Cavalier County
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Single Copy Volume 135
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In this issue:
Copyright © Langdon, North Dakota
Rita Maisel's Langdon Long Ago can be found on Page 9.
Index
OPINION AG CHURCH COMMUNITY SPORTS PN PROF DIR CLASSIFIED
PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 PAGE 7 PAGE 8 PAGE 8-9 PAGE 10 PAGE 11
The North Dakota Department of Health conducted a COVID-19 Delta Variant and Vaccination webinar on July 27, 2021, featuring Dr. Paul Carson, an infectious disease physician and professor of practice at the NDSU Department of Public Health. The intent of the webinar was to inform the public about the delta variant and vaccine effectiveness and combat COVID-19 disinformation so the public can make better decisions regarding whether or not to be vaccinated. As of July 27, there were 25 confirmed cases of delta and 293 active cases of COVID. Not every individual that tests positive for COVID is sequenced for delta. “The majority of our cases are in the 20 to 40-year-old age group,” said Molly Howell, Immunization Director for the ND Department of Health. “Also, our hospitalizations have doubled in the last week. We are seeing more severe cases in younger age groups.” Those numbers are rising quickly. As of August 11, there were 205 confirmed cases of the delta variant in North Dakota and 1231 cases of COVID as of August 18. Dr. Carson explained how variants arise and shared data from around the world about COVID, vaccines, and long COVID in order to answer the most common questions about the delta variant
and the vaccines. “When viruses replicate themselves, they can be really good at it or they can be sloppy at it,” said Carson. “Sometimes they make very exact copies of themselves, or they can make mistakes or mutations that are not exact copies of themselves. When they make some of these mutations, changes, or inexact copies, most of the time it is not advantageous. But occasionally one of those changes may be advantageous and helps it spread further or enables it to cause more serious disease.” “Variants of Interest” are noted variants that have one or more of these changes. “Variants of Concern” are those variants that have either some evidence of greater transmission, greater ability to escape our immune system from prior infections or vaccines, or greater ability to cause more severe disease. Previous Variants of Concern have been the alpha variant out of Britain, the beta variant out of South Africa, and the gamma variant out of Brazil. The one being watched now is the delta variant that first appeared in India and has become a dominant strain around the world. Is the delta variant really that contagious? The alpha variant was 43-90 percent more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19. Delta is more than twice as contagious as alpha. The delta variant has an estimated R-0 (pronounced R naught) of 6. R-0 is a measure-
Tips for back to school success Tips for Starting Kindergarten They’re growing up fast, Mom and Dad! The first day of kindergarten is a bittersweet day when our babies go off to big-kid school on their own. It’s going to be tough, but there are ways for everyone to get through it in one piece. Here are some tips from ReadingRockets. org and the Illinois Early Learning Project. GET ACQUAINTED As early as you can, visit the kindergarten classroom your child’s going to be in. Talk to the teacher and walk around the school to give your child a good idea of all the fun they have ahead of them. Locate important places like the playground, cafeteria, and bathrooms. Next, as the big day approaches, talk it out. Ask your child what they think kindergarten will be like. Be prepared to answer questions about learning materials and schedules. IT’S OK TO BE NOT OK Let your student know it’s OK to be anxious about the first day of kindergarten. They may be having some big feelings, and that’s OK, too. Be there for
them as they talk it out with you. Don’t discount their fears and feelings, even though they may seem trivial to you. What kind of backpack they have and what it’s like on the school bus are big things to them. TAKE IT SERIOUSLY Show your student that you’re interested in what they do, even in kindergarten. Ask them who they played with, what books they read, and what they learned that day. Read the teacher’s notes and keep open
lines of communication so you can both send the message that school is important. Start instilling that now, and you won’t regret it later. Tips for Middle School Ah, middle school. That time of raging hormones and existential crises. For most parents
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Monday, August 23, 2021
Number 34
COVID-19 Delta Variant and the vaccines
By Linda Timian Republican Writer
Catch up with the Cavalier County Commissioners and Langdon Area School Board on Page 3.
