I do. And that's kinda why I posted the meme. :P

Incidentally, my partner and I will be getting our first doses of the COVID vaccine on Monday. I've never been so excited about getting a shot before! :P

We'll be getting it at CVS... but at two different locations, and at different times, but at least on the same day. Booking it online, you kind of have to take what you can get, and you can only book one person at a time.

So we'll both be taking Monday off from work and making a day of it. His appointment is in the morning in Monterey Park, and mine is in the evening in Buena Park. So maybe we'll have Burmese food for lunch, and Korean food for dinner. :P

Oh, and we'll both be Moderna. ;)

I got my second Pfizer this past Monday and it kicked my ass. My wife gets her second Moderna this afternoon and most assuredly it will kick her ass. Definitely worth the agony.

Which location are you doing? I was browsing online and it seemed like CVS was fully booked in all the metro/urban areas. The city nearest to me with an opening was Fresno/Clovis and Chico. Saw a bunch in like Riverside and other outskirt Socal/Central Valley locations like Bakersfield.

Edit: seems like Riverside is now fully booked. Still have openings in the CV though.

I have to travel for work. I've had about 15 flights over the past year during COVID. Delta (I'm in Atlanta, that's the only airline I fly) just announced they are ending their policy of blocking middle seats on May 1. I really wish they'd keep it going a little longer. I've been saying for months that I feel safer traveling than I do going grocery shopping, but that will no longer be the case if I've got a stranger right up on my side for a couple or three hours. I guess I'm going to have to purchase First Class and pass that cost on to my clients, at least for the next few months until much more people are vaccinated and daily new cases drop to much lower levels than they are at right now.

I'll be doing mine in Buena Park (northern Orange County, where Knott's Berry Farm is), and my partner will be doing his in Monterey Park, in a very Chinese part of the San Gabriel Valley.

I had to keep clicking, and different areas would pop up, as well as different dates, and I couldn't choose my date. And then there were times when a location would pop up, but then there were no available times at that location. I used our home ZIP (91030/South Pasadena) and was able to book for my partner at the Monterey Park location, and I used my parents' ZIP (90703/Cerritos) to book for myself at the Buena Park location.

Maybe if you keep trying, you'll get one closer to you.

Could you imagine being the ONE person prosecuted for that? LOL

I saw someone on CNN say that blocking the middle seat isn't as important as keeping the seats in front and behind you empty.

Good policy.

https://abc7news.com/sports/sf-giant...tion/10468373/

From Pasadena Now:

Pasadena Marks 7th Straight Day Without a COVID-19 Death

3 new infections detected Wednesday

BY BRIAN DAY AND CITY NEWS SERVICE
Published on Thursday, April 1, 2021 | 5:52 am

For the seventh day in a row, no COVID-19 fatalities were reported in Pasadena on Wednesday, officials said.

Three new infections raised the city’s total to 11,139, while the local death toll stood at 335, according to Pasadena Public Health Department data.

Officials at Huntington Hospital reported 18 COVID-19 patients still being treated at the facility, with only one of them in an intensive care unit.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported another 40 COVID-19 deaths, lifting the cumulative countywide total to 23,143.

Another 648 cases were also reported, giving the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 1,219,562.

According to state figures, there were 652 people hospitalized in the county due to COVID-19, an increase from 638 on Tuesday. There were 166 people in intensive care units as of Wednesday, up from 158 Tuesday.

Los Angeles County, including Pasadena, reached the threshold to move into the “orange” tier under the state’s reopening guidelines on Tuesday, but health officials at both the county and city levels are holding off until Monday to lift “red” tier restrictions.

Despite the move to the orange tier, health officials continued to preach vigilance, warning that cases have been rising in other states and countries. They said the continued emergence of COVID-19 variants that can spread more easily from person to person could lead to another surge in cases.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barabra Ferrer noted Wednesday that 30 U.S. states and territories are seeing increases in cases, and while she understands the desire of people to move beyond the pandemic, recent scenes of people flocking to beaches and Tuesday night’s celebration by UCLA students following the university’s NCAA tournament victory could lead to another surge.

“Clearly you know when you see overcrowding at beaches, you see events like we saw last night with students having huge parties and none of them really looked like they were wearing their masks, you created a lot of risk — risk for yourself, but unfortunately, risk for a lot of other people,” she said.

