Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 28, 2022

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 28, 2022 

HOW “DECORATION DAY” EVOLVED INTO 

LA COUNTY HEALTH UPDATE: 


COVID 19 Cases 

WHERE WE ARE MAY 28, 2022 VERSUS MAY 21, 2022 

Cases This Week ( 05/21/22) Deaths This Week (05/21/22) 
LA County 2,961,673 (2,929,950) 32,117 (32,074) 
LA COUNTY VACCINATIONS AS OF 05/28/2022 (Fully)

Adults 12+ 88.1% Seniors 99.1% 
Cases Deaths Vaccinated 
Arcadia 8,776 (8,591) 167 (167) 90.5% 
Altadena 8807 (8671) 99 (99) 82.7% 
Bradbury 67 ( 67) 0 ( 0) 71.6% 
Duarte 5,385 (5,332) 121 (120) 84.0% 
Monrovia 8,660 (8,551) 104 (104) 81.0% 
Pasadena 29,989 (29,522) 415 (414) 85.4% 
Sierra Madre 1,651 (1623) 22 ( 22) 89.2% 
So.Pasadena 4,459 (4360) 61 ( 61) 94.3% 


“MEMORIAL DAY” AND MORE 

By Joan Schmidt 


In the 1900’s,my late mother-in-law and family visited Crestline, Ohio on “Decoration 
Day”, placing flowers on family and all Veterans’ graves. 

Today we celebrate “Memorial Day”. Nationwide 24 communities claim to be the birthplace 
of the first Memorial Day celebration! Officially President Lyndon Johnson sanctioned Waterloo, 
New York as the “official” birthplace of Memorial Day; their observance in May 1866 was 
so well planned and complete. However Boalsburg, Pennsylvania won’t back down. Their first 
remembrance was in 1864; the following year, 1865, a large community observance occurred. 

In October, 1864, in Boalsburg, PA, Emma Hunter and her friend, Sophie Keller picked flowers 
to place on her father, Dr. Ruben Hunter’s grave. (He had died of yellow fever while working 
at a Baltimore hospital.) On their way to the cemetery, they met Elizabeth Meyers who 
had lost her son Amos during the Battle of Gettysburg. Elizabeth asked to join them, and 
they decorated the graves. Then they agreed to return the following year to decorate not only 
Dr. Hunter’s and Amos’, but also others who might not have someone to remember them. 
This event emerged into a village-wide event, and on July 4, 1865, each grave was decorated 
with flowers and a flag. So Boalsburg DID have an observance before Waterloo! (PA travelers 
must visit Boal with its Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum. Christopher Columbus 
never made it to Boalsburg, but the 16th century Columbus family Chapel was shipped from 
Spain to Boalsburg in 1909 after a Columbus’ descendant married a founding family Boal 
member!) 

The Charleston Race Track in Charleston, SC was the site of a Union Soldier Prisoner-
of-War camp; at least 257 were buried there in a mass unmarked grave. Freed Blacks in 
Charleston organized a Ceremony in 1865. The freedmen had cleaned up and landscaped the 
burial ground, building an enclosure and an arch labeled, “Martyrs of the Race Course”. Nearly 
10,000, mostly freedmen gathered on May 1 to commemorate the dead. Involved were 3000 
schoolchildren, enrolled in freedmen’s schools, Union troops, Black ministers, and White 
Northern missionaries. Most brought flowers to place on the burial field. (Research Yale Professor 
David W. Blight, a Civil War authority.) 

Among the twenty-four “first cities to observe Decoration Day” are Columbus, MS 
and Carbondale IL. On April 25, 1866, women gathered to decorate graves of fallen soldiers 
in Columbus MS.Four days later, on April 29, 1866, General John Polk spoke at a city-wide 
memorial event in Carbondale, IL. 

Two years later, in 1868, a Remembrance Day was observed in Waterloo, NY. General 
John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic in his General Order 
11, officially proclaimed Memorial Day on May 5th. It was officially observed on May 30, 
1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington 
National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. 
By 1980, it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the 
day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I when the holiday changed 
to honor ALL Americans fighting in ANY war. 

In May, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson bestowed the title “Birthplace of Memorial 
Day: upon Waterloo, NY, and in 1967, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday. Saturday, 
May 28, Supervisor Barger will continue the tradition at Arcadia County Park from 
10AM-1pm honoring our Veterans with a special Fair. 

