County Donates $100,000 to Gutzwiller Memorial, By Kieran Kelly Boardwalk Donates $5,000 to Willowbrook Park Project • Watsonville Community Hospital: Local Group $12 Million Short

COMMUNITY NEWS

County Donates $100,000 to Gutzwiller Memorial

By Kieran Kelly

Reviewing the County’s budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate $100,000 in support of the memorial for Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller at Willowbrook County Park.

The funds will help support efforts to build a memorial seating area, flagpole, a more accessible playground and other improvements throughout the park.

Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller was killed in the line of duty on June 6, 2020, and he is survived by his spouse and two young children. Damon lived with his family near the Willowbrook neighborhood and he used to frequent the park with his beloved dog, Shasta. Given his strong connection to the park, it seemed a natural site for a memorial in his honor.

“In less than a year, our community in partnership with your County government have come together to turn a vision toward reality. These funds will bring the memorial area to the park and will continue the progress toward reimagining Willowbrook for Damon,” said Supervisor Zach Friend, who represents Aptos and the Willowbrook neighborhood.

In May, the Board voted to officially rename the park “Willowbrook County Park in Honor of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller.” On June 6, 2020, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office held a ceremony to unveil the park’s new signs and mark the second anniversary since Sgt. Gutzwiller’s passing.

“I want to congratulate my friend, Supervisor Friend, for the designation of Willowbrook Park in honor of Sgt.

Boardwalk Donates $5,000 to Willowbrook Park Project

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is making a $5,000 donation to the Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller Memorial Project at Willowbrook County Park in Aptos.

“The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is honored to support Sgt. Gutzwiller’s legacy,” Boardwalk spokesperson Kris Reyes said. “Our hope is this park can be an eternal reminder to our community of his service and sacrifice.”

Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller was killed in the line of duty on June 6, 2020. Last month, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to officially rename Willowbrook County Park as “Willowbrook County Park in Honor of Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller” and unveiled the park’s new signs at a ceremony marking the 2nd anniversary of his passing.

“The Boardwalk has long supported the community efforts and has always supported our local public safety agencies,” said County Supervisor Zach Friend. “Building this park in honor of Damon will require a community wide effort and the community has responded in a very powerful way.”

Lt. Nick Baldrige of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said, “We are appreciative and humbled by the $5,000 donation made by the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and many others like it. Donations like this are what is going to make this project become a reality so that Damon’s sacrifice will never be forgotten.” n Damon Gutzwiller,” said 5th District Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “What a great way to honor his legacy.”

The Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association is working with County Park Friends, a local nonprofit, to raise funding for the memorial site and associated improvements to the park. Although more than $250,000 has been raised, park funding goals have yet to be met.

The campaign goal is $805,000. n •••

Donors can sponsor individual bricks and pavers for the memorial seating and detailed renderings can be found at https://www.countyparkfriends.org/willowbrook.html.

Watsonville Community Hospital: Local Group $12 Million Short

The local drive to raise money to buy Watsonville Community Hospital and prevent a shutdown by the outof-state corporate owner, got $25 million from the state — which closed its fiscal year with a record surplus — bringing the total in hand to $49 million.

But it’s still not enough — and an Aug. 31 deadline is approaching for the fate of the hospital, which filed for bankruptcy late in 2021 and got approval from the court for a sale in February 2022.

The Pajaro Valley Health Care District, the nonprofit formed to make the purchase offer, is still $12 million short, according to Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin.

The goal is $61.7 million.

Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) secured the state funding, which is included in the 2022-23 budget.

In Laird’s announcement, he said, “This historic investment by the State of California for healthcare access in the Watsonville region will pay significant dividends to the region for decades to come.”

He pointed out the hospital not only provides medical care to tens of thousands of Pajaro Valley residents but also employs hundreds of people.

If the hospital were shuttered, it would leave Dignity Health Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz as the only hospital in the county with an emergency department.

Organizers are contacting potential funders daily to bring in that $12 million.

