< Previous20 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 IT’S A BUST, BABY LOCKDOWN HASN’T LED TO MORE BIRTHS Story by EMMA COLLINS | Photo by JENNIFER REYNOLDS WHEN THE UNITED STATES FIRST WENT INTO LOCKDOWN at the start of the coronavirus pandemic almost a year and a half ago, some ex- perts predicted increased time at home would lead to a baby boom. But 18 months later, statistics are showing the opposite. What was predicted to be a baby boom was, in many places, more like a baby bust. “It appears the economic uncer- tainties that were caused during the pandemic are resulting in a drop in births rather than the surge everyone predicted,” said Jerome Yaklic, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Nationally, birth rates had been trend- ing downward for years, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, there were 58.3 births for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. That was down 6.7 percent from 2015 when the rate was 62.5 births for every 1,000 women, according to the CDC. That was the fifth year in a row the birth rate had declined. Texas, too, had seen a downward trend, according to data from the Tex- as Department of State Health Services. In 2017, there were 381,876 births. In 2020, there were 368,321 births, a 3.5 percent decrease. And data from the first four months of 2021 shows the number of births from January to April was lower than in the same months in past five years. THE ANTICIPATED BOOM Why people predicted a boom was simple. More people were working from home, leading to them spending more time together. They also weren’t going out, leaving more free time at home. As a result, some people predicted that nine months after the start of the pandemic, the United States would see an increase in births. “With the lockdown happening, everyone just assumed that it would cause more close quarters and allow people to get pregnant a little bit easier just because of time,” said Raphny John- son, a board certified OB-GYN at HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake. The phenomenon that was expect- ed is similar to what is predicted af- ter big snow storms or the increase in births in northern states after winter, Yaklic said.2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 21 WHY THE DECREASE But that anticipated boom never ap- peared. Instead, there has been a 5 per- cent to 10 percent decrease in births na- tionwide, Yaklic said. That trend has been reflected in Galveston County, he said. In December 2020, the first month in which pandemic-made babies would have been born, there were 351 births in Galveston County, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. In that same month in 2019, 371 babies were born. That’s a 5.4 percent decrease. That decrease might have been be- cause of one of the reasons people ini- tially anticipated a baby boom — stay- ing inside. “You’re not able to have date night,” Yaklic said. “You’re afraid to go out. The restaurants are all closed.” Staying inside also meant a loss in romantic interactions, Yaklic said. Some couples also were forced to postpone their weddings because of limitations on large gatherings, which also may have delayed how soon they got preg- nant, he said. COVID also has brought with it in- creased anxiety, whether that be about health or finances. “Research has shown people are a lit- tle more anxious, going out less, social distancing more,” Johnson said. “Those all can cause a decline.” SOME SEE AN INCREASE But not every hospital has reported that downward trend. Johnson’s hos- pital has seen an increase in births, although she’s not sure why. In August, the hospital saw a record number of deliveries, with numbers that hadn’t been seen since September 2016, said An- nette Garber, media relations at HCA Healthcare. “I think our patients are ready; even though it’s a difficult time, they feel secure in going into the hospital,” Johnson said. Although he initially saw a decrease in births, Yaklic began to notice a slight uptick in the number of appointments with OB-GYNs in the late summer and early fall, he said. And since babies take nine months to develop, there may be a slight bump in the birth rate in late 2021 and early 2022. Dr. Jerome L. Yaklic, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Ruby Ochoa, a medical assistant in the department, have yet to see a baby boom from the pandemic. “I don’t think they’re choosing not to have them. I think they’re delaying when to have them.” Dr. Jerome Yaklic “The question is: Is the bump sustain- able?” he said. A FUTURE BOOM? Whether this new boom will come to fruition remains to be seen. The vi- rus continues to mutate, but it also has become part of life. And while a post- COVID baby boom might happen next year, that concept presents its own chal- lenge, Yaklic said. “What do we mean by post-COVID?” he said. “We’re still sort of in it.” The waning of COVID that happened over the summer might have prompted some couples who had been waiting to get pregnant to go ahead and do it now, Yaklic said. But a lot of what happens with the birth rate over the next year will depend largely on what happens with the pandemic, he said. “I don’t think they’re choosing not to have them,” he said. “I think they’re de- laying when to have them.” MAKING TRAVEL REARRANGEMENTS OUTDOORS, CONTACTLESS TECHNOLOGY NEW TRENDS FOR TOURISM Story by KERI HEATH | Photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 23 WHEN THE PANDEMIC SHUT DOWN THE WORLD 18 MONTHS AGO , Gabriel and Marianna Fregoso decided to finally invest in something they’d only ever rented: an RV. The Houston residents sat outside their RV untangling porch lights at the Jamaica Beach RV Park, 17200 FM 3005, on a sunny Friday in September. “It was going to be hard to travel,” Gabriel Fregoso said. “We like to travel. Everything was closed. Texas is beau- tiful.” Now, the family, with their daughter Francesca and dog Santos, travel once a month and enjoy visiting Galveston and the beach. The pandemic threw the tourism and hospitality industries into temporary chaos. But some of the changes and adaptations meant to help people keep their distance helped the RV industry and added new services at hotels. The contactless technology and moves toward self-guided and outdoor activities that became staples of pan- demic tourism likely will have long- term effects and remain relevant long after normal travel resumes. Since the initial lockdown ended in May, Galveston’s East End Lagoon and Dellanera RV Park have become in- creasingly popular, said Michael Woody, chief tourism officer for the Galveston Park Board of Trustees. The park board manages the parks and island beaches. Outdoor activities are really growing in popularity, he said. “We’re seeing that people are lean- ing into those types of experiences,” Woody said. “Motor home sales, or mo- bile home sales, really went through the roof during the pandemic.” And now that people have invested in those big purchases, they’ll likely want to get several years of good use out of them, he said. Jamaica Beach RV Park has been full more often in the last year, manager Aric Salois said. It’s typical for holidays to book up a Above: Houston residents Gabriel Fregoso, his wife, Marianna, their daughter, Francesca, and their dog, Santos, travel at least once a month in the RV they purchased during the pandemic. Opposite: Overlooking the beach, Jamaica Beach RV Resort is nearly full of RVs and travel trailers. More people are renting and purchasing RVs during the pandemic.24 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 year out, he said. “Now, with the summer, we’re seeing trends where the weekends will start filling in anywhere from eight months in advance,” Salois said. “You’ve got to book four months in advance for sum- mer weekdays. You can’t even get in the Fourth of July.” Even when tourists didn’t visit the outdoors, social distancing practiced during the pandemic meant a shift to- ward technology and contactless expe- riences. The park board introduced more self-guided tours that visitors could ac- cess on their phones, Woody said. “You can do it on your own and with whatever size group you want to be in,” Woody said. New technology also has made a sig- nificant change in hotel operations, said Jeff Ossenkop, general manager of The Tremont Hotel, 2300 Mechanic St. Within the past 18 months, the ho- tel set up a texting system so guests can ask questions, request a room be cleaned or other services through text, he said. The hotel is working on taking that a step further next year by moving many services to guests’ phones, he said. “You can use your phone to check in and never have to go to the desk,” Ossenkop said. “You can open the door on your phone.” With guests looking for minimal con- tact, concierge services — such as re- questing dinner spots and making car reservations — also have gone digital, Ossenkop said. “They’ve installed this really cool dig- ital touch screen in the lobby that acts as a digital concierge,” Ossenkop said. A human concierge will come back, but the digital tools will stay, he said. What’s also probably going to stay for a while is more people driving to Gal- veston, Woody said. While air travel will return, many peo- ple in Texas have been reintroduced to Galveston, he said. “There is so much to do here,” Woody said. And the fact Galveston is so close to major Texas cities makes it easy to mar- ket, he said. “If it’s close, and you know you can get there pretty easily, you can decide on Friday after work, ‘let’s go,’” Woody said. Friends and family Christian Tobar, clockwise from left, A.J. Gonzalez, Ronald Alviz, his dog Luna, Miriam Gonzalez, Yorlady Garcia, Giancarlo D’croz and Lida Garcia relax and visit between their RVs at Jamaica Beach RV Resort.2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 25 TEXAS CITY OFFICE 7111 Medical Cnt., Suite 105 409-938-1700 LEAGUE CITY OFFICE 3891 E. 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HOME • WINDSTORM FLOOD • AUTO • FIRE CONDO • COMMERCIAL BUILDERS RISK • BONDS 1703 Tremont Galveston, TX 77550 409-765-901126 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 ADAPT AND OVERCOME PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY, ALREADY PREPARED FOR PANDEMIC, CONTINUES TO ADJUST TO CHALLENGES Story by EMMA COLLINS | File photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS AS INDUSTRIES AROUND THE COUN- TRY STRUGGLED to adapt during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, one industry al- ready was prepared. The petrochemical industry has worked for years to reduce hazards in the workplace, and many companies already had plans in place for pandemics because of the global connect- edness of the industry, said Lara Swett, vice president of technical and safety programs for American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade association for the industry. “This industry is very resilient,” she said. “They have a history of identifying hazards and mitigating hazards. So, adjusting in terms of protecting their employees, that’s just what they do.” Adapting to the virus meant adopting practic-2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 27 es that other industries also had to adopt, such as maintaining social distancing, wearing per- sonal protective equipment and finding ways to identify infected employees. But rather than draft new pandemic plans like many industries had to do, companies in the petrochemical in- dustry simply had to pull out plans that al- ready existed. “For us, we actually had a pandemic plan for our site based on one of the SARS outbreaks,” said Michael Meyer, manager at Ashland Inc.’s chemical manu- facturing plant, 4501 Attwater Ave. in Texas City. But the severity and longevity of the pan- demic forced the indus- try to reevaluate those plans, adapting them for what would turn out to be a much longer pandemic than expected. “When we quickly got into COVID, it was prob- ably a lot more severe and we realized we need- ed to dust our pandemic plan off,” Meyer said. SAFETY MEASURES Early on, employees in the petrochemical industry were recognized as essential workers. This meant they were exempt from orders to stay at home and many had to go in to work despite the virus. Although some employees were able to work from home, some functions of plant operation had to be done in person. Across the industry, companies put in place distance guidelines and required employees to wear personal protective equipment, Swett said. But because plant employees already had to wear pro- tective equipment, the added layer was not a big challenge, she said. “They adapted very quickly and a lot of that had to do with that the industry has always been identifying hazards and mitigating against them,” she said. Locally, Ashland created a series of four phases based on how the community was do- ing with COVID, Meyer said. In phase 4, the “This industry is very resilient. They have a history of identifying hazards and mitigating hazards. So, adjusting in terms of protecting their employees, that’s just what they do.” Lara Swett28 | The Daily News | Latitude 29 | 2021 most restrictive, all employees had to wear KN95 masks, which meet strict standards, and stay 6 feet apart. “We actually issued every employ- ee their own keyboard and their own mouse early on in this thing so they could come in and not have to worry about their stuff being sanitized,” he said. Employees who worked together also were grouped in their own break area to prevent people from mingling and spreading the virus, Meyer said. “We kind of put different projects and contractors on their own island and didn’t let them interact with the rest of the plant,” he said. Companies also saw an increased use in technology, Swett said. This meant using cell phones, drones and robots more frequently and adopting remote training, she said. “People still need to get the adequate training they need,” she said. MANUFACTURING GOALS Some companies in the petrochemi- cal industry also began manufacturing new products, Swett said. Many started making hand sanitizer as the demand for hand sanitizer rose, while others pivoted to making products that were used in N95 masks, she said. “The industry has really been sup- portive of developing PPE for the health care industry and first responders,” she said. It also was important to continue mak- ing the products that people needed. Ashland, which manufactures polyvi- nylpyrrolidone, an inactive ingredient in medicine used as a binder for cap- sules and granules, among other things, felt the pressure to continue to meet the demand for its products, Meyer said. “Definitely during this time, it’s im- portant for us to make sure we’re able to supply because everyone around the world needs their medicine still,” he said. And although the company was suc- cessful, the pandemic just added to an already complex process. “It just added a whole other layer of complexity to everything that we do every day,” he said. ADAPTING FOR THE FUTURE It is too soon to tell how the pan- demic will permanently change the pet- rochemical industry, Swett and Meyer agree. The increase in the delta variant sent some companies back to using protections they had discarded when the pandemic appeared to be lessening. “I think that’s a hard question to ask right now because we had a point where some of the sites were limiting the restrictions they had during the summer and now a lot of those had to come back because of the delta vari- ant,” Swett said. Meyer is hopeful the industry will eventually return to normal. The situa- tion is supposed to improve next year, but the future remains uncertain, he said. “We don’t know if this is here to stay or something that’s going to clear up and allow us to go back to normal,” he said. 2021 | Latitude 29 | The Daily News | 29 m oody m ansion a G alveston t reasure Tour the home of W.L. Moody, Jr., one of America’s wealthiest people in the 1900s. 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