Staying the Course -- January 12, 2021

[Superbob]

Well, tomorrow (Jan.13) is a big day for we South Carolinians who check all the ancient and decrepit boxes. We can schedule appointments for our vaccinations. We will have a website to give us locations of vaccine providers and a phone number to direct us (let's hope) to the right scheduler for us. Let us hope it all works. DW and I both have decided to get the shots -- hopefully to protect us but more broadly to help our country get through this diabolical pandemic.

WIll let you know how it goes. That's about all for now. I am worn out already with 2021 -- all the stress, strife, hate, and negativity that it's yielded in less than two weeks. Praying that better days lie ahead.

Cheers,
Superbob

 

[rich01]

I don't know if this would work or not, but it might. Grocery store workers are essential workers and grocery stores have high turnover. If you want to jump the line, you might be able to get a part-time job at a grocery store and get your vaccination now.

Another possibility which I am going to try is standby. People are not showing up for the vaccines and at the end of the day, they have vaccines leftover that they can't store. I don't think it is coordinated so you have to find out where vaccines are being given and see if they offer standby for leftover vaccines.

 

[Superbob]

There are several major hospitals in our area that the state listed as vaccine providers for phase 1B that nevertheless reported on the state's website this morning that they lack the vaccines, so the over-75s can't sign up. According to local media, that's frustrating a lot of people along with the state's phone line being jammed. However, I found a hospital about 20 miles away -- probably my favorite one anyway -- that was welcoming sign-ups, so I did so online for my wife and myself. Within minutes, they e-mailed us confirmations and said they would be calling soon to set up a time for us to visit them. It will be done in the hospital's pharmacy department, which sounds ideal to me -- not like a cattle call out in a stadium parking lot. And hospital doctors and nurses will be readily available if anything goes wrong.

 

[MartinF]

They announced that Disneyland will be a vaccine site for Orange County. Happiest Place On Earth. I think they said there would be 6 big sites. I'm not 65 yet so won't get on the list. I would rather wait for the new vaccine that is based on dead virus instead of mRNA.
Hospitalizations in the county look like they've peaked and are trending down slowly. ICU has been full so those numbers are somewhat meaningless. I'm still working but it's slow so at home as much as possible.

 

[rich01]

I failed. I called the regional state health office and asked about being put on a wait-list. They are still in phase 1a and are only vaccinating first responders.

I explained that my understanding was sometimes people cancel and at the end of the day they have vaccine left over that can't be stored. She assured me they had a schedule and they never had a cancellation.

She told me the only other place offering the vaccine at the current time is the hospital. I called and they told me they were only vaccinating healthcare workers and they never had a cancellation.

My city/county has one of the highest death rates from Covid-19 in the state of Virginia, yet both the health department and the hospital assured me they both have a perfect record of administering the vaccine with none left over. I'm a little skeptical.

Originally when the phases were defined, phase 1b was people over 75 and people over 65 with co-morbidities. Now it is only over 75 or in nursing homes.
I should just move to Florida and get the vaccine where they seem to have a handle on their vaccination program.

 

[dornole]

"I am worn out already with 2021 -- all the stress, strife, hate, and negativity that it's yielded in less than two weeks. Praying that better days lie ahead." 100% right there with ya Superbob. Hang in there.

 

[Superman]

Things are good so far in 2021. I’m choosing not to worry too much about things I can’t control and trying to control the things I can. When it’s time to vote, I vote my conscience. Regardless of the results, I still have to go to work and take care of my family with my wife. Fiscally, the wisdom of blanket stimulus payments for a lot of people who don’t need them, I question. But, we still spent ours! . Hope that check gets here soon!

Our 8 year old iMac is showing end of life signs. Randomly crashing during demanding tasks. So we upgraded to an M1 Mini with a 4K monitor. We also picked up a couple security cameras for the front and rear entries after a porch pirate issue during the holidays. Supposed to arrive today if they aren’t stolen!

We spent a lot of years living rather frugal, so as I’m now within a couple years of 50, we’ve loosened up the purse strings a bit.

We’re also not worried about trying to get the vaccine yet. Continuing to err on the side of shelter, mask wearing, and social distance. When it’s more wide spread and those at greater risk are taken care of, we’ll look at it if the line is short.

Kids are back in school with the younger two full time, older two hybrid, and the oldest heading back to college in a week or so. Just had to mail in his Covid test.

What else? Still working out four or five days a week. Equipment at home has been good. Our daughter found a couple instructors she likes on the Tread+, so she’s been using that pretty regular. We have a mix n match collection of dumbbells from 3 to 25 lbs. They have a boot camp style workout I’ve done a couple times that mixes shorter faster runs with floor time doing core work, dumbbells, and body weight stuff. That’s a challenge. Turns out, I don’t use my muscles too often!

Glad to read that those of you who are wanting the vaccine are getting closer to getting it. 2021 is still just 2020 carryover right now. Give it a chance. 2020 didn’t look like a terrible year when it started! Took till early March before we were all, “So this is how it’s going to be?”

 

[Superman]

I failed. I called the regional state health office and asked about being put on a wait-list. They are still in phase 1a and are only vaccinating first responders.

