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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 14, 2023     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 14, 2023
 
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Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 Welcome to COVID season, again emember in spring 2020 when we started hearing the phrase “a novel coronavirus?” We don’t hear that phrase much now. This particular coronavirus has lost all its novelty. COVID-l9 infection rates, and hospitalizations and deaths, have been ris» ing around the country for the past couple of months. Some of the symptoms have evolved, but the disease re- mains. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the latest dose to treat the current strain that’s going around, and those doses could be available by this week. That vaccine news is good news, despite what Florida man Some more good news: Mason County has low— er infection rates than most of the nation. “We have not seen an in- crease in critically ill COVID patients at all,” said Melissa Strong, chiefnursing officer at Mason Health. I talked with some folks at Mason Health on Mon— day about the current state of COVID, and if you take anything away from this col— umn, remember just one noun and one verb: “Paxlovid” and “test.” Paxlovid is a drug that can blunt the infection ~— if it’s caught early —~ and tak— ing a COVID test is the only way to know whether you’ll need I’axlovid. Paxlovid, l’axlovid, Paxlov~ id. ll7s pronounced “PACKS— luh—vid.” The emphasis is on the first syllable. Ask for it by name. li‘rei: tests are at the Ma~ son County Health Depart- ment at 415 {ilh Street. THESE TIMES One final note on mat— ters ofhealth - physical and mental: Make a habit of ask- ing people you love this ques- tion: “How are you doing?” Take a quiet moment to hold the person in a loving gaze and give them the silence to respond. Put down the news— paper and do it now. After you do that, please finish reading the column and the rest of the newspaper. Welcome back. Here’s a Q&A with Dean Gushee, chief medical officer at Mason Health. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. Question: What can you tell us about the current state of COVID transmission in Mason County? Gushee: Transmission is still considered to be low. The CDC website that ljust reviewed today does a county— by—county analysis of that and they consider us in the “green” which is low trans— mission at present. There are certainly areas around us ~ l didn’t look at those in detail -~ not just. us but around the country, where transmission rates are up. lint so far, Ma— son County is an island unto oursell’. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR How trust works Editor, the Journal, Trust. Trust is everywhere in our lives. Look at the trust we have of the sin if we put in our mouths. Toothpaste, mouthwash, licking the glue on the en— velope, the food we eat, the drugs (legal and illegal) we take and so on. Even our money says, “In God We Trust.” Trust is also like a rubber band; sometimes it stretches. Take a relation— ship where one person beats the hell USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton—Mason County Journal, PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by the Shelton—Mason County Journal at 227 W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone: 360-426-4412 Website: www.masoncountycom Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington, SHELTON-MASON COUNTY out ofllie other partner and they say, “I am soriy and I won’t do it again.” Well, “again” happens again and again. That is real elastic trust. The cheating spouse. that gets caught; “I am sorry and I won’t do it again.” They already stretched the trust when they started the affair. A few political leaders who stretch the trust on vaccines and cure—alls for diseases. Like the COVID stories: It will be over by Eas— ter. Put Clorox in your veins. Take horse worm remedy medicine. Don’t get vacci— nated. “Covid Trust” statements made by The Journal is a member of the Washington Newspaper Publish- ers Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $79 per year ($55 for six months) for Mason County addresses and $99 per year ($70 for six months) outside of Mason County. Single issue price $2.00 Q: What’s the trend? Gushee: Numbers overall are up, and that certainly is the trend across the country. So the numbers are up with what probably is a new vari— ant circulating. Numbers are generally higher, but again not for Mason County. Around the country, there’s an increased rate of hospi— talixation and there’s an in— crease in the rate of deaths. Q: What sort of symptoms are people showing up with when they come to the hospi~ tal with COVID? Gushee: COVID symp— toms tend to be relatively mild and I can speak from personal experience because I had it last week. I would have described it a cold pre- pandemic. I would not have seen it anything different than that. And that’s largely what people are presenting with, so it’s the usual sort of stuff, there’s cough, low-grade fevers, muscle aches. A lot of people describe a