VACCINES AND BOOSTERS CONTINUE TO PROTECT FROM 
SEVERE COVID-19 ILLNESS AND DEATHS AND CAN 
REDUCE STRESS ON THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM DURING 
TIMES OF HIGH TRANSMISSION 

5,800 New Positive Cases and 8 New Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Los 
Angeles County 

Even with new variants on the rise in LA County, the COVID vaccines hold up well 
for residents in all age and race/ethnic groups and are our best defense against severe 
illness. This is especially important as the Memorial Day holiday weekend begins and 
there are more opportunities for virus spread as many attend gatherings. 

Among all age groups, vaccines substantially reduce the risk for hospitalizations and 
deaths. Unvaccinated LA County residents ages five and older were almost five times 
more likely to be hospitalized than those fully vaccinated, with the greatest impact 
among 65-79-year-old residents. The hospitalization rate for unvaccinated individuals 
ages 65-79 was more than 10 times higher than the rate for fully vaccinated individuals 
ages 65-79 for a three-month period ending April 30. 

For the 14-day period ending May 5, unvaccinated residents age five and older, were 
almost eight times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their fully vaccinated 
counterparts. And again, for residents ages 65-79, differences by vaccination status 
were more pronounced; unvaccinated residents in this age group were 21 times more 
likely to die than those fully vaccinated. 

Vaccines remain a powerful tool across all race/ethnic groups and, across all groups, 
those fully vaccinated have lower rates of hospitalizations and deaths than those unvaccinated. 
For instance, the hospitalization rate for unvaccinated Latinx residents 
was more than three times higher than the rate for vaccinated Latinx residents and 
the death rate for unvaccinated Latinx residents was over seven times higher than the 
death rate for their fully vaccinated counterparts. 

Despite their clear benefit, vaccines are not equalizers and disparities in outcomes still 
exist even among vaccinated groups. For example, the death rates for fully vaccinated 
Latinx and Black residents were about three times higher than the rates for fully vaccinated 
Asian residents. These differences reflect differences in exposures, community 
conditions, health status, and social determinants of health that put Black and Brown 
residents at higher risk for infection and severe outcomes. 

As residents plan to travel and gather with others this summer, maximizing protection 
from vaccines is critically important. Those eligible for boosters should not delay getting 
their third or fourth dose since the evidence indicates that vaccine efficacy wanes 
over time. With the proliferation of highly infectious Omicron variants and the potential 
for new sub-lineages to increase risk for severe illness, there is little advantage 
waiting until later in the year to get boosted. To find a nearby location offering free 
COVID-19 vaccines and boosters or to schedule an appointment to be vaccinated for 
free in your home, please contact the Public Health Call Center, seven days a week 
from 8:00 am to 8:30 pm at: (833) 540-0473 or visit www.VaccinateLACounty.com 

“I send my deepest sympathies and wishes of peace and comfort to the many families 
who have lost a loved one from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, 
Director of Public Health. “As we celebrate Memorial Day this Monday, I’d like to 
extend my gratitude to all of our armed forces members and their families who have 
dedicated their lives to protecting us through their military service. Many of us will 
attend events or host gatherings honoring these courageous men and women this long 
weekend. Regardless of how you plan to spend the holiday, we ask that you reduce the 
chance of getting or spreading COVID-19 by taking advantage of four powerful tools 

- vaccinations, masking, testing, and therapeutics.” 
Today, Public Health reported eight additional deaths and 5,800 new positive cases. 
Of the eight new deaths reported today, one was between the ages of 50-64, three were 
between the ages of 65-79, and three were aged 80 years or older. Of the eight newly 
reported deaths, all had underlying health conditions. Information on the one death 
reported by the City of Long Beach can be found at longbeach.gov To date, the total 
number of deaths in L.A. County is 32,117. 

Public Health has reported a total of 2,961,673 positive cases of COVID-19 across all 
areas of L.A. County. Today’s positivity rate is 4.3%. 

There are 455 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available 
for more than 11,999,130 individuals, with 22% of people testing positive. 

A wide range of data and dashboards on COVID-19 from the Los Angeles County 
Department of Public Health are available on the Public Health website at http://www.
publichealth.lacounty.gov 

STAY SAFE! 

GET VACCINATED & 
BOOSTED! 

WEAR A MASK! 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 
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