March 29, 2021
“Pow! Kick! Bang!” starts the comic Fighting COVID. The words, drafted in bright colors, are shouted by a young person fighting the image we’ve seen so much the past year – an illustration of the coronavirus.
When the Social Justice Youth decided that there was a need for accessible materials to show how to stay safe from COVID-19, they worked with a board member from NW Disability Support (NWDS), Mike Rosen, to develop the idea. He pulled in his friend Shannon Wheeler, creator of Too Much Coffee Man, to create a comic through a collaborative effort.
“The full editions of the comic book were transcreated with our youth with and without disabilities and also our Latinx community from various regions and backgrounds,” said Angela Frome, Director of Operations & Programs for NW Down Syndrome Association (NWDSA) and ABI Community. “This way we were not just taking an English version and translating, but rather digging into the needs and vision of the community and how they want to have information presented.”
The goal was to address the need of having appropriate materials created for children of all ages and adults that can be used by educators, professionals and parents in their practice. Besides educating about COVID-19, the comic can be used as a literacy tool that can turn reluctant readers into ravenous ones, give struggling readers confidence, expand vocabulary and can be a valuable accompaniment for other learning disciplines.
The result was Fighting COVID, a comic book that is both imaginative and compelling while delivering preventive and educational information about COVID-19. The comic is the story of a superhero who goes on a journey to fight COVID-19 and learns more about COVID-19 along the way.
One lesson: You can still talk, joke, sing and dance with 6 feet of physical distance. And even though COVID-19 can be scary, you can “be a hero, stay safe” and still have fun.
The final page which shows the superheroes flying off to battle says it all, “Now we’re fighting COVID! Together!”
Plans are underway to release a second comic on vaccination, Beating COVID, scheduled to come out in late April or early May.
 Comic book and photos from a Fighting COVID photo shoot held with Jeff Day Photography.
Today, the Washington Post wrote about an exciting study that Oregon participated in that shows the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines in real life circumstances.
Dr. Paul Cieslak, a senior health advisor with OHA, says, “This study demonstrated that in real-world use, the mRNA vaccines are marvelously effective – 90% – in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as COVID-19 illness in frontline workers. These vaccines will keep people out of the hospital and also reduce spread of the virus. We’re grateful to the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Center for Health Research and other institutions for collecting these data, and delighted that the Oregonians who participated were among the most likely to get vaccinated.”
Having different types of vaccines can offer more options and flexibility for the public, jurisdictions and vaccine providers. For example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is easier to store and only requires one dose, which can make it useful for people who may have a difficult time returning for a second dose.
Since supply is still limited, getting vaccinated with the first vaccine available to you will help to protect yourself and others from the spread of COVID-19.
Here are two ways to get linked up to vaccine resources in your community:
-
211 is a resource that you can use to uncover vaccine registration information if you are unable to use the Get Vaccinated Oregon tool.
There are no new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, keeping the state’s death toll at 2,375, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA also reported 217 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 164,164.
Today, OHA reported that 18,191 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 10,067 doses were administered on March 28 and 8,124 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on March 28.
Oregon has now administered a total of 872,230 first and second doses of Pfizer, 824,313 first and second doses of Moderna and 39,092 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize.
To date, 1,043,055 doses of Pfizer, 1,003,700 doses of Moderna and 61,200 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
These data are preliminary and subject to change. OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated today.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (9), Clackamas (30), Clatsop (4), Columbia (3), Coos (7), Deschutes (14), Douglas (12), Harney (2), Jackson (10), Josephine (7), Lake (1), Lane (19), Lincoln (6), Linn (16), Marion (19), Multnomah (34), Polk (6), Tillamook (3), Union (5) and Yamhill (7).
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 142, which is one fewer than yesterday. There are 36 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four more than yesterday. The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity. More information about hospital capacity can be found here.
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations
To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit our webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.
Did someone forward this to you? You can subscribe here.
|