Official Newspaper of Cavalier County Published since 1889
(and kids), middle school has gotten a bad rap for being, to put it mildly, a difficult time in everyone’s life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips from KidsHealth.org for making the middle school years a success. GET INVOLVED A not-so-secret key to success in any school is for the parents to be involved. This means attending events like backto-school night and par- entteacher conferences every time they’re offered. Get to know your child’s teachers and administrators and their expectations for life in middle school. Establish clear channels of communication to help give your student the support they need for success. VISIT THE SCHOOL While you’re at the school, get to know the physical layout of the school. Know where important locations are like the front office, cafeteria, gym, athletic fields, and any special use spaces, like the media room or music room. Also get to know the school’s online presence. Get familiar with the website and bookmark things like the school calendar, special events pages, testing cont. on page 3
ment of contagiousness and indicates how many people will contract illness from one infected person. For example, in a room of 30 people, if one has COVID, it will spread to 6 other people. Earlier strains of COVID had R-0’s of 1 to 2. The delta variant has become the dominant strain in the US. 83 percent of the variants tracked by the CDC are delta. Cases are up significantly in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi where the vaccination rates are among the lowest in the nation at only 34-36.4 percent. North Dakota is not much further ahead at 39.7 percent. “If you have not been previously infected,” said Carson, “and you have not been previously vaccinated, it is likely, for the majority of you, that it’s just a matter of time before you will be exposed and probably infected with the coronavirus.” An event in Oklahoma demonstrates the contagiousness of delta. There was a gymnastic meet where one participant had a case of the delta variant. This resulted in 26 new cases among the gymnasts and staff members, which resulted in another 21 cases spread among their households. What is surprising is that the “attack rate” was 20 percent from the first case to the people at the meet, and 53 percent when it was brought back home. 85 percent of the cases were among unvaccinated people, and two were hospitalized with one in ICU.
Six percent were partially vaccinated, and nine percent were fully vaccinated (called breakthrough cases). Of the unvaccinated cases, 63 percent were not old enough to get the vaccine. This event sheds light on how the delta variant may affect school starting up and the importance of proper precautions. Over 90 percent of COVID-19 cases now are among unvaccinated people. When you swab the throat of a person infected with delta, the viral load is 1000x higher than the original variant of COVID-19. “That would certainly explain the increased contagiousness and transmissibility,” said Carson. “Sometimes viral load can also be correlated strongly with virulence or how bad it may affect us.” Does the vaccine protect against the new variants? Fortunately, the vaccines are still looking to be very protective against severe disease. Britain is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. During their earlier second wave in Britain (largely alpha), deaths went up proportional to increases in cases. However, during their third wave (largely delta), cases have gone up, but deaths have not risen as they did in the second wave. Some people have suggested that the number of deaths due to COVID have been inflated. Carson said all you have to do is cont. on page 2
Kram NDACTE Teacher of the Year By Linda Timian Republican Writer
Amy Kram, Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Langdon Area High School, was named Teacher of the Year by the North Dakota Association for Career and Technical Education (NDACTE). The award was announced Monday, August 10, 2021, at the ND Career and Technical Education Professional DevelopmentConference in Bismarck, ND. As a result, Kram will be nominated for the ACTE Region V Awards to be selected in April 2022. “The nomination process and award selection are both led by colleagues in career and technical education,” said Kram, “so I am very honored to have received the ND CTE Teacher of the Year! Throughout my career, many of my mentors have also received this award, so it is incredibly humbling to be recognized in
Good luck to all area sports teams!
this manner.” Kram was nominated by the awards committee of the North Dakota Association of Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences, a sub-division of NDACTE. They notify the nominees who then complete the application process. “The award application included a section where I needed to address 3 factors,” said K r a m , “how I contribute to implementing a highquality career and technical education program to ensure student s u c c e s s, innovation in CTE, and encouraging student leadership in CTE.” One of Kram’s letters of recommendation was from LAHS Principal Ethen Askvig. “Mrs. Kram has been instrumental in the growth of our CTE programs and courses,” said Askvig. “One of the best examples is her development of our FCCLA program. Since cont. on page 3