I live in one of the most beautiful places in Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge village of Hood River. We are surrounded by the natural beauty that the Pacific Northwest has to offer. I remember reading an article in National Geographic a number of years ago where they rated the best places in the world to live, work and play. Hood River was #6 in the WORLD!
There is a wonderful non-profit organization in Hood River whose focus has been to protect the natural beauty of the Columbia River Gorge scenic area, called The Friends of the Gorge. My husband and I have supported this organization and its efforts to insure that our beloved environment continues to be kept safe from commercialization. Each summer, Friends host an outdoor picnic which has the two fold purpose of providing updated information on their projects as well as a day of fun and fellowship for their supporters. I received the annual invitation last week and was shocked to see that they were requiring proof of vaccination for attendance. I responded right away and said that they needed to update those requirements given the science that is currently available. The vaccines do NOT prevent infection or transmission. I was referred to their page listing this requirement.
“What are your COVID-19 safety protocols?
Friends believes that vaccination is a commitment to safety in our work to protect, preserve, and steward the Columbia Gorge for future generations. Vaccination is the current best way to protect those most vulnerable when working in public settings.
Given the nature of our outdoor and volunteer stewardship programs it is impossible to provide a completely risk-free environment, but to limit the risk of transmission to any attendees, staff, or Friends volunteers we're asking that all registrants for Friends outdoor programs, stewardship activities, and other Friends events:
provide proof of full vaccination;
complete the CDC's online Coronavirus Self-Checker within 48 hours prior to the event; and
follow any applicable federal, state, county or Friends COVID-19 safety guidance given by Friends staff or volunteers during the outing or event.
Why are you requiring proof of vaccination?
Friends asks for proof of vaccination to monitor that everyone is adhering to our commitment to safety. Some Friends program participants, volunteers, or staff may live with unvaccinated individuals, including children, and others with immunocompromised individuals.
Friends' guidelines are subject to change and will continue to be based on the guidelines set out by the U.S. Center for Disease Control as well as state and local guidance and restrictions.
How do I show proof of vaccination?
Email photo of vaccination card to Friends staff after registering for an event, or
Present photo of vaccination card or your physical card at event check-in to a Friends staff or volunteer leader.
You only need to show card once. Friends will log for future reference that we’ve seen your proof of vaccination. No personal information or photos will be stored.”
The first person I spoke with referred me to an administrator whom she believed would be able to help me. Reading the above requirements, I’m additionally shocked by their last bullet point which states that one only has to show their vaccination card once. So they’re not requiring people to be up to date on their vaccinations or to be “fully vaccinated” which means that they’re allowing people to attend who, according to our public health agencies, would be defined as UNVACCINATED. This makes no sense. This is the absurd reality that we are facing my friends.
I have finally received a response from the woman who reports being in a position to address this issue. She agreed to Zoom with me later in the week but the first week passed without a meeting. She requested that I provide her with the science which I’m happy to do however I doubt she’ll respect any evidence other than what the CDC has to say. The good news is that I’ve found a statement on the CDC website which specifically addresses transmission of the Omicron variant. “CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection, regardless of vaccination status or whether or not they have symptoms, can spread the virus to others.”
On Saturday I did receive a few options for next week’s Zoom so I was able to accept a time on Thursday morning. I will of course provide those conclusions to my readers after the meeting in the comment section. She did make a comment about her rationale which I’m still trying to understand.
“While the science has shown that both vaccinated and unvaccinated can spread the virus, those that are unvaccinated to the larger degree get more serious cases. This is why we have chosen for now to require vaccination to attend our first larger gathering.” Can anyone help me understand how that makes any sense? Is her agenda to protect the unvaccinated? Of course I will ask her directly about this statement when we have a chance to talk.
I have also contacted the Oregon Health Authority and requested a specific letter, on their letterhead, which affirms the above CDC conclusions. To date, I have not heard back from any of the multiple administrators whom I’ve emailed. This lack of response has been typical of what I’ve experienced during these past two years.
