Tuesday August 31, 2021
Scribe: Tom Boylan Editor: Natalie Lim Introduced by: JB Leep
We had our own Kevin Bacon Covid experience last week as one of our members tested positive. Fortunately it seems to have been a mild case and no other members tested positive.
Our guest speaker for the day, Glaydon de Freitas, took ill last night and had to postpone.
Michael Juric led us in a rousing song of “My club” sung to May Wells “My Guy”.
Bill Conklin shared his Rotary moment about the club passing a hat for donations when his daughter was born. He has valued the connections he has been able to make with the people in the club.
In appreciation of our club’s support for the schools, the high school is providing season passes to club members and their families to all sports events. They were passed out at the meeting. Information was not provided on how you might get one if you were either online or didn’t attend.
We grossed $1228 from the bar on our first night of concerts on the green.
Pam Moulton shared a summary of last week’s survey.
Pam Moulton presented Diane Brabetz with our thanks and a pin for going above and beyond in her service to the club members not only for her informative updates on covid but for how she helped organize our response last week when we had a positive case.
Leslie Lewis fined Joan Mora, Chris Landwehr, Karen Ricketts, and Patrick Dunn for their recent travels.
Thanks to this week’s helpers:
- Setup/greeter: Steve Klick
- Scribe: Mike Freedman
- Technology: Michael Juric and JB Leep
Quote for the week: “The Greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members ….” attributed to Coretta Scott King
The Meeting in Detail
First, apologies but the sound over Zoom this week was quite muffled so its likely I have made mistakes and/or neglected some things. All mistakes are my fault but not intended.
Ron led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Bill Conklin shared his Rotary moment(s). He talked about how the club passed a hat after his daughter was born to give as a gift to her and of traveling to Nicaragua with others in the club to work a project. These and other examples expressed his moment(s) of value of the friendships and connections the club has provided.
Announcements were made:
- Sandie Krutz got her final congratulations and thanks as August’s Rotarian of the Month.
- As appreciation for our support the H.S. is providing season passes for all members and their families.
- Patrick Dunn announced our holiday party will be December 10th.
- Renee Hyde announced we had a good opening night grossing $1228 at the “Summer Concerts on the Green” bar.
- Maureen Merrill announced this months birthdays but the poor sound prevented me from getting the names. Happy birthday to all anyway. Maureen also mentioned we might start having monthly birthday lunches for those with birthdays in the that month.
- Sue Nelson updated the club on the Service committee’s work. A $1000 donation to the Greenville Rotary club has been approved for help recovering from recent fires. The committee has also established a calendar so a beneficiary for our April fundraising can be identified on time. They are also looking at what Christmas events we might support but are trying to not over extend ourselves.
- Joan Mora provided a summary of last weeks SCARC at Tu Mole Madre. The mole dishes where wonderful. We had a great turnout with 32 attendees.
Pam Moulton summarized last week’s survey results. She displayed a long list of top vote getters. She also highlighted some common themes for future meetings including having small group get togethers, having a hopefully reestablished Interact club lead a meeting, doing a joint meeting with another Rotary club, and meeting with the Holiday Inn staff and residents. She also summarized a number of new speaker ideas that were submitted including a talk on working with our Chamber of Commerce, a panel discussion with downtown merchants, a discussion about suicide prevention, a talk from someone familiar with the Sonoma County Economic Development organization, a discussion of the causes and remedies of our housing issues, and a historical talk about our local cemeteries.
Our speaker for the day was to be Glaydon de Freitas but he unfortunately took ill a few hours before the meeting and needed to reschedule. Instead Pam Moutlon and Diane Brabetz led a discussion about our response to having someone in our club test positive last week. First its a reminder that though most of us a vaccinated, the vaccine doesn’t make one immune from Covid rather it reduces your chances of catching it and reduces the likelihood you will get seriously sick. However, with the Delta variant, there are many more cases in vaccinated individuals and many vaccinated individuals who test positive can transmit the disease. So it was a reminder we still need to be careful and cautious and wear our masks, etc. Diane indicated that Delta infects more quickly than other variants, usually within 3-5 days vs up to 14 days in the past.
In providing an update on the events from last week, Diane talked about calling our public health department and they recommended we consider pausing or dialing back out in person meetings. In addition that all members as well as Charlie’s staff be notified of a possible exposure and be encouraged to test. They also recommended that if the meetings continue that in person attendees get tested every 2 weeks. It was passed along that if you have even a loose affiliation with the Windsor schools that you can get tested at the H.S on the 2 days a week they are testing or at the other schools where they are testing once a week.
Pam finished explaining that at least for the moment we will continue to hold in person meetings but will be prepared to go all online if the circumstances change. For the time being the Board meetings and most if not all Committee meetings are online only.
When discussion was opened a number of pointed were raised:
- The club should acquire self antigen tests for those members who volunteer on behalf of the club in situations where they interact with the wider community. For example, volunteers working the concert bar.
- Provide more information on resources to our membership. Where and when testing is available nearby, etc.
After discussing Covid and our protocols for handling positive cases in our membership we got an update about Rotary’s work to eradicate Polio. There hasn’t been a Polio case since January this year. And though there are continued worries that we might lose our gains in Afghanistan, the Taliban has indicated they want to encourage polio vaccinations and are even willing to provide security for these efforts.
COVID UPDATE
NEWS FLASH!!!! Delta variant breakthroughs surging and unvaccinated adults and children fill hospitals in southern States and States with low vaccination rates. EU recommends preventing US citizens from travel because of our increase in COVID cases nationwide.
Total Cases: 36,515 (last week 35,562)
Recovered: 33,633 (last week 32,604)
Active Cases: 2529 (last week 2699)
Deaths: 353 of our county citizens (last week 344) this is no longer about the frail elders in nursing homes, but there has been a death in the 18-24 age range, 2 in the 25-34, 3 in the 35-44 and 30 people in our County in the 45-54 age range who have died. Deaths can be prevented – Get vaccinated. Protect yourself and others……………….
New Cases: We continue to see an increase in new cases – 851 new cases in just one week in Sonoma County! Be aware that you can still catch COVID even if you are fully vaccinated so be careful to protect yourself and others with good hand washing, wearing your mask indoors as mandated and ensuring you are around others fully vaccinated. Please also do not take for granted that being outside makes or keeps you safe. If you are outside and cannot socially distance, wear your mask. Do not take risks and realize this virus has not gone away and is just looking for an opportunity to strike.
Hospitalized: 70 confirmed and 0 suspected (last week 81 confirmed and2 suspected)
Vaccination information…. As of August 30th, 659,353 residents in Sonoma County have received the vaccine (last week 649,222). 74% of our populations 12 and older are fully vaccinated and approximately 82% have received at least 1 dose. With the FDA fully approving Pfizer vaccine and Moderna seeking full approval, we are already seeing large employers as well as government entities mandating the need for vaccinations.
Test regularly if you are attending in person meetings or in an office setting. Put your masks on indoors but also outdoors when you are in crowded situations and cannot socially distance. Stay away from others if you have any symptoms and get tested. Fully vaccinated does not mean you cannot get or give COVID. Stay safe and be wary………
Thanks
Di