In some real shadiness, we learned that in our area, first responders includes health insurance company employees who are working from home full time doing desk jobs.

 

[skeptic49]

Pandemic + civil strife = quite a horrible state of affairs. We have so far been unable to get any solid information about vaccine availability. So we continue to live in self-isolation and watch events from the relative safety of our home. Patience and caution will be required for some time to come.

 

[Superman]

Thought I’d add that we received our first bit of snow (aside from some early flurries that melted right away) on Christmas Eve. The kids called it a Christmas Miracle! Very little snow so far this winter for these parts.

 

[Superbob]

Thought I’d add that we received our first bit of snow (aside from some early flurries that melted right away) on Christmas Eve. The kids called it a Christmas Miracle! Very little snow so far this winter for these parts.
View attachment 887503

Thanks for the pretty picture, Superman! We used to live in Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, so we had lots of snow, and, yes, sometimes I miss it. In our 11 years living in coastal Carolina, we've had exactly one 2-inch snowfall. It was here in the morning, the dawgs and grandkids loved it, and it was gone by afternoon. A nice, polite Southern snow. I would love to have another like that one, but I am grateful to not have to deal with shoveling out from heavy snowfalls. Too dangerous. I will add that we had one bad ice storm here. Don't yearn for any of those at all.

 

[MartinF]

Thanks for the photo Superman. That's one of the reasons I left Michigan 35 years ago! Too many winters. Out here if we want snow we drive a couple hours. The taller "local" mountains have snow now but our local is too short (5500 feet).

 

[Chuck C]

Vaccine distribution has been a disaster here in CA and especially in our county. One thing that really messed us up is that they went right to 65+ before 75+ had even been allowed to start, so that created a huge imbalance between supply and demand, where only the lucky with good timing and internet savviness were able to get a slot. Many of the most vulnerable 75, 80, 85 ect are not internet savvy and you almost have to be a techy gaming the system to get a slot anywhere. Dad (78) got lucky and logged in at 3am just as they opened slots in his county. They booked up in 2 hours. Been trying for 2 days to get mom a slot. You select your location and date, and then 20 minutes of questions and uploading insurance info ect, then 7th step is select a time, only to find out that every time slot is taken. Gee, might have been good to tell us that before making us go through 7 steps. So on to the next day through the same procedure, questions and filling out forms, only to find all time slots taken again and again through about 15 different days on their online calendar only to be told at step 7 all booked up. When you book movie tickets online they are able to tell you upfront if the show is sold out, but somehow the county does not have the competence to set it up this way and makes you jump through every imaginable hoop before they tell you they are full.

 

[Superbob]

Pretty much a mess here in South Carolina, too. For one thing, local media were reporting today that SC has had the lowest per capita delivery of vaccines among all 50 states. That certainly does not bode well for meeting demand.

Your point about many elderly folks -- the most vulnerable 75, 85 or older -- not being tech-savvy is quite true. On sign-up day the state had a phone number to call to make an appointment, and folks reported calling hundreds of times and not getting through. Being a semi-tech-savvy oldster, I was able to get an appointment online at 10 a.m.; however, by then many of participating hospitals already had filled up, based on available and expected doses. If I were really savvy, I would have signed in at 12:01 a.m. I did get lucky, though, and got a confirmation from a hospital that I preferred anyway. They sent a prompt confirmation and promised to call to set up an appointment for my wife and me within "several days" but I suspect that could turn out to be several weeks, based on supply and demand, and everything that is going on.

It is kind of ironic: a good many people were asserting that no way would they get this expedited vaccine. But suddenly the masses are clamoring for it. I hear talk of leapfrogging the older folks, either by policy changes or subterfuge. It could get messy before it's over. Better hurry up and pump out those doses and distribute them equitably.

 

[dornole]

In some real shadiness, we learned that in our area, first responders includes health insurance company employees who are working from home full time doing desk jobs.

Yeah . . . my sister is a pediatrician in a small physician-owned practice serving primarily kids on Medicaid in a rural area and directly tests and treats kids with covid on a daily basis. Washington State gave all the vaccines to one large health system that was supposed to distribute them to all the health care workers. When it looked like the health system was gonna vaccinate its own optometrists and others not really on the front line before people outside their company, there was an uproar. The state had to threaten the company to take away its contract in order for the smaller providers to get their shots. Fortunately the check and balances in the system worked and she was vaccinated a couple days later. I expect massive shenanigans but ultimately there are enough people of good will to figure it out.

 

[dornole]

If you haven't seen the Holderness Family video, saying they would take this vaccine if it contained "hot dog water," yeah that's pretty much where I am.

 

[Superbob]

"Come on, Vaccine! -- I love it! Thanks dornole. Might as well dance around the house to this tune while awaiting our call to the vax line. Here it is for others who might want to join in... together now....

 

[Chuck C]

"Come on, Vaccine! -- I love it! Thanks dornole. Might as well dance around the house to this tune while awaiting our call to the vax line. Here it is for others who might want to join in... together now....

I love it! I love this cover of Come on Vaccine also: