May Ukraine Have Peaceful Skies Again.
Here is what is happening in Lakeway….
May 6–ELECTION DAY
Lakeway Activity Center is our main polling place, but Lake Travis ISD Educational Development Center will also be open at 607 RR 620 N (off 620 to the right just before Kollmeyer).
Hours are 7AM-7PM.
GO VOTE! Preferably for TOM KILGORE, DAN VARDELL and GRETCHEN VANCE. But, mostly—VOTE!
May Art Display at Lake Travis Community Library
Local artist Judy Hazen displays her art in the library’s meeting room during the month of May. Her interest in watercolors developed from classes with local artists and workshops with the Lakeway Painters. Judy’s work is inspired by her RV travels and by her grandchildren.
Lakeway Arts District May Calendar
Check out all the local arts and cultural events during the month of May on this handy calendar: https://lakewayartsdistrict.com/calendar/
No More Oak Trimming Allowed
With the bulk of ice storm clean-up efforts complete, pruning or cutting of oak trees is no longer allowed per the city’s extended disaster declaration. Due to the possible spread of oak wilt amongst our tree population, pruning or cutting of oaks is disallowed by city ordinance from February through June. If you have questions for our City Forester, please contact Richard Leon at: RichardLeon@lakeway-tx.gov
Big Band Bash Visits Rough Hollow
For May only, on Monday, May 8, 7-9PM this FREE event will be held at the Rough Hollow Welcome Center Pavilion (901 Highlands Blvd.). Bring your beverages and snacks, and dance the night away with the 17-piece Republic of Texas Big Band, featuring David Cummings and Lisa Clark on vocals.
High School Job Fair
The Lake Travis High School job fair is Monday, May 15, noon-3PM at the LTHS gym. Local businesses can fill positions, with summer nearly here. Contact Dori Kelley with the City of Bee Cave at dkelley@beecavetexas.gov
Blood Drive at Lakeway Activity Center
The next blood drive at LAC is on Saturday, May 20, 8AM-noon. The event is always well organized, clean and friendly. You will be done and out the door in under 30 minutes. It is an important cause and helps countless people. Plus—FREE JUICE AND COOKIES! While walk-ins are welcome, those with appointments have priority. You can see upcoming dates and make an appointment to donate by entering your zip code here: https://weareblood.org/donor/schedule/
Masterpiece Concert at Lakeway Activity Center
On Sunday, May 21, 4PM, the public is invited to a FREE concert by Sandy Yamamoto and Sari Pearce (violin), Nick Hammel (viola), Andrew Pearce (cello), and Colette Valentine (piano). Repertoire: Franz Schubert: String Quartet No.13 in A Minor, ‘Rosamunde’ and Anton Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op.81.
Aloha Pool Party
On Saturday, May 27, 5-8PM, the Lakeway Swim Center (3103 Lakeway Blvd.) presents the Aloha Pool Party. Learn hula dancing, play luau games, compete in a limbo contest (prize is a ukulele), dine on Chick Fil A at the concession stand, enjoy the Leisure pool, and more. Drop-In rates apply, or get FREE admission with a Summer Pass. Luau attire is suggested. Go here for more info: https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/1835/Aloha-Pool-Party
Memorial Day Ceremony
Lakeway’s annual Memorial Day observance is on Monday, May 29, at 11AM, at Lake Travis Performing Arts Center (3324 RR 620S). FREE event. Join together to honor military personnel who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. Special guest speaker will be Blair Didion, Sr. who served three terms in Iraq and one term in Afghanistan, receiving two Bronze Stars, a Silver Star with Valor, and three Purple Hearts; he is an upcoming Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. For more info (plus a video of the 2022 ceremony) go here: https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/1511/Memorial-Day-Ceremony
Summer Camps at Lakeway Activity Center
The upcoming summer schedule includes Coding Place, KidVenture, Camp Peniel, PlayWell, Mad Science, Martial Arts Sports Challenge, Ninja Camp, Skyhawks (baseball, basketball, cheer, dodgeball, football, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball) Snapology, Young Rembrandts and more. For info, go here and select the Youth Summer Camp tab: www.Lakeway-tx.gov/classes
Memorial Tiles Available at Lakeway Activity Center
LAC is now offering the next installment of “Pave the Way” tiles. This is the LAST area before completion. Consider making a tax-deductible donation, recognizing a business, charity, family, or loved one. Tiles are seen at special events held in the courtyard, and over 6,000 people pass through LAC each month. Pricing (add $25 for clip art): 4 X 8 tile $125; 8 X 8 tile $250; 12X12 tile $375. Email dallasgorman@lakeway-tx.gov for info.
Council Next Meets on May 15
About 1 week prior, view the Agenda, Meeting Packet, and/or Presentation (scrolling down to City Council documents) here: https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/archive.aspx
Our Deer Herd
This special section will report on the size and condition of the herd, provide fawn season info, and showcase recent deer photos.
I’m on the Wildlife Advisory Committee, and we have a professional spotlight survey done every fall, with spotters driving a prescribed route through Old Lakeway (where nearly all the deer live) on 3 separate nights. The 3 counts are averaged to produce a rough idea of our population.
The survey done in fall of 2022 showed the herd size dropped slightly, just as it did in 2021. That is to be expected during a drought; other factors could be all the development in Lakeway or coyote activity. The surveyor noted the herd appeared healthy and well fed.
See the above chart. Overall, in the 6 years that we’ve done annual surveys, the herd has remained stable in size or reduced slightly, all on its own. The city last trapped and killed deer in early 2018. WITHOUT inhumane and expensive culling, the herd regulates itself.
FYI, the 2021 survey counted 12 coyotes (highest count ever, in the 6 annual surveys), while the 2022 survey only spotted 1 coyote. This could indicate that most of the coyotes have moved on.
And yes—we know that a deer survey isn’t perfect. The only thing worse than doing a deer survey is NOT doing one. The survey gives the city a periodic look at herd size, location and condition. Being able to compare data year after year is key. In addition, the city tracks things like deer/vehicle accidents and carcass pick-ups.
In fact, the committee used ALL this information recently to select additional locations for Deer Crossing signs. In addition, 1 or 2 radar signs will be placed on streets with the highest number of deer strikes. I was just told the signs we ordered have arrived and placement is happening soon.
Fawn season is here!
On May 4, the very first image of a brand new fawn teetering around in Lakeway was posted on Next Door. It was NOT taken by me, but the baby was absolutely adorable, and now I’m scrutinizing every bush, swale and other sheltered area for parked fawns as I walk around town each morning.
Don’t assume the wee fawns that you spot on a walk or in your shrubbery are abandoned; Mama Does leave their newborn fawns to rest, while they graze in the vicinity, before collecting the babies and moving on.
Warning signs:
–If the fawn is wandering around or bleating, it may need help.
–If the fawn’s ears are curled at the tips, its mouth is dry, or its bottom is dirty, Mama Doe hasn’t been around in a long time to nurse or clean the baby, and the fawn needs help.
–If the fawn has been injured or is being attacked by fire ants, it needs help.
Otherwise, don’t get close enough to frighten the fawn into moving from its assigned parking spot, and let Mama Doe return. Take a photo to post on social media for everyone to enjoy, and leave the fawn alone.
IF YOU DO FIND A FAWN IN DISTRESS:
Here are people and groups to call:
–Leanne Dupay, permitted wildlife rehabilitator with Texas Parks & Wildlife 512-694-1811. (She lives in The Hills.)
—Shandra Dettbarn, permitted wildlife rehabilitator with Texas Parks & Wildlife 512-660-3568.
–City of Austin Animal Services (512-974-2000) serves Lakeway. An Animal Protection Officer will come out and likely take the animal to Austin Wildlife Rescue for care (see below).