I was at my local hospital this morning to have my annual lab work done. There is typically no wait to get your labs done or at most, a 10-15 minute wait. Today I waited 45 minutes. When my turn was called, I asked the nurse if they had someone out sick. Apparently that wasn’t the case. She apologized for the wait and said over the last few months, the numbers of people needing lab work had exploded and were increasing every week. I guess they’ll need to remove the sign on their door that says “If you’ve been waiting longer than 20 minutes, please alert someone on our staff”. In the 19 years that I’ve been coming for my labs at this hospital, I have never before waited more than 20 minutes. The lab technician said that at this point, the wait is usually 30-45 minutes and growing. She actually said that she doesn’t know how much longer she can continue to work under these conditions. They are understaffed and overworked which has made it even more challenging given the increasing numbers of patients needing lab work. She complained about having to continue to wear a surgical mask, which offered no real protection against a respiratory infection to begin with, but simply made her time in the lab more difficult. Yes, the science clearly says that these types of masks, surgical masks, are essentially useless and of course the hospital knows that, but the requirements continue.
I will continue to pursue the Friends of the Gorge and their inappropriate and baseless vaccination requirements. I’m even considering showing up, despite my lack of vaccination, in order to make a statement to the people attending, should they refuse to reconsider this ineffective and outdated requirement. I’ve been doing everything in my power, over the last two years, to educate people about these pointless Covid requirements. I started out in my local community and got nowhere so I moved on to regional and then national efforts. This will be the first time that I’m returning to my local community members to shine a light on their erroneous efforts to protect our community. The unfortunate reality is that I’m most vulnerable to those who are fully vaccinated, as they are the ones who are increasingly getting ill with Covid. Trial Site News recently posted an interesting article about this very issue. They have done a remarkable job of providing the science of all things Covid.
I would love to hear other people’s stories about their experiences in their community. The Friends of the Gorge have returned to requiring masks in their offices which again, unless they’re requiring N95 or its equivalent, they’re not following the science at all. Instead, they are feeding the rampant fear that our public health agencies continue to spread in their failed hopes of getting more people vaccinated and boosted. We have all seen the significant drop in willingness to get boosted as less than half of the vaccinated are following through with boosters, essentially making them, as defined by the CDC, unvaccinated if they’ve been more than 6 months from inoculation. When will people start digging into the Covid experiences around the world, in heavily vaccinated countries, where the horrifying rate of hospitalization and death of the most boosted has been shown to occur? Again, Trial Site News provides multiple articles revealing this frightening reality. If only our investigative journalist would finally do their job and fact check our public health agencies and examine the data from countries around the globe. It’s there for everyone to see - if they’re looking for it, but it appears that they’ve been more concerned about keeping their jobs than the lives of their readers. They should have been our canaries in the coal mine but they refused to enter the mine. Shame on all of them.
Yes, Portland is captured unfortunately. Many stories such as this within the art world that includes fine art. One would have expected that crazy, unique, loveable Portlandia would have responded differently but obviously not.
When the fight comes to your door...!!..for me, it was seeing a vid of the F-man himself giving my alma mater a commencement speech last week..here is the text of my letter to the U of MI. They will deeply regret their choice of speaker, I just wonder how many days or months or years it will take. Probably when we create a new 'Holocaust of the Whackscene'd Museum'...which we need now as well.
Board of Regents, University of Michigan-I am deeply engraged by your choice of speaker for the recent graduation. Your choice to support these experimental gene injections and support Fauci himself is indicative of compromised mental states. Student and faculty deaths from the poison are on the rise, it is all around us. Check with your local morticians, read the obits in your local paper. You will not read it in the NYT, no suprise.
If and when Fauci and his accomplices face legal action for creating an ongoing democide of the American people from the injections*, I wonder whether your support for him and his programs will 'bite you in the butt' as the saying goes. You are a bought institution;
I sensed it in the 1990's when I was a student amd saw were the monies were and were not 'flowing'. That comprimise is now fully completed. The students can and should be running in the opposite direction. And they are, those with any sense of humanity.
*all cause non covid deaths are decimating the insurance industry.
Good luck getting anything insured in the coming years. I hold the U of M as a responsible party, and expect you to withdraw your support for the CDC/ NIH.
Or whither as an institution. I think that process is underway now.
Jacquelyn Sauriol May 15 2022
Portland OR