Three COVID Deaths Despite Vaccinations, By Jondi Gumz

COMMUNITY NEWS Three COVID Deaths Despite Vaccinations

By Jondi Gumz

The coronavirus COVID-19 Delta variant claimed lives of three vaccinated individuals in September and October in Santa Cruz County, bringing the total fatalities to 216. Two white women died, one in her mid-60s, and one in her early 70s, and a man in his 90s; all three had underlying health conditions.

As of Oct. 6, active cases in Santa Cruz County dropped 21 percent; those numbers are updated weekly. As of Oct. 11, there were 355 active cases, a declining number; statistics are updated on Mondays and Thursdays.

The number of hospitalization in the county, which had been as high as 21, is now 4, including one in the ICU.

On Sept. 29, the county lifted the indoor mask mandate after the federal Centers for Disease Control reported transmission was down, putting the county in the yellow (moderate) tier. The mandate has been instituted Aug. 24 after cases grew 64 percent.

However, state guidelines require students and school staff working with them to be masked indoors.

One sign of business confidence: Landmark, which owns the historic Del Mar Theatre in downtown Santa Cruz, reopened Oct. 8. No word on the smaller Nickelodeon in Santa Cruz, also owned by Landmark. On Oct. 1, fresh off his recall landslide victory, Gov. Newsom announced plans to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in-person once the vaccine receives full approval from federal regulators for middle and high school grades.

California is the first state in the nation to announce such a measure.

“The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella — there’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for COVID-19,” Newsom said.

On that date, no vaccines were approved for kids under 12, but on Oct. 7, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize their COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

That would provide relief to parents who want their younger children vaccinated.

Enrollment Drop

Enrollment in public schools in down 2.5 percent in California, the state Department of Education reports.

That’s a scary situation for local school officials because funding is based largely on enrollment. Factors include the switch to online instruction in 2020, the postponement of sports, and the loss of popular activities such as theater and singing groups, all for safety reasons. Some parents, worried about side effects, do not want to vaccinate their children.

“COVID Update” page 9

“Refugee” from page 4

During one of these examinations, it was discovered that our mother had nasal polyps. They operated to remove the polyps so she could be healthy to support herself and her two children.

All of this was paid for by the International Refugee Organization, of which the United States was the biggest contributor.

On March 31, 1951 after a scary but thrilling nine-day sea voyage on the U.S.S. General Blatchford, we landed on Ellis Island. Once on American soil, we were expected, with the help of our sponsors, to pay our own way.

We took a long train journey to Chicago where our sponsors lived. They had arrived in the U.S. a year or two before us and had agreed to shelter us, help Mom sign up for English classes, and take her to find work.

This Lithuanian married couple with two very young sons lived in a three-room basement apartment in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, one of the poorer parts of Chicago.

They naturally wanted to help Mom find work and get us our own apartment. In a month or so, Mom found a job and we were fortunate to rent our own two-room makeshift “apartment” built in the front of a garage.

I cannot say we were welcomed with open arms by the Irish-Americans in Bridgeport. We were not Catholic and we were competing for jobs. But, as we got to know each other and could speak English, we were accepted and became friendly neighbors.

Over time, as we immigrant families improved our English and got better jobs, we were able to move into better places and to live in better neighborhoods. Our version of upward mobility.

In those years, from after the war to perhaps early ‘60s, every immigrant had to fill out an address form each January and submit it to the government. The U.S. government wanted to know where we were living in case they needed to contact us. We never questioned this process and did not feel it violated our right to privacy. We were just thankful to be in the United States.

So that was Immigration Old School. I am not saying it was a perfect system but it certainly worked for so many of us who arrived here in the U.S. after World War II. And, in spite of difficulties and setbacks, we all learned the language, became citizens, paid our taxes, educated our children, and wound up living good lives in this great land of opportunity!

God bless America! n

USS General R. M. Blatchford (AP-153)