“So these … poor choices that people are making right now don’t bode well for anybody in this country, they don’t bode well for us here in L.A. County. They certainly don’t bode well for residents in the rest of the country where, you know, it seems to be more common for some folks to not realize how important it is at this point in time to continue to take protections that still will save lives.”

The California Department of Public Health reported 1,962 new cases of COVID-19 and 148 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the overall totals to 3,568,426 infections and 57,936 fatalities.

The statewide average positivity rate over the prior week increased slightly to 1.8%, up from 1.6% on Tuesday, according to CDPH data.

As of Wednesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 40% of the state’s deaths.

Link: https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/pas...ovid-19-death/

That's interesting. I can see how that would make sense. I've really appreciated the "half full" flights over the past year but it seems like that's about to end. Up in first class they've only been selling half the seats, and it was staggered front to back in the two by two configuration, so most times there wasn't anyone directly in front or back. I never purchase first class but get upgraded frequently due to my years of travel and medallion status. It's just going to feel very different if we go right back to jam packed flights...

From ABC7:

How soon will LA County reach herd immunity?

By Rob Hayes

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles County is now eligible to advance into a less-restrictive tier on the state's color-coded reopening system, but it will wait until Monday to make the move and some rules will be stricter than state guidelines.

As the county prepares for further reopenings, vaccine shortages remains a problem. But county health leaders say if it can average roughly 500,000 doses a week, it will take just 12 weeks to get 80% of people 16 and older vaccinated - a threshold Dr. Anthony Fauci says is required for herd immunity to the virus.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Wednesday expressed confidence that vaccine supplies will continue to improve, with the county projecting that a total of 700,000 doses per week will be dispatched to the county by the end of April.

"If L.A. County receives on average 576,000 doses a week, starting in April, we can expect to reach 80% vaccine coverage for people 16 and older in just 12 more weeks," Ferrer said. "Reaching such a milestone is possible with increased allocations, and it will dramatically change the trajectory of the pandemic here in L.A. County."

This week, however, Ferrer discussed that demand exceeded supply.

"While the number of doses we received increased, the lack of supply does remain our biggest obstacle, as the county could have easily booked almost 300,000 additional appointments this week, but we didn't because we didn't have enough vaccine," Ferrer said.

Ferrer said even though L.A. County residents 50 or older will be eligible for vaccines starting Thursday, there won't be enough shots for everyone.

Meanwhile, with the county gradually easing its COVID-19 safety protocols, the doors to the Natural History Museum open to the public Thursday with limited capacity, and the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum reopens next Thursday.

The move to the orange tier means more capacity at retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants and other attractions, along with an array of other adjustments, including the reopening -- outdoors only -- of bars that don't serve food.

Ferrer said a revised Health Officer Order will be posted on Friday so business owners will be aware of all the new guidelines and have the weekend to adjust their operations accordingly. While the county is largely aligning with state guidelines for the orange tier, it will have some stricter requirements.

Most notably, bars will be limited to outdoor table service only, operating only from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., with a required 8-foot distance between outdoor tables. Although state guidelines allow a lifting of all capacity restrictions on retail establishments in the orange tier, Los Angeles County will impose a 75% limit for grocery stores and other retail operations, while "strongly" recommending they remain at 50% capacity until April 15 to allow time for more workers to get vaccinated.

In accordance with state guidelines, the county will raise the capacity limit from 25% to 50% for movie theaters, churches, museums, zoos, aquariums and restaurants. Fitness center capacity will be increased from 10% to 25%. Card rooms and family entertainment centers can resume indoor operations at 25% capacity.

Breweries and wineries will be able to offer indoor service at 25% capacity. Breweries, wineries and bars will all be allowed to turn on their television sets outdoors, but live entertainment remains prohibited.

It was unclear if the county will continue to ban restaurants from turning on their television sets -- a requirement imposed to prevent gatherings of sports fans.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Link: https://abc7.com/los-angeles-coronav...cine/10466071/

You know the government has too much power when they are mandating businesses can't turn on a tv. My God.

No kidding. And I recall their governor saying restaurant patrons should wear masks between bites and drinks. WTF, lol.

A long fucking time if they don’t open up and wait for everyone to be vaccinated.

Once over 50s are vaccinated, there is no reason not to open up completely.