tremendous sort of fatigue that goes with it. It’s variable. The weird symptoms that we were see— ing earlier like less of taste and smell are not as promi- nent now. It occurs more in the unvaccinated folks. They’re likely going to have significantly increased symp— toms and that is the group that’s at risk of hospitaliza— tion and death for sure across the country. Q: Can you talk about the effectiveness of Poxlovid? Gushee: I can speak from personal experience there. When I got it last week, I started myself on l’axlovid less than 24» hours after the onset. I started having symp toms in the middle of the Publisher: John Lester Advertising: Newsroom: Justin Johnson, Editor Matt Baide, Reporter Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter some politicians killed tens and tens of thousands oftrusting Americans. At times I am a true “truster” of our legal system. You know the Jan. 6 scum— ball insurrectionists at the Capitol. Some of those dirtbags got sentenced to 18 years of jail time for their actions. Yeah! The really true trust test is with our kids. It is that handoff moment where the child is dropped off at school, or gets on the school bus, or dropped off at Sinn— mcr camp or at a friend’s house or at day care or at a church function or events Theresa Murray, Ad Representative Gordon Weeks, Reporter Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader night. The following morning, I tested myself. I was positive and I started it that day. I had typical respiratory symp- toms. I had a cough, I had a low—grade fever, I had a lot of sinus congestion, a little bit of fatigue maybe, but I thought I had a cold and I tested my— self and sure enough, it was positive. So I started the Pax— lovid. The key with Paxlovid is you have to take it early. It’s a mixture of two different drugs that act together and the key, like any antiviral, is you have to get it really early. The recommendation is to get it within 24 to 48 hours, but the earlier the better. What people describe is a fairly rapid resolution of their ma— jor symptoms. What we know about Paxlovid is that it defi~ nitely reduces the likelihood of hospitalization and death. No question about it. It is a bit of a game-changer for the high—risk population. Q: How do you get Paxlovid? Gushee: Get a doctor to prescribe it. (Note: Go to an emergency room or an ar- gent care if you don’t have a doctor.) Q: Where can people get the new COVID dose? Will they be free? Gu_shee: What we’re ex— pecting is that the free part of that is going away, so it will probably be available at places wherever you get a vaccine, whether it’s Walinart or you name it. My guess is it: will be covered by insurance for the most part I don’t know what’s going to happen with the commercial pharma- cies on whether they’ll charge for it. (Note: The Associated Press reported Tuesday that me! Front office: Dave Pierik, Office Administrator Karen Hranac, Customer Service Delivery: Jon Garza David Olson Niel Challstrom Design: Kim Fowler, Graphics Design Linda Frizzell, Special Projects Shawna Whelan, Photographer the Centers for Disease Con— trol and Prevention is “work- ing with health departments, clinics and certain pharma— ‘ cies to temporarily provide free shots” for the uninsured or underinsured.) Q: What’s your response to what Florida’s surgeon general said last week urg- ing people not to gel the up— dated vaccine? Specifically, his statement that we need to “Listen inside to what makes sense, what feels right, you know, what feels like truth." Gushee: We have different feelings, but we don’t have different facts and different science, and that’s what you have to lean on. The FDA, when they look at vaccines or drugs generally, looks at efficacy and data based on randomized—controlled trials or population—controlled trials so it’s not like a random thing about feelings. Feelings don’t enter into it. It has to do with efficacy and safety. So that’s a fairly ludicrous comment by somebody who should know better. Q: Are you running into people in your hospital who would believe that man? Gushee: We do. Every day. We try to take a dispas— sionate kind of approach. We present the information as we know it. I think health care providers have been seen as purveyors of science and truth unfortunately, there is a segment ofthe population that goes a different route in where they get their informa— tion and it”s not something we’re going to get into an ar- gument about. I Coulee] Klr/r Erlcson (ll lair/n“masonromilyrom with family members, and soon. All of you have heard or read the stories about child tragedies that went south rather than north. With regard to the “trust factor,” please be veiy vigilant out there concern— in g who or what you trust. Remember trust is given. Mistrust is earned. Trust Earl W. Burt Bremerton see LETTERS, page M Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Journal, inc. All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. To submit a letter to the editor, email editor@masoncounty.com. Office hours: am. to pm. Monday to Thursday. Closed Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and major holidays.