OPINION
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 - 20, 2019 • Page 4
The flu hits fast and furious
Speaking from personal experience,
I advise all to take every possible
precaution to avoid exposure to this
year’s strains of the influenza virus.
The first symptom was a light
cough on a Monday morning after
spending two nights gathered around
a roaring campfire, which I assumed
was the source of the irritating cough.
By mid-afternoon on that Monday, the
coughing had become more intense and
my throat felt like I had swallowed hot
embers; by Monday evening I was in
the fetal position trying to relieve my
body of the onslaught of deep-rooted
muscular pain. By Tuesday morning, I
felt as if I had been suckered punched,
could not breathe through either nostril
and had zero appetite. I knew something
had hit me hard.
It truly came on that quickly and
with no warning.
I suffered through Tuesday hoping
that I only had a severe, and short-lived,
cold and began taking over-the-counter
medications advertised to lessen the
severity of a cold if taken early. I still
had hope that by Wednesday morning I
would realize a dramatic improvement
and could be back at work feeling
almost normal again.
Ah, but Influenza B had other
plans for my old body and was
determined to make its presence known.
Wednesday did not bring the hoped-for
improvement, but rather came in like an
unexpected tidal wave of aches, pains,
sniffles and congestion that were clearly
stronger and more resilient than my self-
diagnosed medication regiment.
I called my doctor early Wednesday
morning telling him that I had a slight
fever, could not breath very well and
was overall just miserable. He suggested
that I come in for a throat swab to
determine if I possibly had contracted
strep throat and that he would also test
for the flu vims.
The doctor, as a precautionary
measure, suggested that when I entered
his office that I use the provided hand
sanitizer and protective masks available
in the lobby. As I approached the
check-in desk, the familiar and usually
smiling faces gazed at me in horror
and extended their hopes for a positive
outcome to the tests.
When the nurse called me back,
another familiar face was coming
toward me in the hallway but quickly
ducked into the nearest open office door,
crossed her arms and said with a wink
and a smile, “stay back,” but it was
obvious that she did not want to risk
contamination.
Once inside the examination room,
the nurse took a throat culture and then
a nostril culture. She explained that
strep test only takes a few minutes and
that the flu test can take as long as 30
minutes depending on the severity of the
infection.
In less that five minutes the nurse
returned to tell me that the strep test was
negative and to just sit tight for the flu
results. She was back in the exam room
in less than a minute with the dreaded
confirmation of “John, you have the
flu.”
The doctor, who is a close friend,
then came in fully protected with
disposable gloves and a mask to tell
me that he had called in Tamiflu for me
and for my wife in hopes of curbing the
spread of the virus.
By the time I was back in the lobby
to check out, two maintenance men
had appeared. One was spraying what
I assume was a Lysol-like disinfectant
throughout the entire waiting room
while the other asked me to show him
exactly where I had been sitting while
waiting to be called back. He proceeded
toward the chair with more cleaning
products and began thoroughly wiping
every inch of it. It hit me then, that this
is not an illness to be taken lightly.
I can’t emphasize enough that all
take every known precaution to avoid
the possibility of contracting the virus; it
is brutal. I would never give unsolicited
medical advice but strongly recommend
that the public make informed decisions
about protecting themselves and others
in whichever way they see fit.
Some people are avid supporters
of the flu shot and some are adamantly
opposed to it. That is a personal decision
that each individual must make for
themselves.
I had the flu shot 10 days prior to
the appearance of my first symptoms.
Unfortunately, it can take up to two
weeks for the shot to provide the
optimum protection for which it is
designed. I missed the window of
protection by a matter of three to four
days and regret that I did not get the
vaccination earlier as my dear wife
suggested.
There are good forest fires
“Only you can prevent forest fires, ”
a longtime message from the U.S. Ad
Council and Smokey the Bear.
With apologies to Smokey the Bear
and my many friends in California—
some reading this in darkened homes
with no power—there really are good
forest fires, purposefully set, which
could have, and likely would have,
saved them this current nightmare.