COVID isn't over. Any discussion about removing mandates is premature. As long as the pandemic exists, I think stores and other indoor places should have two choices: People entering wear masks of show proof of immunity (either vaccination or antibodies from having had COVID and recovered). Obviously, just requiring a mask is the easiest approach. The alternative is to keep indoor commercial activity closed entirely and few people want to keep doing that.

The mandate is not pointless nor "just politics" because right now there's no way to separate the various categories of individuals: Vaccinated, naturally immune, not immune and potentially infected. The easiest approach by far is just asking everybody to wear a mask. And I don't much care about people not liking to be told what to do. I am of the generation that was still subject to a draft and we were told to go die in Vietnam. It's all relative. I do NOT feel your pain.

This was in bars as I recall. The alternative, and what they should have done IMHO, was keep bars closed, at least for indoor service (make do with outdoor "beer gardens"). The bit about TV was to prevent crowds in sports bars but, yes, it's a pretty stupid idea.

There's no doubt the government can keep bars closed. They've always required a government license to operate. Just suspend all on-premises liquor licences.

Did you hear about the no screaming on rollercoasters proposal?

Primal fear of falling to your death is NOT ALLOWED under any circumstances.

And how long will it be in ever-politically correct San Francisco before somebody points out that vaccination rates among affluent whites are far higher than among poorer "people of color" and therefore this policy is severely racist?

The solution here is to pretty much stop regulating outdoor behavior, whether screaming, masks or whatever. The risks are INDOORS or other confined spaces like aircraft cabins.

It was for restaurants as well, and it did help lessen crowds. My partner and I don't give a flying turd about Super Bowl, and it was so nice not having to avoid certain restaurants because we knew loud drunk people would be yelling and booing every so often. We were able to have a nice meal out on Super Bowl Sunday, and we didn't even realize it was Super Bowl Sunday until we got home and I turned on the news.

That person went out of their way to earn it, hence why they're the only one prosecuted for it lol.

30% of Americans, which means 40% of adults, have now gotten at least one dose of vaccine. Studies suggest about 30% of the population has had COVID, whether or not symptomatic. That means around 60% of the adult population (half the total population) should have some degree of immunity.

Todays WSJ reported what one would assume. New cases are concentrated among the unvaccinated: Those between 18 and 34. While these people usually don't end up in ICUs on ventilators, they can get sick enough to require hospitalization and hospitalizations are rising. The presumption is that the increase in infection rates in this group is a combination of the fact that they disproportionately work in jobs involving direct public contact and they disproportionately socialize in groups (as well as the fact that so many of them feel invulnerable and so have abandoned precautions).

Anyway, we should be approaching the point where we can see a "herd immunity" effect, if only in the muting of any new surge. After all, the virus has only half the population to work on.

A mandate after a certain amount of people are vaccinated is pointless and political.

You don't have to feel my pain. I don't have pain lol I am simply not wearing my mask outdoors anymore, its really that simple.

And they decimated the bar and pub industry in the process.

Things in Brazil are desperate as you might know if you’re following the news. Today we broke 3,000 deaths by the 7-day average.

The brightside is more than 1 million doses were administered today and 18.5 million Brazilians got at least 1 dose while over 5 million got both. Let’s see how long it takes for infections and deaths to recede.

Meanwhile, São Paulo’s bars and restaurants are on their knees. It makes me depressed, not sure how long it will take for the city to recover.

But does the pandemic exist if the nation achieves herd immunity?

That assumes that the population of people that have gotten the vaccine have not had COVID.

If we achieve herd immunity meaning only sporadic cases, then no--the pandemic doesn't exist. It's over.

But remember that herd immunity is not a bright line--it's a thing you gradually sneak up on and what I'm waiting for is to see some definite indications we are approaching it.

No, it doesn't.

If 30% of people have had COVID, I only subtracted 30% of the unvaccinated from the total, not 30% of the total population. Check the math.

If 40% of adults have been vaccinated, that leaves 60% unvaccinated. If 30% of the overall population have had COVID, I did NOT add that 30% to the 40% vaccinated to get 70% immune. I took (approximately) 30% of the unvaccinated 60% or 20% and added that to the 40% to get 60% immune.

This is OF COURSE a rough approximation and certainly the percentage who have had COVID is just a guess but 30% is a guess I've read from sources that seem reasonable.

