DAILY REPUBLIC — Monday, June 21, 2021 A7
CHP investigates Covid I-80 crashes in Dixon; 1 fatality From Page One
Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
DIXON — Authorities are investigating a pair of crashes early Sunday that involved seven vehicles and left at least one person dead along Interstate 80. The crashes were reported shortly before 12:40 a.m. on westbound I-80 in the area of the Dixon Avenue-West A Street off-ramp. The California Highway Patrol reports that one crash involved two vehicles and that another crash involved five vehicles. The five-vehicle crash involved at least one fatality.
Preliminary reports indicate a black sedan was traveling at approximately 100 mph prior to the crash. Those reports also indicate a big rig was involved. Authorities shut down westbound I-80 near the crash site and issued a regional traffic alert. Westbound traffic was diverted to Dixon AvenueWest A Street. One lane of westbound I-80 reopened shortly after 2:20 a.m., the CHP reports. All lanes were cleared and reopened shortly before 6 a.m. The CHP is investigating the cause of the crashes.
Police: Shooting From Page One in the area upon arrival but did find evidence of a shooting. One person was found shot to death at about 5:40 a.m. June 13 on the 1400 block of Hammond Lane. Police suspect the person may have committed suicide. Police continue to investigate a shooting that was reported at about 8:50 p.m. May 18 near Charleston Street and
Little Rock Circle. No victims were found there but officers soon were called to the 1600 block of Vandenberg Circle where residents reported finding spent shell casings. Officers found 31 spent casings in two calibers. Police also found two homes that had been struck by gunfire. Anyone with information about any of the shooting incidents is asked to call the Suisun City Police Department’s investigations unit at 421-7373.
Suisun
Forests
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first responder fee is that local government fire department services have expanded well beyond the traditional fire suppression generally supported by property taxes, according to the staff report. The change in balance from fire suppression to medical services has shifted the rationale for financing fire department operations from primarily property-related taxes to a combination of property taxes and user fees. “As our department has transitioned to provide trained staff for both fire suppression and medical services, there were no additional taxes or increases in our budget to absorb the costs to provide these services,” the report reads. “Regardless of the number of incidents we respond to, we must maintain our apparatus, equipment, skills/training and certifications for both fighting fires and providing emergency medical services.” The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd. The complete agenda can be viewed at suisun.com. The final draft of the budget, originally planned for Tuesday, has been postponed to June 29.
the forest floor, California officials contend, blazes will be less likely to turn into the mega-fires that devour thousands of acres. Dousing them once they erupt can’t be the lone strategy in a state already scarred by global warming, they say. The question is whether this new push can be done at a pace and scale that’ll actually make a difference. In a best-case scenario, Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes state and federal crews will be thinning out 1 million acres annually by 2025. He’s asking the state legislature to give him $2 billion to accelerate efforts in the fiscal year starting July 1. But even if his goal is achieved, it’d still leave millions of acres, and the communities that surround them, vulnerable for decades. And with temperatures soaring and drought conditions worsening across the state, it’s only a matter of time, scientists say, before the first of the big blazes of 2021 break out. Although California’s plan to thin woodland is a costly one, it’s necessary to break the cycle of devastating blazes, according to Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University. Simply fighting fires as they start is “a forever war,” he said. “You don’t win those. The solution is to change your strategy and really rethink what you are doing.” It’s an approach not dissimilar to the one thenPresident Donald Trump proposed in 2018, when he said California should follow Finland’s lead and spend more time “raking” the forest floor to prevent blazes – a suggestion that promptly became fodder for memes and late-night television jokes. What Trump didn’t mention is that the U.S. government owns about 58% of the state’s land. As part of the new plan, state and federal govern-
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vaccinated. Some argue the final outcome is similar, but one is far more dangerous than the other. Here’s what the latest data show about immunity from prior infection and vaccines. There are certain illnesses in which infection can offer more protection than a vaccine. For example, coming down with measles or mumps is said to confer lifelong immunity to the virus, but some people who get the vaccine may still get infected, although the shots still limit and prevent the spread of outbreaks. But if the novel coronavirus is anything like others in the coronavirus family, like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), then permanent protection after infection is unlikely. Studies offer some positive clues, however. Research published in February found that coronavirus patients gained “substantial immune memory” that involved all four major parts of the immune system: memory B cells, antibodies, memory CD4+ T cells and memory CD8+ T cells. This protection lasted about six months after infection in most people, but for some, it remained for up to eight months, suggesting it could last even longer in some cases. Separate research posted in April showed a history of Covid-19 among
