77. The Island

A friend who lives in two places—here and in the Willamette Valley—writes from Corvallis that everyone there is wearing masks. He remembers that many here were/are not. 

First, I’d say that most of us in Wallowa County are wearing masks when we are inside at a store or school or even walking into a restaurant. There are the occasional defiant ones, who must get some pleasure from stepping into the post office or walking the aisles of Safeway mask-less. But the banks and vet clinic don’t even open their doors; you use the drive-thru or call from the parking lot where the masked vet or an assistant comes to see your dog, cat, or horse, and, if necessary, take the animal inside while you wait outside. 

 

Second, we truly are blessed to live parts or most of our lives outside. I walk and ride my bike every day, swim in the summer. And a lot of my neighbors are out walking, biking, hiking, skiing and snowmobiling. Many work outside on farms, ranches, logging and highway crews, and construction sites. One of the reasons most of us live here is to live a good portion of our lives outside.

 

Third, when we are inside, the waiting rooms, market aisles, and church pews are just not as crowded as they are in the city and suburbia. There are no mega churches, cineplexes, or malls; you have to stop outside to go from one store to the next.

 

So far, Wallowa County has been remarkably clear of the coronavirus. We cannot quite count on fingers and toes, but we’ve not hit 100. A truck driver friend thinks he picked it up at a Umatilla County truck stop. Umatilla has food processing plants, and field crews that crowd into crummies to and from work. 

 

Schools here are in session, and when a local student picked up the virus at a party in nearby Union County, the school shut down, his immediate classmates quarantined, they scrubbed the school, and are now happily back in session. And my grandson unwittingly brought it back from Portland, but saw no one else here before being tested and quarantined.  Our health system jumps on these things.

 

The trick here is steady as she goes—that most of us keep wearing our masks and living outside as much as we can, and then line up for our vaccinations. I don’t know what to say about Corvallis or Portland. 

 

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