–Austin Wildlife Rescue 512-472-9453 https://www.austinwildliferescue.org/ They are an intake center only and do not pick up animals. The location is at 5401 E. MLK Jr. Blvd., Austin, TX 78721. Hours are Monday – Sunday 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
–All Things Wild is located just north of Georgetown 512-897-0806 http://allthingswildrehab.org/ Their “Found a Fawn or Deer?” page has specific info. http://allthingswildrehab.org/deer/ Their “Contact” page has a lot of helpful info. http://allthingswildrehab.org/contact-us/
Check here for more details on how to identify the RARE case of a fawn needing help (plus lots of adorable fawn photos from past seasons): https://ninawriteorwronginlakeway.com/parked-fawns-injured-deer/
FAWNS ARE BEING BORN NOW AND ARE WOBBLING AROUND TOWN. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE—SLOW DOWN AND DRIVE CAREFULLY. Dozens of fawns are hit by cars in Lakeway each spring, and every time it is a heart-breaking tragedy for the fawn, the mama doe and the driver. If you see a doe, assume there is a fawn with her; if you see one fawn, watch for ANOTHER fawn AND for their mama doe.
DEER PHOTOS
Here are some recent photos I took in Lakeway. I haven’t spotted any new fawns yet….
Daring Mighty Things
The Japanese company Ispace came close to landing its robotic craft on the moon recently. But, communications were lost in the last stage of descent, with telemetry indicating the craft ran out of fuel and crashed. Before that happened, it sent home the above image, beautifully capturing the splendid isolation of Earth, just past the moon’s edge. Japanese Company’s Spacecraft Likely Crashed During Moon Landing Attempt 4/25/23 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/science/ispace-moon-lander-japan.html
With liberty and justice for all … except women.
Abortion bans failed to pass in Nebraska and South Carolina, on April 27. In Nebraska, a bill limiting abortion to 6 weeks was just 1 vote short of advancing in the legislature. In SC, a bill banning most abortions passed the state House but narrowly failed in the Senate. In both states, current laws allowing abortion up to 22 weeks remain in effect. Abortion Bans Fail in South Carolina and Nebraska 4/27/23 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/us/abortion-bans-nebraska-south-carolina.html#:~:text=South%20Carolina%20and%20Nebraska%2C%20two,victories%20to%20abortion%20rights%20advocates
North Dakota now has one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country. Signed into law April 25, abortion is banned throughout pregnancy. The only exceptions apply up to 6 weeks, in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency, such as ectopic pregnancy; after 6 weeks, those exceptions disappear. North Dakota’s governor has signed a law banning nearly all abortions 4/25/23 https://www.npr.org/2023/04/25/1171816825/north-dakota-abortion-law
The North Carolina legislature, overwhelmingly Republican, passed a bill last week reducing the current 20 weeks abortion limit to 12 weeks with few exceptions. Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vows to veto the bill, but the legislature can use its Republican super-majority to override the veto and severely limit abortion availability in the state. Since North Carolina now attracts women in need of abortions from all over the conservative South, the change would have far-reaching effects. North Carolina Legislature Passes 12-Week Abortion Ban 5/4/23 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-carolina-abortion-ban-12-weeks/
In Texas, a man previously sued his ex-wife’s friends for helping her terminate her pregnancy via medication abortion. Now, as that suit continues, the defendants are counter-suing, claiming the man found the pills and prescription and did nothing to stop his ex-wife from using them. Women accused of facilitating abortion in Galveston wrongful-death lawsuit file countersuit 5/2/23 https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/02/texas-abortion-wrongful-death-lawsuit/
Also in Texas, a new law applies to all women who EVER had an abortion, no matter how long ago. Doctors are required to submit their private medical information to a state-run website, without their knowledge or consent. The little-known Texas law lists 28 medical issues as abortion complications, even though most have no connection to abortion. Examples include adverse reaction to anesthesia and the absurdly generic “infection.” The list of complications was not compiled by medical personnel; it was drafted by Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group that drafts pro-life legislation. Still, doctors are required to report to the state any woman who develops one of these 28 conditions IF SHE HAD AN ABORTION AT ANT TIME IN HER LIFE. A doctor who does not comply is fined for the first three violations, then they can lose their medical license. Experts say the point of this oppressive reporting is to allow the state to build a data base they can say reflects complications following abortion—with zero cause and effect established and no mention of the amount of time between the abortion and the supposed complication. Also, once a woman has an abortion, EVERY doctor she sees for the rest of her life is required to report her to the database, which does not sort out duplicate filings; after all, the point is accumulating overwhelming bogus data indicating abortion causes complications—all in support of banning abortion as a dangerous procedure. Texas is Fabricating Abortion Data 5/4/23 https://jessica.substack.com/p/texas-is-fabricating-abortion-data
The Coronavirus
The World Health Organization announced on May 5 the end of its Covid-19 emergency, declared over 3 years ago. However, it cautioned that countries should maintain their Covid response systems.
The latest Omicron variant, called Arcturus/XBB.1.16, is driving a surge in India.
In the US, in the last 2 weeks, the official stats show new cases fell 13% and hospitalizations dropped 15%. Also, deaths decreased 20% to an average of 150 Americans per day. See the chart below for current stats. The national testing positivity rate was 5%. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html
The C.D.C. is scaling back is coronavirus tracking and will no longer report the positive test percentage.
The federal government is lifting vaccination requirements, as the national public health emergency for the coronavirus ends. As of May 11, federal workers and contractors, international travelers, Head Start employees, and health care workers at many hospitals will no longer be required to have been vaccinated. Mandates remain for many employees of the National Institutes of Health, Indian Health Service, and Department of Veterans Affairs; these organizations implemented their own requirements for healthcare staff, which remain until lifted by these organizations.
Currently, in the US, Arcturus causes 10% of cases, and comes with a new symptom—conjunctivitis (pink eye).
Experts say that we in the US are likely experiencing our new normal. Deaths from Covid-19 are the lowest since March of 2020. Case rates have dropped as well (though infections are harder to track now, with home testing). Hospitals aren’t overwhelmed; few Covid patients end up in the ICU on ventilators. Most people sick enough for hospitalization are older, suffer from pre-existing conditions compromising their immune systems or lung function, or haven’t been vaccinated. The improved situation is because nearly everyone now has some form of immunity now–from vaccines, past infection, or both. Plus, for those who do get infected, medications like Paxlovid significantly reduce the risk of serious illness. Finally, while Omicron keeps shifting, no wildly new variant has developed in the last 18 months to challenge our system.
A New York Times article (linked in the section below) published a very extensive interview with Dr. Tony Fauci, looking back at what went right and what went wrong with the US response to Covid-19. I found it very helpful in answering some nagging questions I had. This is where Dr. Fauci started: “I’m a physician. That’s my identity. I’ve taken care of thousands of patients in one period of my life during the early years of H.I.V. I believe that I have seen as much or more suffering and death as anybody has in most careers. I don’t mean to seem preachy, but I don’t want to see people suffer and I don’t want to see people die.”
Here are some key excerpts:
How America failed, compared to the rest of the developed world.
David Wallace-Wells: Three years ago, in March 2020, you and many others warned that Covid could result in as many as 100,000 or 200,000 American deaths, making the case for quite drastic interventions in the way we lived our daily lives. At the time, you thought “worst-case scenarios” of more than a million deaths were quite unlikely. Now here we are, three years later, and, having done quite a lot to try to stop the spread of the virus, we have passed 1.1 million deaths. What went wrong?
Fauci: Something clearly went wrong. And I don’t know exactly what it was. But the reason we know it went wrong is that we are the richest country in the world, and on a per-capita basis we’ve done worse than virtually all other countries. And there’s no reason that a rich country like ours has to have 1.1 million deaths. Unacceptable.
The divisiveness was palpable, just in trying to get a coherent message across of following fundamental public-health principles. I understand that there will always be differences of opinion among people saying, “Well, what’s the cost-benefit balance of restriction or of masks?” But when you have fundamental arguments about things like whether to get vaccinated or not — that is extraordinary.
Wallace-Wells: Even now, when we talk about pandemic response, we focus on things like school closures and masks, but it seems to me that Covid mortality has been shaped much more by the country’s vaccination levels. There have been three times as many American deaths since Election Day 2020 as before. And we’ve done much worse, compared with our peers, since vaccination began than we had before.
Fauci: I mean, only 68 percent of the country is vaccinated. If you rank us among both developed and developing countries, we do really poorly. We’re not even in the top 10. We’re way down there. And then: Why do you have red states that are unvaccinated and blue states that are vaccinated? Why do you have death rates among Republicans that are higher than death rates among Democrats and independents? It should never ever be that way when you’re dealing with a public-health crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen in over a hundred years.
That’s part of it. The other part of it has nothing to do with that divisiveness. It has to do with the fracturing of our health care delivery system in this country. We have let the local public-health and health care delivery system really suffer attrition. And the health disparities — racial and ethnic health disparities. Every country has a little bit of that, but we really have a lot of it.
The success of vaccine production.
Wallace-Wells: Mass vaccination in under a year.
Fauci: How much worse would it have been if we didn’t have a vaccine in 11 months? If it took three years to get a vaccine, we would have had five million deaths here. And the world, instead of having seven million deaths, which is an underestimate —
Wallace-Wells: It’s probably 20 [million dead worldwide.]
Fauci: Yes, it’s probably 20. And it would have been double that without vaccines. So I don’t think we should throw our hands up and say we could not have done any worse.
The failure of vaccine rollout.
Wallace-Wells: And what about rollout? So often Americans talk about vaccine hesitancy as you did a few moments ago: that fewer Republicans than Democrats are vaccinated, and that red states are less vaccinated than blue ones. But in addition to the partisanship gap, there were also large vaccine gaps by education, income and race. What could we have done better to promote vaccination among those groups?
Fauci: David, I don’t have a great answer for you. I don’t know. There are so many complexities involved here. I think we tried. I know we tried. How effective we were, that’s a different story. Even with the vaccine trials, we anticipated reluctance on the part of brown and Black people. And I personally put in a lot of effort, as did Francis Collins and some of my colleagues at the Vaccine Research Center, to make sure that there was proper representation in the clinical trials. But right off the bat, we were dealing with a new type of vaccine, an mRNA vaccine. And there was this smoldering level of suspicion and that divisiveness in the country. And then there was the whole idea of people not getting vaccinated, and then came mandating.
Wallace-Wells: You think that was harmful?
Fauci: Man, I think, almost paradoxically, you had people who were on the fence about getting vaccinated thinking, why are they forcing me to do this? And that sometimes-beautiful independent streak in our country becomes counterproductive. And you have that smoldering anti-science feeling, a divisiveness that’s palpable politically in this country.
The thing that astounded me is that when there were surges of infections in certain regions and the hospitals were being overwhelmed, people were still saying it’s fake news. I mean, people whose loved ones were in the hospital were denying that it was Covid. It seems inconceivable. That’s why I have to say I really don’t know. I wish I had an answer, but some very strange psychodynamics were going on in our country.
The shut downs.
Wallace-Wells: It sounds as if you are talking about this primarily as a phenomenon of the right. But you’ve been criticized a fair amount from the left as well, especially as the Biden years have worn on. This is an oversimplification, but on the right, you could say the main thrust of criticism was that the public response was too heavy-handed. On the left, it has been that it was too hands-off. That in the Biden era, guidance about masking and testing and quarantining were driven less by public-health concerns than by what was seen by the White House as economic, political and social realities — that people wanted to move on, however many people were dying.