“It is critical that every resident, regardless of where in the state they live, has access to comprehensive health services including important preventative and emergency care,” Rivas said. n •••

For more on the health care district, visit PVHDP.org.

“COVID Update” from page 7

Misinformation Bill Hearing

AB 2098, declaring it is “unprofessional conduct” for a doctor to give patients “misinformation” or “disinformation” about Covid-19, risks, prevention, treatment and vaccines, passed the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee by 9-4 vote and is scheduled for hearing by the Appropriations Committee on Aug. 1.

Unprofessional conduct charges can result in discipline by the Medical Board.

The California Medical Association and seven more doctor associations are in support, and more than two dozen groups are opposed, including Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids and Children’s Health Defense California Chapter.

President Biden’s Sept. 9 order requiring 3.5 million federal employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19 is on hold until September. The 17 judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will take up the matter.

Feds for Medical Freedom, which has about 6,000 members, contends the president overstepped his authority. Attorney Bruce Castor Jr., representing the American Federation of Government Employees Local 918, said the Constitution doesn’t allow president to bypass Congress except in wartime.

Oral arguments are tentatively set for the week of Sept. 12, according to the Epoch Times.

Young Children & Covid

In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for children 6 months to 5 years old, joining seven countries that offer vaccines to the youngest.

The seven are China, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Chile, Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela.

Eligibility starts at age 2 in Cuba and Venezuela, and age 3 in Chile and Argentina, Bahrain, Hong Kong and China.

A Chile-based study of 500,000 children, not yet peer-reviewed, found the vaccine was 38% effective in preventing infections in kids ages 3-5 during the Omicron wave.

As for preventing hospitalizations, it was 64.5% effective and preventing intensive care unit admission 69% effective.

In Santa Cruz County, parents who want their children under 5 to receive Covid-19 vaccines should contact their doctor.

Covid has claimed the lives of many elders, those 85 and older with medical conditions, but relatively few children, 442 children age 4 and under, according to the federal Centers for Control & Prevention.

More than 1 million people in the U.S. have died of Covid, so young children represent a tiny percentage of deaths.

In June, the American Association of Pediatrics reported that in 46 states plus Puerto Rico, the percentage of child Covid cases resulting in death was 0.00%-0.02%.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey in April found 18% of parents of children under 5 plan to vaccinate them immediately, with 38% waiting to see about side effects, 27% saying definitely not, and 11% saying they would do so only if required for school or day care.

Could it be that young children represent an untapped windfall for the drug-makers?

It all depends on whether these vaccines are added to the CDC vaccine schedule for children. See https://www. cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/ child-adolescent.html

At a press event filmed and posted on Twitter, President Biden said Dr. Ashish Jha, who heads White House Crisis Response, is “the guy that’s running the CDC for me these days basically.”

Data Analysis

The CDC was expected to analyze data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for “safety signals” from Covid-19 vaccines.

This database, https://vaers.hhs. gov/, is where health care providers are to report adverse events after a vaccine. It was created after Congress passed a law in 1986 protecting vaccine manufacturers from civil personal injury lawsuits and wrongful death lawsuits resulting from vaccine injuries.

An early briefing document said, “The CDC will perform Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR) data mining on a weekly basis or as needed.”

This would compare the proportion of an adverse event after getting a specific vaccine vs. the same adverse event after another vaccine. A higher rate would serve as a safety signal to trigger investigation.

On June 21, Josh Guetzkow, a PhD at Hebrew University, posted the CDC response to his Freedom of Information Act request asking about this data mining.

FOIA Officer Roger Andoh’s June 16 letter said that “no PRRs were conducted by CDC. Furthermore, data mining is outside of the agency’s purview, staff suggest you inquire with FDA.”

Guetzkow called PRRs “one of the oldest, most basic and most well-established tools of pharmacovigilance.”

Test to Treat

Santa Cruz County offers “Test to Treat” sites, including the three OptumServe testing sites, open to anyone regardless of insurance or documentation status. To make an appointment, visit https:// lhi.care/covidtesting/. The closest is the county office, 500 Westridge Drive, Watsonville.

