June 20, 2021
Corvid 21
Fifteen months ago when I first began writing about COVID 19, I kept writing “Corvid” in place of “COVID”. So much so that my friend, Tom Collicott, designed this card for me below. Corvids are the family of birds that includes ravens and crows. Anyone that lives in Seattle can tell stories about our crows. They make for good ‘people’ watching. Usually we watch them fly in a straight line and gather in groups at the top of the evergreens on their commute to and from their roost miles away. Morning and evening they fly back and forth to their chosen area. In late spring/early summer we fear their dive bombs and attacks as we walk near their nests.
But a couple evenings ago, we witnessed some actions I had not seen before. We heard a ruckus and watched as crows dive bombed and squawked at a cherry tree. Then we saw several hummingbirds also fly up in the sky and then dive the tree, along with the crows. What was going on? Was there a nest? We walked a little further and saw a raccoon that was 20 feet up the tree. Mystery of who they were attacking was solved. We assume he was on the quest for the just ripening cherries. He was wedged in a way that kept him aloft, but he didn’t seem well. At least he wasn’t moving, but when he did move, the raucous cawing and bombing and humming began again. Jamie and I continued our walk. When we returned a while later, his position was unchanged. The crows and hummingbirds continued their watch. The next day, he was gone. Playing possum was not one of the tricks I knew that raccoons could play. Neither did I know about the grand cooperation between hummingbirds and crows.
If only we could do more cooperating with each other. This past week we passed the unfathomable number of 600,000 deaths in the US. Tragically, so many are still becoming ill and dying, despite the vaccine’s availability. Areas with poor vaccine uptake continue to have spikes which lead to more hospitalizations and deaths. COVID-19 cases are dropping in areas with high uptake of vaccinations. You can see the states falling behind in this New York Times map.
Amazing that we have more than one effective vaccine, but tragic that so many are not protecting themselves. More problematic than many understand, the new variants are circulating in the US now. They are now more infectious to those not immunized. So far the vaccines we are using are effective for those of us with healthy immune systems, strong protection even after 9-10 months. We still don’t have enough data about how people with poor immune systems respond to the vaccines. It is possible transplant recipients will need a third dose.
As this disparity grows, we will hear more stories like this one from Manatee County, Florida. Two members of the county IT department died this past week from COVID-19, three are hospitalized, and only one department member was spared. He happened to be the only one immunized. And yet the County Commissioners, will continue to let people make a choice of masking, vaccinated or not. I pray for the vulnerable citizens there.
Maybe because I live in a zip code that has 90% (yes, 90%!) of eligible residents vaccinated, where we all still readily wear masks indoors, I have a difficult time understanding these attitudes. The masks protects others more than it protects the wearer. I hope these illnesses and deaths will be the spur for many to finally get a vaccine.
Wash your hands, cover your nose if you are indoors, encourage and helps others to get protected.
And finally, my caveat is that this is my experience and my opinions, which are subject to change as more information is available, and not related to the organization I work for. Thanks for reading.
photo and design Tom Collicott
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/us/virus-deaths.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/11/600000-covid-deaths-us/?itid=mr_1
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/15/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-mask/as-the-us-toll-nears-600000-questions-remain-about-how-to-count-the-deaths
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/as-covid-19-cases-wane-vaccine-lagging-areas-still-see-risk/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/14/covid-cases-vaccination-rates/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/03/us/virus-vaccine-states.html
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/university-of-minnesota-studies-covid-19-vaccine-effect-in-weakened-immune-systems/
https://www.mdlinx.com/news/transplant-recipients-may-require-third-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine/01BIpdEY3ZdEiFGFGqeQqP
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/manatee/2021/06/18/manatee-county-employees-die-covid-19-prompting-safety-measures/7747460002/
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article252230208.html