Brazil is still too far from having vaccinated a significant percentage to see any effects. According to Bloomberg it is vaccinating 750,000 people per day (average over last 7 days) but their figures show 23.6 million shots already given (8.8% of the population with 1 or more doses). If they have reached 1 million doses in one day now and can keep that up, it's very good news.

But the horror seems so shocking and Bolsonaro's attitude seems so unsympathetic that an outsider wonders how he remains in office.

Jair Bolsonaro tells Brazilians to stop 'whining' about Covid

I know we aren't supposed to talk politics here but one wonders what the recent military shake-up is really all about.

Brazil: calls grow for removal of 'coup-mongering' Bolsonaro as crisis builds

I'm actually not worried about the industry (as opposed to individual employees in the industry).

I actually hope that in San Francisco a lot of deadwood--places that have seen better days or were living off past glories--will be cleared out and we'll see a renaissance of new, more interesting places (that will hopefully rehire a lot of the workers).

Even here in exurban Arizona, that never really locked down but did ban indoor dining for a while and has now reopened it, I noticed today lots of "help wanted" signs in the windows. It really was striking--just about every place that serves food had one in the window.

Under normal circumstances, Brazil has the ability to vaccinate up to 4 million people a day thanks to its very comprehensive universal healthcare system. It had, on several occasions, vaccinated 10 million people in one single day.

The problem is the lack of vaccines, and as you mentioned that’s up to Bolsonaro that actively and publicly sabotaged every effort to get them last year.

Tens of thousands of deaths, specially on the second wave, could have been easily prevented. There are no words to describe the nightmare the Brazil is into it.

That's a very cold way of looking at the situation. Many restaurant and bar owners have sunk their life savings into their businesses. Some also have no other skill. So they lose their business they lose their homes, their retirements, and have no good job to turn to. Life-shattering in so many ways. Repeat that thousands of times and I don't think a "renaissance" of new hip restaurants means much in comparison.


And regarding the help wanted sign, its obvious what is happening. Low-income people are staying on unemployment because its paying well and it keeps getting extended. Once the government decides to cut people off, those jobs will be filled.

The concern of course is that as the virus mutates the "herd immunity" and individual immunity gets reduced. Does this mean an annual booster covid shot just lke a flu shot? Possibly. I do plan to keep wearing a good mask in indoor public spaces. Better safe than sorry. Hopefully real N95 masks will become easily available intead of cheap knockoffs that don't work. 3M and others have been very slow in cranking out enough N95s to meet demand. The health community gobbles them up and throws them away after just one use.

Even more "life shattering" is going into a crowded bar (or cruise ship etc.) and getting infected with covid. The world is a different place than pre 2020. Sad but true. Hopefully the virus will be defeated, but it keeps mutating so we have to be careful. Potentially a mutant strain could develop that impacts younger people more severely just like the 1918 flu did. The young have to change their behaviors. These "spring break" wild parties are endangering everyone. Colleges should end spring break until covid is defeated.

Life shattering for whom? Not the young, who generally shake off Covid quickly if they have symptoms at all. Unvaccinated old or otherwise vulnerable people shouldn’t be going to bars.

When the elderly are vaccinated, then Covid is as “defeated” as it ever will be. Deaths are still plummeting even as cases tick up slightly. It will never be eliminated and some people will continue to die from it every year, as with flu.

....Said nobody like, ever......

Or, to reiterate: young people going to a bar and getting COVID are not experiencing a "life shattering" event. You're talking about mortality rates in the fractions of a percent.

Now, if you're an elderly person or a person with a lot of major health problems, you haven't been vaccinated, and you enter a crowded bar and get Covid....well, that's your fault.

yeah COVID works like that.......

I agree. The industry was not "decimated." Anecdotally, I've seen that as things have been starting to open up again, many of the restaurants that were temporarily closed are now open again for business. Totally new restaurants and bars have opened up as well. I felt more sorry for the workers who were laid off. Even before the pandemic, brand new mom and pop restaurants often failed within 2 or 3 years. People who start businesses either have a lot of money to begin with and/or really good credit. If they go out of business, it's a tax write-off for them. This is why I feel more sorry for employees who work for other people (and can lose their jobs at the drop of a hat) than for business owners.