Controlled or prescribed burnings
are a key forestry and timberland
management tool, largely begun
and standardized as an industry best
practice in the state of Georgia since the
1950s. Droughts, long hot summers, and
fast-growing and vulnerable pine and
other evergreen trees often die, fall and
litter the forest floor, along with pine
straw, broken limbs and bark as well
as other small shrubs and vegetation,
each drying into a fuel source akin to
the tinder you would seek out to begin a
campfire.
Imagine thousands of acres of
that tinder, piled up from decades of
non-forest management and a nearly
20-year prohibition on controlled bums
or even the use of the big rakes referred
to previously by President Donald
Trump to cull out dead plants, broken
limbs and dry underbrush, and you have
the makings for massive fires, aided
and abetted by the infamous Santa
A N
‘One Man's
Opinion 9
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Anna winds and other natural weather
phenomenon, now annually visiting
northern and southern California.
I in no way mean to be flippant. We
have friends who have lost everything
in these fires and last year’s fires—their
homes, places of business and entire
communities. Yes, perhaps some of
the communities were developed in
vulnerable areas and may not be re
built despite their beauty and natural
surroundings, but when we do make the
choice to build a community, it also only
makes sense to take the steps necessary
to protect it.
Working in middle Georgia as a
television reporter in the mid- * 1 8 0s, I
became quite familiar with the timber
industry practice of controlled bums
and fires. Hundreds of acres would
be torched, in low wind conditions,
sometimes even using accelerants, along
with fire breaks (long ditches or natural
bodies of water which would break or
end the fire as it ran out of fuel). Yes,
there was smoke and sometimes
blinding conditions, but rarely did any
of those fires get out of control.
The Georgia Forestry Commission
permits prescribed bums as well as
offering other resources including onsite
assistance for larger bums. The state
has multiple statutes regulating the
process including Georgia Bum Permit
Law O.C.G.A. 12-6-90 and Georgia
Prescribed Burning Act O.C.G.A. 12-6-
145 to O.C.G.A. 12-6-149
Controlled and prescribed bums fell
out of favor in the western states a few
decades ago, as these fires do release
carbon into the atmosphere and can
add to smog and air pollution. But the
difference is typically hundreds, or a
few thousand acres, and a comparatively
brief and defined fire rather than the
current situation with millions of acres
burning or at risk, turned from tinderbox
to inferno by a lightning strike or an
errant lit cigarette butt, aided and abetted
by ill-timed but annual high winds.
After last year’s record breaking
fires causing massive property loss,
power loss and deaths, California was at
the heart of a national debate to expand
the use of controlled and prescribed
bums. Here we are a year later with
a whole new set of communities
evacuating and at risk, and millions
now temporarily without electricity due
to the aging and vulnerable electrical
grid in California, and its potential to
spark or spread a fire due to the ongoing
drought conditions. If millions sitting in
the dark or millions of acres and dozens
of communities literally running hoses
on their rooftops to save their homes
isn’t cause for an emergency legislative
session, I’m not sure what is.
People are losing their homes;
entire towns are burning, dozens of
thousands on both ends of the state have
faced forced and mandatory evacuations
and still may not return home. When
winter and the potential rainy season
finally arrive, break out the rakes and
the backhoes and let’s dig some fire
breaks and plan prescribed bums well
into springtime. If the current non-action
pattern continues, it is only a matter
of time before these fires move further
north into the Pacific Northwest and
endanger those old growth hardwood
forests, including our national parks and
the Great Redwoods. This time next
year may be too late to protect them.
Only you, California, can prevent your
own forest fires. Just ask Smokey.
Bill Crane also serves as a political
analyst and commentator for Channel 2’s
Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk 750
and now 95.5 FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press
and Georgia Trend Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner, living in
Scottdale. You can reach him or comment
on a column at bill.csicrane@gmail.com.
