To The Eagle:

Miracles abound in Wahkiakum County. My wife and I got our Coronavirus vaccine shots on January 11, 2021, one year to the day after the first covid death was reported by China, and 10 days prior to the anniversary of the first reported case in this country, in Washington, on January 21. Our shots were administered by Wahkiakum HHS. Our doctor at PeaceHealth in Longview observed that they are still two weeks away from even making lists of civilians to be vaccinated, and most other states and counties are even further behind. Could be that our little HHS group is outperforming the whole rest of the country.

Statistics indicate this virus is fatal mostly to the elderly, and this is a statistically elderly county, so our mortality risk is relatively high, but our death rate, so far, is zero. As of January 4, there were only 83 of the 3141 counties in the U.S. that could claim no covid deaths. Some of this is due to population and geography, but credit and kudos are also due to the efficient work of our HHS crew, the clear and thorough reporting of Diana Zimmerman at The Eagle, and the relaxed attitude of both our officials and our citizenry toward some of the more bizarre edicts and mandates of our benighted governor.

The main miracle is the creation of a vaccine in less than a year from conception to delivery. Credit for that must go to President Trump who unleashed the power of capitalism and competition, used public funds to allow manufacturing to go hand in hand with research, and cut bureaucratic red tape to expedite the approval process. His reward was a political assassination on January 6.

Howard Brawn

Puget Island