The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-09)

THURSDAY, JUNE 9 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU B5

to Park Service staff.
The virus is highly contagious
among some wild birds and can
be deadly for bald eagles and
vultures, the Park Service said.
Mallards are less likely than
many other waterfowl species to
show signs of disease and can be
infected without appearing sick.
The term “highly pathogenic”
refers to the significant illness
and mortality in poultry and
other domestic birds that results
from infection with this virus,
the Park Service said.
Elsewhere in the area, 80 black
vultures in Maryland’s Harford

DUCKS FROM B1 County were recently found dead
due to the virus near wildlife
areas along the Susquehanna
River, officials have said. Vul-
tures can be infected by scaveng-
ing infected dead birds.
They were among about 950
cases in wild birds, including at
least 54 bald eagles.
Maryland and Delaware agri-
culture authorities said they
have had reports of chickens at
farms being infected with the
bird flu since February. The vul-
tures were found in recent
weeks.
“The numbers are just stagger-
ing in terms of the poultry,”
Charlie Broaddus, the state vet-

erinarian in Virginia, said last

month.

One of the biggest factors in

the bird flu’s spread this year, he

said, is that it’s being carried by

wild ducks and geese that are

infected but “don’t typically be-

come affected” by it.

“They’re carriers,” Broaddus

said, “but the genetic sequence

has the potential to make domes-

tic birds much, much sicker.”

Broaddus said the farms that

have hens producing eggs that

“end up in the supermarket” tend

to be large-scale operations,

where the flu can spread quickly.

Sometimes, he said, chickens

at farms become infected when a

farmer or worker “accidentally

tracks through goose droppings

near a pond” and then brings it

into the chicken facility.

“It takes just one to be infected

before they spread it to others,”

Broaddus said.

Many wild birds don’t always

show signs of the virus, but it can

easily be transmitted between

the animals through their drop-

pings or through respiratory se-

cretions, experts said.

Agricultural officials at the

Delaware-Maryland HPAI Joint

Information Center said they

were especially concerned about

the vultures because they’re scav-

engers, and “if they eat a bird

infected with avian influenza,

whether it’s a migratory bird

such as a [Canada] goose, other

waterfowl, or another vulture,

they will ingest the virus and

then can get sick and die.”

“We want to ensure [that peo-

ple] are taking steps to stop the

spread of the virus so that they

don’t inadvertently transport it

to other areas heavily populated

with wild birds,” said Stacey

Hofmann, a spokeswoman for

the joint information center.

Agriculture experts with the

center have advised the public to

“help limit the spread of the

disease by not moving bird drop-

pings via their shoes to other

wild-bird habitats.”

People should also change

their shoes and clean off dirty

shoes after they’ve visited a wild

or natural area.

Spraying shoe bottoms with a

common household cleaner such

as Lysol or a diluted bleach spray

will kill the avian influenza virus,

according to an information cen-

ter statement. For those with pet

birds or poultry at home, officials

recommend people “wash your

hands, change clothes, and clean

your shoes after visiting areas

where wild birds frequent.”

Dana Hedgpeth contributed

reporting to this report.

A ‘die-off’ of more than a dozen ducklings discovered at r eflecting pool on Mall

BY JUSTIN JOUVENAL

AND NICOLE ASBURY

Authorities are weighing
whether to file charges in a high-
speed crash that killed two North-
ern Virginia high school students
and seriously injured a third Tues-
day as they walked on a sidewalk
near their campus, Fairfax County
police said Wednesday.
Police said they are still await-
ing more data — particularly from
a BMW that they believe was
speeding when it collided with
another vehicle and careened into
the trio of Oakton High School
girls — before making a final deci-
sion on charges.
“Detectives are executing
search warrants for the airbag-
control module to determine the
speed of the vehicle and other
electronic data that explains what
the vehicle was doing prior to the
crash,” said Howard Ludwig, a
Fairfax County police spokesman.
Police did not identify the driv-
er of the BMW but said he was an

18-year-old graduate of the Vien-

na-area school. The crash came

just days before summer vacation.

Police also have not identified

the girls who were struck, citing a

Virginia law that prevents author-

ities from naming juvenile victims

of crimes without parental con-

sent.