U.K. patients was associated with an 84% lower risk of reinfection for about seven months after testing positive. Another non-peer reviewed study published in June found that over five months, 1,359 American health care workers who previously had Covid-19 and didn’t get vaccinated stayed clear of reinfection. The Cleveland Clinic researchers said, in the context of a short supply of vaccines globally, “a practical and useful message would be to consider symptomatic Covid-19 to be as good as having received a vaccine,” adding that people who’ve had the coronavirus “are unlikely to benefit from Covid-19 vaccination.” While scientists cannot predict who will develop natural immunity, evidence shows people who had severe Covid-19 are more likely to develop a stronger immune response than those who had milder forms of the disease. It’s also true that research shows Covid-19 vaccines offer protection against reinfection, although “breakthrough cases” can occur because no vaccine is 100% effective. However, studies have found vaccinederived antibodies are more robust compared to those from natural infection – and the job is done without causing illness or other long-term complications often brought on by the disease. Two doctors from Italy compared the process of infection and vaccination
in relation to variants to the plot of an action movie. It “begins with a character (the virus) running freely across the globe, eluding capture until being finally sent to jail (built by natural immunity). However, if this prison is not secure enough, the virus could escape, aided by certain mutations,” Dr. Emanuele Andreano and Dr. Rino Rappuoli of the Monoclonal Antibody Discovery Lab, wrote in Nature. “Vaccine-induced immunity . . . should help ensure those escape routes are securely closed.” An April study that has not been peer-reviewed found that two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines offered 10 times higher levels of antibodies compared to those developed after natural infection. Another April paper showed that people who were previously infected with the coronavirus experienced significant boosts in their preexisting antibodies after two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which also offered protection against coronavirus variants. “Vaccines actually, at least with regard to SARSCoV-2, can do better than nature. . . . They are better than the traditional response you get from natural infection,” White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a Covid-19 briefing in May. Exactly why vaccines appear to generate more robust immunity than natural infection remains unclear, but Dr. Sabra Klein, a virologist and
professor of immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said infection and vaccination work in different ways. “The immune system of people who have been infected has been trained to target all these different parts of the virus called antigens. You’d think that would provide the strongest immunity, but it doesn’t,” Klein said. “The Pfizer or Moderna vaccines target just the spike protein – the part of the virus that is essential for invading cells. “It’s like a big red button sitting on the surface of the virus. It’s really sticking out there, and it’s what our immune system sees most easily,” she continued. “By focusing on this one big antigen, it’s like you’re making our immune system put blinders on and only be able to see that one piece of the virus.” In other words, vaccines work to strengthen immune responses gained during natural infection; that’s why health experts advise people who’ve had Covid-19 to still get vaccinated. “There’s nothing deleterious about getting a boost to an immune response that you’ve had before,” Dr. Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, told The New York Times. “You could get an actually even better immune response by boosting whatever immunity you had from the first infection by a vaccine.”
and his fellow workers Governments fall into a fires, Amy Cordalis, hike into a tangled thicket “firefighting trap,” spend- general counsel for Caliof branches, lugging ing their money each fornia’s Yurok Tribe, said everything they need – year on putting out fires last month at a hearing before Congress. chainsaws, gasoline, “We are facing an food, rain gear and extremely elevated a medical kit – on forest fire risk due their backs while to the drought and to they wipe sweaty the 100-year-long ban brows and swat — Steve Hawks, manager of the on cultural burning, at mosquitoes. wildfire planning and engineering which has led to a Crew members division at Cal Fire massive buildup of must be vigilant to exceedingly flammastay out of the path ble fuels,” Cordalis of falling trees. In and leaving little for some areas, with debris clearing deadwood and said. Other indigenous groups, however, have piled as high as four debris, Bailey said. feet deep, wood chip“You get caught in this opposed government pers and controlled burns spiral of increasing costs proposals to thin Califorare required.