side hosts Newport, Toledo
visits Knappa and War-
renton plays Saturday at
Heppner.
Soccer
Seaside dominated the
second half and nearly
Gary Henley
Seaside players in preseason practice.
scored a late, game-ty-
ing goal last Tuesday night
at Newport, but the Cubs
escaped with a 2-1 win over
the Gulls in a season-open-
ing boys soccer game.
Newport dominated the
fi rst half, scoring goals in
the 13th and 22nd minutes,
the second goal by Drake
Dougherty after the ball
defl ected off Seaside keeper
Riley Wunderlich.
The Gulls turned the
momentum in the second
half, and scored a goal in the
51st minute.
Wunderlich kept Sea-
side within striking distance,
making three saves on close-
range shots in the fi nal fi ve
minutes.
A breakaway attempt by
the Gulls in the 78th min-
ute was defl ected away by a
Newport defender.
The Seaside girls soccer
team lost a 1-0 decision to
Newport last Tuesday night
at Broadway Field.
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Hospitals: ‘Part of a rollout that’s been initiated in phases’
Continued from Page A1
Columbia
Memorial
will place the National
Guard in environmental
services, the emergency
department, security, mate-
rials and food services,
according to Nancee Long,
the hospital’s director of
communications.
Some of the National
Guard will also be used at
Clatsop County’s virus test-
ing site at Camp Rilea, Long
said.
The arrival of the
National Guard at Seaside’s
R.J. Marx
Testing for the coronavirus at Providence Seaside Hospital.
hospital is “just part of the
rollout that’s been initiated
in phases — support went to
the areas most in need fi rst,”
Antrim said.
The surge of virus cases
continues to take a toll on
health care workers, said
Mary Romanaggi, an emer-
gency department nurse in
Seaside.
“As far as the atmosphere
at the hospital with all of the
caregivers, we are spent,”
she said.
People with symptoms
of COVID-19 come daily to
the emergency department.
“Not every patient that we
see with COVID symp-
toms gets admitted, but it is
every day, all day, that we
care for this population, and
yes, most are unvaccinated,”
Romanaggi said. “We’re
tired and short-staff ed. I
would welcome the National
Guard.”
Since the pandemic
began, the county has
reported 1,946 positive virus
cases, with 24 deaths.
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