One of the girls remained hospi-

talized Wednesday. Those in the

vehicles were also injured but less

seriously, police said.

The crash occurred about 11:45

a.m. Tuesday when the BMW hit a

Toyota 4Runner on Blake Lane,

which runs near the school, ac-

cording to Fairfax County police.

At the time, the 4Runner was

heading north and attempting to

make a left-hand turn onto Five

Oaks Road, police said. The BMW

was heading south.

The BMW hit the 4Runner, rico-

cheted off the side of the road and

struck the three girls on a sidewalk

before hitting a pole and coming

to a stop, police said. The girls had

just crossed Blake Lane before the

crash.

Fairfax County police said they

believe speed played a role in the

crash, but not alcohol.

On Wednesday, students from

Oakton and other high schools, as

well as nearby residents, lay flow-

ers and balloons at the intersec-

tion where the crash occurred.

Jacqueline Hinojosa, 22, came

to the site with her younger sister,

a freshman at Oakton who spoke

on the condition of anonymity to

protect her privacy. The younger

sister said she knew the girls who

died.

They were all good students at

the school, Hinojosa’s sister said.

One would share her detailed

notes with other classmates to

help them out, the girl said. There

were counselors available at the

school Wednesday and the teach-

ers were grief-stricken, the girl

said.

Oakton is on an early release

schedule this week, the last week

of the school year.

Hinojosa said she saw back-

packs on the road Tuesday when

she was crossing the street after

picking up one of her sisters from

school.

“We were just going to come

and lay flowers, so the parents

know they’re in our prayers,” Hi-

nojosa said.

Andrea Falkenhagen, a mother

of two who lives along Blake Lane,

said speeding is a well-known

problem on the road, which has

four lanes, a median and a 35-mph

speed limit. In 2002, she said, a

local news website dubbed Blake

Lane “Vienna’s Race Track” in an

article that discussed the death of

another Oakton High student in a

crash there the previous year.

That is especially concerning,

she said, because many students

are in the area from two nearby

schools.

Falkenhagen said she is work-

ing with area residents and county

officials to organize a meeting to

address the issues. She said she

would like to see the speed limit

lowered on Blake Lane and more

speeding enforcement on the

stretch.

“I’ve lost count of how many

times I’ve had called to 911 for

accidents that have happened

right beyond my home,” Falkenha-

gen said.

Salvador Rizzo contributed to this

report.

VIRGINIA

Police consider filing charges in high-speed crash that killed two students

NICOLE ASBURY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Flowers at Blake Lane and Five Oaks Road in Fairfax County,

where two Oakton High School students were killed on Tuesday.

ly share their lived experience
and understand where they are
coming from,” he said, standing
in front of a rainbow balloon
arch.
The clinic provides primary
care, including preventive care
and health screenings, as well as
pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
for HIV prevention and gender-
affirming care, including coun-
seling for youths and adults about
health, gender identity and sexu-
ality.
Inova President and CEO J.
Stephen Jones said the clinic has
been in the works since he came
to Inova in 2018 from the Cleve-
land Clinic, where he was part of a
similar effort to expand access to
care.
“The need is obvious,” he said.
“We have a community of people
who have historically been under-
served ... both their health-care
needs, their mental health needs,
their need to be cared for in a
place where they feel they be-
long.”
LGBTQ youths are more than
four times as likely to attempt
suicide than their peers, accord-
ing to studies analyzed by the
Trevor Project, which focuses on

PRIDE CLINIC FROM B1

suicide prevention.

Karen Berube, vice president of

community and population

health at Inova, said she recog-

nized the need for the clinic 20-

some years ago as an Inova behav-

ioral health therapist intern in

HIV clinics.

“I am hopeful that with this

clinic there will never be another

adolescent who feels scared,

afraid or alone or feels they need

to take their lives because they

can’t get the care they need be-

cause of their identity,” she said.

The space, formerly home to

one location of Inova’s Juniper

Program, which provides HIV/

AIDS care, has six exam rooms,

four counseling rooms and two

all-gender bathrooms, all painted

in a calming sea-foam green, with

rainbow flag logos at the front

desk and nurses’ station.

