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.