“ and increasing fires,” he nia forest land. The human toll of wildLack of awareness is said. “The governments most dangerous,” said have to break out of this fires has been vast, with Makela, who slipped spiral by doing more pre- the blazes killing more than 100 people in Califorand cracked a rib a ventative measures.” Views on forest man- nia over the past five years few weeks back. Because the goal of agement have shifted over and upending the lives of clearing 1 million acres time. In the U.S., forests millions more. Residents of the state is part of a joint project were seen as a source of between California and cheap building materials have endured blackouts the U.S. government, during the housing boom as utilities periodically the state will only have following World War II, cut power in an attempt to to target 500,000 acres then as a source of rec- prevent their equipment per year, said Christine reation in the decades from sparking flames. In 2019, San Francisco McMorrow, a Cal Fire that followed, leading to utility giant PG&E Corp. a strategy of aggressive spokeswoman. Clearing was pushed into bankdone by private landown- firefighting. Some environmen- ruptcy after it was found ers, community groups tal groups support forest responsible for several and timber harvests clearing in certain large fires. Wildfires may be counted toward that target, she said. areas, while others have have also decimated air The forest-management expressed opposition. quality, spreading acrid, approach won’t supplant The Natural Conser- choking smoke throughvancy in California out the state. The fires are only “has been and is very much involved in getting worse. Five of the state’s largincreasing efforts to reduce the risk of est-ever blazes seared megafires through California last year, and ecological thinning 10 of the most expenand controlled burns, sive have happened since particularly in the 2003, according to Cal fire-adapted forests Fire. The price tag for fire — Amy Cordalis, general counsel for California’s Yurok Tribe of the Sierra Nevada” suppression surpassed mountain range along $100 million for the first gist with the Department the long-term strategy of the state’s eastern edge, time in the 1990s. In attacking every fire over according to spokesman the 2020 to 2021 season, of Agriculture. After years of mis- 10 acres in size. costs are estimated to Juvenio Guerra. While not all of Califormanagement, many But Bryant Baker, con- have topped $1 billion California forest lands nia’s 101 million acres are servation director for for the first time, accordare overcrowded stands wildlands, state fire offi- Los Padres ForestWatch, ing to Cal Fire. of thirsty trees suscepti- cials admit that meeting said controlled burns in Although it’s started ble to insect infestation the million-acre-per-year Southern California’s off slowly so far, this fire and disease. Suburban goal will be a daunting, national forests threaten season is expected to be sprawl is reaching further never-ending process. an active one in the West, native plant areas. “As soon as you cut it into wooded areas in the “There are issues with according to the National most populous U.S. state, down, it starts to regrow,” just assuming this is some Interagency Fire Center. Steve Hawks, sort silver bullet in chang- More than 88% of an area increasing the risk of wild- said fire fatalities. Last year, manager of the wildfire ing overall fires in the that includes 11 western wildfires across Califor- planning and engineering state,” Baker said. “Pre- states is under drought nia and the West cost the division at Cal Fire, which scribed fire is not going conditions, according to U.S. $16.5 billion, accord- has firefighting respon- to be the thing that stops the U.S. Drought Monitor. ing to the U.S. National sibility for 31 million very large wind-driven “The trend is pretty Centers for Environmen- acres. “It is going to be a fires that are occurring.” clear – the wildfire constant thing.” tal Information. A century-long ban on problem is not what it was Still, it’s a good invest- burning by Native Amer- 15 years ago,” said Lou The task of forestclearing is a perilous one, ment, according to Robert ican groups, some of Gritzo, vice president and said Alex Makela, one of a Bailey, direct of climate which had a tradition of manager of research at dozen-member crew from resilience at risk man- thinning forest, has made commercial insurer FM the Conservation Corps. agement and consulting woodlands even more sus- Global. “The fires are On a typical day, Makela firm Marsh McLennan. ceptible to uncontrolled getting bigger.” ment are joining forces. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, is supplementing its own crews with outside organizations like the National Guard and the California Conservation Corps, a state department that puts young adults to work on environmental projects. The push to thin California’s forests is a race against time. Climate change has left the U.S. West hotter and drier, creating prime conditions for blazes. Last year, wildfires in California killed 33 people and charred a record 4.3 million acres, an area larger than Connecticut. Heading into peak fire season in the summer and fall, the entire state of California is gripped by drought conditions. Fire season in the West is running about a month ahead of schedule, with conditions normally seen in July emerging now because of the drought, according to U.S. government forecasters. Blazes will likely be more severe across the region this year, said Gina Palma, a fire meteorolo-
‘As soon as you cut it down, it starts to regrow.’
‘We are facing an extremely elevated forest fire risk due to the drought and to the 100-year-long ban on cultural burning, which has led to a massive buildup of exceedingly flammable fuels.’