Waving the flag is important to

ensure access to people who may

have been traumatized by previ-

ous experiences, said Hector Var-

gas, executive director at GLMA:

Health Professionals Advancing

LGBTQ Equality, previously

known as the Gay and Lesbian

Medical Association.

“There’s study after study that

show the LGBTQ+ community

have negative experiences in

health care,” Vargas said in an

interview. “These alarming in-

stances lead to a delay in LGBTQ+

people seeking care and generally

not having much trust in the

health-care system.”

Inova contacted advocacy and

nonprofit groups serving the

community, including the Gay

Men’s Health Collaborative, and

plans to have a presence at the DC

Pride Festival this weekend, Ra-

mallo said.

Inova providers commonly re-

fer patients to clinics that special-

ize in LGBTQ+ care in D.C., such

as the Whitman-Walker Health, a

community health center with

multiple locations in the District

and plans to expand the Max

Robinson Center on the campus

of Saint Elizabeths in fall 2023.

The center expects to triple its

capacity to 15,000 at the new

space, which will double as the

headquarters for its research, pol-

icy and education arm.

About 68 percent of Whitman-

Walker’s patients live in the Dis-

trict, 18 percent in Maryland and

13 percent in Virginia, according

to 2021 data from the health

center, and spokeswoman Abby

Paige Fenton noted that patients

come from as far away as West

Virginia and South Carolina.

The Inova Pride Clinic opened

with one dedicated physician,

nurse and receptionist, but the

health system is searching for a

clinical behavioral health thera-

pist, with plans to expand further

based on the need. The health

system is funding the clinic, but

officials see a place for philan-

thropy, too.

“Having the opportunity to get

the culturally and clinically com-

petent care you need where you

live for most everyone else is not a

second thought. That is what you

come to expect, but that is not

true for the LGBTQ+ and other

underserved communities,” Var-

gas said.

Kaiser in D.C. and Chase Brex-

ton and Hopkins in Baltimore

also provide LGBT-specific care,

as do clinics in Richmond and

Norfolk. GLMA, a national associ-

ation of LGBTQ health profes-

sionals, maintains a national di-

rectory of providers online with

plans to update it this month.

Montgomery County officials

on Wednesday announced that

they are seeking responses to an

LGBTQ+ community survey col-

lecting anonymous feedback

about health and wellness, access

to resources and services, experi-

ences of discrimination and other

aspects of residents’ lives in the

community.

“We designed the survey to

elicit actionable responses. We

don’t plan to sit on this data. We

plan to use it to create a safer and

more affirming Montgomery

County for the LGBTQ+ commu-

nity,” said Amena Johnson, the

county’s LGBTQ liaison.

Ramallo, a Springfield native

certified in internal medicine and

pediatrics, recently returned to

the area with his partner from

Wisconsin. He received his medi-

cal degree from Yale School of

Medicine and completed his resi-

dency at the University of Illinois

in Chicago, and became HIV med-

ical director of the Sixteenth

Street Community Health Cen-

ters in Milwaukee.

Despite his training, Ramallo

noted that he, too, has experi-

enced discrimination in the

health-care system. “So it is some-

thing that is very close to my

heart, for sure,” he said.

In a first for Northern Virginia, Inova offers health clinic for LGBTQ+ patients

INOVA

The waiting room of the Inova Pride Clinic, which opened in Falls

Church with one dedicated physician, nurse and receptionist.

BY DANA HEDGPETH

For the second year in a row,
peregrine falcon chicks have suc-
cessfully fledged at Harpers Ferry
National Historic Park, and wild-
life experts said they’re excited
because it’s a sign of how the birds
have made a comeback from be-
ing endangered.
Peregrine falcons hadn’t been
at the park in West Virginia for
much of the past 70 years.
Last year, a male falcon in the
area mated with a female and had
three chicks, but only one sur-
vived.
This spring, the same male fal-
con mated with a different female
falcon, and they had four chicks,
of which three survived. The three
chicks have “entered the fledgling
phase after they developed feath-
ers enabling them to fly,” accord-
ing to a statement from the Na-
tional Park Service.
“To have a second year in a row,
and to have three — it’s very, very
exciting,” said Leah Taber, a
spokeswoman for the Harpers
Ferry park.
Officials said they’re not sure
what caused one of the chicks to
die but said it could have been
eaten by a predator, or other
chicks could have crowded it out

of feeding in the nest — both

common problems as chicks have

a high mortality rate, according to

NPS.