You see that where I live too, and it's obvious what's happened; when these restaurants switched to take out/delivery only, they laid off some staff. I know that some restaurant owners told those employees that they would rehire them once they're allowed to do dine-in again. But, many of those laid off employees found other jobs in the meantime, so those restaurants that have opened up again now have to hire/train new staff.

Many of the new places have the same owners as the old places. It's just a "freshening" of format. As for the "life savings" of the owners of failed places, the restaurant industry has one of there highest turnover/failure rates of any industry. It goes with the territory. And somebody who simply closes up shop right now may not lose as much as you think--they often can get out of future lease payments due to rent relief and other obligations they normally might have. I'm not crying for them.

Meanwhile, as far as those poor folks who won't worK:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/march-j...21-11617314225

6% unemployment would have been considered decent in times past. Once we though 5% unemployment was "full employment" until we achieved much lower levels.

As you may know, this pandemic has triggered a new era in "mask research":

https://www.wsj.com/articles/high-te...6846402?page=1

By the way, I doubt you'll have to get a new vaccine every year. The key antigen on the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the spike protein and only mutations on that protein matter and not even all of them. As we've already seen, the current vaccines still work quite well against viruses with one or more mutations. Ongoing research is likely to find relatively stable segments of RNA coding for portions of the spike protein against which antibodies can be made that will avoid random mutations of the virus.

3 million/day!! That's almost 1% of the US population per day (it's more than 1% of adults) or, assuming a 2-shot vaccine, ½% fully vaccinated per day.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...391092/enhance
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/c...-distribution/

By the way--I'm always impressed by Chile. They are among the global standouts but especially in Latin America. According to The NY Times they are using a combination of the Pfizer vaccine and China's Coronavac. Trials in Brazil showed this Chinese vaccine to be "50.4% effective at preventing symptomatic infections, 78% effective in preventing mild cases needing treatment, and 100% effective in preventing severe cases." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoronaVac]

Good summary. I had read that mask upgrades were coming, but not in this detail. Hopefully enough will be made that everyone who is vulnerable can get them, not just medical people.

That's not grounded in reality. Yes, right now, we're dealing with a pandemic and should act accordingly but unrealistic to expect social creatures (people) to stop being social indefinitely especially those in their late teens/ early 20's (prime social years).

We are going to return to the way things were (gradually) and not a whole lot there is to do about it...mutations or not. Those who are still paranoid or most at risk will still have the option not too be exposed to crowds but the rest of us are beyond ready to start living again.

Are you opposed to these mass gatherings of young people without masks that we have seen on the news in places like Miami Beach?

At some point the virus could mutate to a form more hurtful to young people. The 1918 flu was very harmful to younger people vulnerable to "cytokine storms". Plus the long term impacts of covid are still unknown. Some young people have shown long term impacts already like "brain fog" and other problems. Not just an old person's disease. I think people want the young to behave more responsibly. Go have fun, but at least wear masks and avoid big crowds, and get vaccinated. Is that asking too much?

^ Yes, I am (opposed to them).

But for different reasons than you are.

Those young people aren't really in danger of anything, hence it's not a "life-shattering event" as you put it.

But they will continue to spread virus around, in a time when we are still FAR from herd immunity from the vaccine. That is why I think it's a problem.

Knowing WHY something is a problem is the most important thing. That is how you effectively deal with a pandemic without shutting people out of their lives needlessly.

The problem is that a lot of independent owners will be wiped out financially, and landlords will replace them with the easiest alternatives with the strongest covenants. In order words, chain restaurants.

This is not speculation. It's already fact.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ming-new-shift

At some point the planet could be a destroyed by an asteroid. If you want to be a hyperbolic hypochondriac suit yourself, but don’t expect others to be as fearful.

For almost all young, healthy people Covid is no big deal. Even complaining about a few days of bad flu symptoms is just millennial whining.

I’ve been taking no precautions beyond the required (masks in shops and the gym, etc), but I was careful around my mother, who is the only person over 60 that I come into direct contact with as long as we are remote for work. And I’ve always washed my hands a lot - I didn’t realise that was so uncommon.

I really need to get an antibody test. I suspect that I had Covid early on (pre-“pandemic”) but there was no testing then. I’m curious whether I’ve picked it up again since I’ve been in Florida.