According to the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, cases in local schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, dropped to 44 on April 1, rose to 1,025 on May 23 and dropped to 442 on June 11, and now 260.

The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% on January, dropped to .79%, and is up to 7.64%.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education has completed 534,000 tests with Inspire Diagnostics.

For those who test positive and are at risk of severe illness, the CDC recommends asking your doctor for a prescription for Paxlovid, pills developed by Pfizer for higher risk individuals age 12 or older and given emergency use authorization by the FDA in December. Lagevrio, produced by Merck, also got emergency use authorization for mild to moderate Covid.

Paxlovid side effects are: https:// www.fda.gov/media/155051/download

Summer Travel Mess

More than 820,000 flights have been delayed this year, according to FlightAware. More than 100,00 flights were canceled.

A shortage of pilots and air traffic controllers is creating problems. JetBlue reduced its summer schedule by 10 percent.

For travelers, check the on-time performance of a flight before booking.

To read Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizzelle’s ruling on airline passenger masks, see https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/ show_public_doc?2021-01693-53-8-cv

For those staying home, three new restaurants in Aptos await: Restaurant Malik Williams, Venus Spirits Cocktails + Kitchen and Four Streams Kitchen.

Omicron Less Deadly

The Omicron variants are less deadly than the Delta variant, which raged in 2021.

Santa Cruz County reported 42 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, before Omicron.

One statistic is similar: 79% to 81% of those who died had medical conditions.

Why do people fear Omnicron?

They may have a medical condition (diabetes, obesity, asthma, high blood pressure).

Half of Americans do, so they are at higher risk for severe Covid illness.

So are people 85 and older.

Myocarditis

In a 2022 report in the Journal of American Medical Association online, Dr. Matthew Oster of the CDC reported the government’s VAERS database received 1,991 reports of myocarditis after one dose of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine and 1,626 met the CDC’s definition for probable or confirmed myocarditis.

Oster’s conclusion: “The risk of myocarditis after receiving mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines was increased across multiple age and sex strata and was highest after the second vaccination dose in adolescent males and young men. This risk should be considered.”

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart, which can lead to clots, a stroke or heart attack.

Public health officials say the scientific consensus is that Covid vaccines are safe, but some are skeptical about relying on science from drug-makers, which saw profits rise in 2021.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, a 2005 law allowing him to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies such as vaccines unless there’s “willful misconduct” by the company. This protection lasts until 2024.

The June 30 deadline for members of the National Guard and Reserve to get vaccinated has passed. At least 11% of the troops are unvaccinated and could face penalties but it’s unclear what will happen next.

After mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were mandated for the military in 2021, cases of heart attack, pulmonary embolism, cancers, and myocarditis spiked dramatically, according to the Defense Military Epidemiological Database queries by the whistleblowers.

The Department of Defense response: A database glitch affected data from 2016-2020.

Testing

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education offers drive-though testing for students, staff and families at:

Cabrillo College, Aptos, Parking Lot K, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Santa Cruz County Office of Education, 399 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

See: https://tinyurl.com/get-tested-santa-cruz.

Booster shots: https://myturn.ca.gov/

Vaccine providers: www.santacruzhealth. org/coronavirusvaccine.

Local information: www.santacruzhealth. org/coronavirus or (831) 454-4242 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. n •••

Total COVID cases: 2,040

••• COVID Deaths: 267 As of July 11 Age 85 and older: 116 • 75-84: 62 • 65-74: 47 60-64: 15 • 55-59: 4 • 45-54: 10 35-44: 8 • 25-34: 5 Underlying Conditions Yes: 217 • No: 50 Vaccinated Yes: 33 • No: 234 Race White 154 • Latinx 90 • Asian 16 Black 3 • Amer Indian 1 Hawaiian 1 • Another 2 Gender Men: 136 • Women: 131 Location At facility for aged: 117 Not at a facility: 150