Fauci: I certainly think things could have been done differently — and better — on both sides. I mean, anybody who thinks that what we or anybody else did was perfect is not looking at reality. Nothing was done perfectly. But what I can say is that, at least to my perception, the emphasis strictly on the science and public health — that is what public-health people should do. I’m not an economist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not an economic organization. The surgeon general is not an economist. So we looked at it from a purely public-health standpoint. It was for other people to make broader assessments — people whose positions include but aren’t exclusively about public health. Those people have to make the decisions about the balance between the potential negative consequences of something versus the benefits of something.
Certainly there could have been a better understanding of why people were emphasizing the economy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. The C.D.C. was the organization that made those recommendations. I happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations. But show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did. I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that. But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other.
Asymptomatic spread as the game changer no one predicted.
Wallace-Wells: But if you go back in time, if you put yourself in February 2020, you’re telling Helen Branswell,7 for instance, that this virus was low-risk and that you didn’t want to stake your credibility on what could be a false alarm. Do you wish you had said then more emphatically that this is a real, urgent threat and that we need to stand up our defenses immediately?
Fauci: Yeah, I think, retrospectively, we certainly should have done that. If you look at what we knew at the time, though — we didn’t know that in January. We were not fully appreciative of the fact that we were dealing with a highly, highly transmissible virus that was clearly spread by ways that were unprecedented and unexperienced by us. And so it fooled us in the beginning and confused us about the need for masks and the need for ventilation and the need for inhibition of social interaction.
Wallace-Wells: The asymptomatic spread.
Fauci: To me, that was the game-changer. And if we knew that very early on, our strategy for dealing with the outbreak in those early weeks would have been different. So when people say to me, “Could we have done better?” Of course, of course. If you knew many of the things then that now you know, definitely you would want to do things differently.
Why herd immunity never happened.
Fauci: The classical definition of herd immunity has been completely turned upside down by Covid. And let me go through the steps. Herd immunity is based on two premises: one, that the virus doesn’t change, and two, that when you get infected or vaccinated, the durability of protection is measured in decades, if not a lifetime. With SARS-CoV-2, we thought protection against infection was going to be measured in a long period of time. And we found out — wait a minute, protection against infection, and against severe disease, is measured in months, not decades. No. 2, the virus that you got infected with in January 2020 is very different from the virus that you’re going to get infected with in 2021 and 2022.
Wallace-Wells: Sometimes it seems to me we would be better off thinking of Omicron as an entirely different virus. It’s so distinct from not just the ancestral strain but also the early variants.
Fauci: Exactly. The vaccines protected well against infection and disease with Alpha, Beta and Delta. Then along comes Omicron. It evades immunity so well that a vaccine doesn’t even protect very well against infection. So with a changing virus and a duration of immunity that doesn’t last — what is herd immunity for that virus?
The entire interview is illuminating. If interested, go read it all. The link is the last article listed below.
In Texas, in the last 2 weeks, infections stayed the same and hospitalizations dropped 16%. Deaths fell 11%, with an average of 10 Texans dying each day. See the chart below for current stats. The positivity test rate fell to 6.6%. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/texas-covid-cases.html
Recent Covid Articles I Recommend
Do I need a new COVID-19 booster? What to know about new CDC, FDA vaccine recommendations 5/2/23 https://www.statesman.com/story/news/healthcare/2023/05/02/cdc-fda-guidelines-covid-vaccine-booster-2023-austin-texas-updated-recommendations/70150724007/
US to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates next week 5/1/23 https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-mandate-biden-emergency-3a4e68e7e54a005d8cc50b8756813adc
Our Covid Data Project Is Over, but the Need for Timely Data Is Not 4/30/23 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/opinion/pandemic-virus-response.html
Who’s to Blame for a Million Deaths? 4/26/23 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/opinion/whos-to-blame-for-a-million-deaths.html
What’s Going On With Covid Right Now? 4/24/23 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/24/well/live/covid-cases-deaths-spring.html
Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ 4/24/23 Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’