Peregrine falcons are consid-

ered one of the fastest-flying birds

in the world and reach speeds of

up to 240 mph when they dive or

“stoop” to hunt, park experts said.

They’re about the size of a crow

and have long, pointed wings and

tapered tails that help with their

aerodynamics and speed. Often

they were found along rocky cliffs

and mountains throughout the

United States when they were

more numerous in the 1930s and

1940s.

At Harpers Ferry, they have

been known to frequent Maryland

Heights, which is on the Maryland

side of the Potomac River near Elk

Ridge, as far back as the late

1880s.

But their population suffered

throughout the United States

starting in the 1950s, when pesti-

cides like DDT — which was

banned in 1972 — were widely

used to save crops from insects.

The falcons would prey on small

birds that had ingested poisoned

insects, and that caused the fe-

male falcons to produce eggs that

did not have enough calcium,

making them crack easily.

They were nearly wiped out

along the East Coast and were on

the endangered species list.

In the past few decades, they’ve

made a comeback after extensive

work to breed them in captivity

and return them to the wild. In

1999, peregrine falcons were tak-

en off the endangered species list,

although they are still protected

under the Migratory Bird Treaty

Act.

Peregrine falcons still face

threats from humans and devel-

opment. They have learned to

adapt and often make nests under

man-made structures like bridges

or on office building ledges that

mimic cliffs and ridges. Peregrine

falcons do not make a nest with

sticks and grass, but instead etch

or scrape a spot on a rock ledge to

lay eggs.

More than 6,000 captive-bred

peregrine falcons were reintro-

duced in 34 states between 1974

and 1997. Maryland and Virginia

now have more than 50 pairs of

“successfully breeding” peregrine

falcons, according to wildlife ex-

perts.

They’re still considered rare in

Maryland and West Virginia, ex-

perts said, and a pair hadn’t been

seen at Harpers Ferry in decades.

Before 2021, there hadn’t been a

“successful hatchling and fledg-

ling at Harpers Ferry” since the

early 1950s, Taber said.

In the early 2000s, the park

service relocated peregrine fal-

cons from man-made structures

to Harpers Ferry, but none re-

turned to nest there.

Eventually, there were more

sightings of individual peregrine

falcons, but none ever stayed until

2015, when an adult female was

seen regularly at Maryland

Heights. Since then, several pere-

grine falcons have nested, but no

pair had successfully hatched

chicks until last year, officials said.

Female peregrine falcons typi-

cally lay a “clutch of three to five

eggs each spring,” park officials

said, and the “pair share incuba-

tion duties which last about 33

days.” At about 12 weeks of age,

juveniles start to “hunt and care

for themselves,” Taber said.

Park staff and volunteers have

spotted the three fledglings and

their parents this spring soaring

around the park’s Maryland

Heights area.

“We are thrilled to see another

successful breeding season,” Mia

Parsons, resources manager at the

park, said in a statement.

The falcons at Harpers Ferry

came back after not having been

there for seven decades, and Taber

said it’s a sign that “they’re adapt-

ing.”

“They’re a strong pair that’s

come here, and they’re using this

area in a heavily congested part of

our park and having successful

fledgling,” Taber said.

NPS officials said at the Harp-

ers Ferry park that they rely heavi-

ly on volunteers, who were the

first to spot the trio of fledglings

and help in observations about

the falcons’ “behaviors, mating,

hatching and feeding.”

The falcons at Harpers Ferry

are managed in a joint effort by

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

Maryland Department of Natural

Resources and the NPS.

Parts of the Harpers Ferry

park’s rock climbing areas and

trails will be closed to visitors at

this time to try to help protect the

fledglings and their parents from

“human interference and give the

peregrines essential space for

breeding and nesting,” officials

said.

Visitors can see the falcons with

a pair of binoculars from the

Point, according to park officials.

THE REGION

In a sign of a comeback, peregrine falcon chicks take flight at Harpers Ferry

J. KELLY/VOLUNTEER/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

A peregrine falcon, one of the fastest-flying birds in the world, is

seen around the Maryland Heights cliffs at Harpers Ferry.