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Shaba the Elephant at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 3.17.21)

Last night I started watching Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admission Scandal on Netflix, but it was after some drinks in the speakeasy so I started it over tonight and it is so disturbing. It's kinda funny because my sister recently gave me a box of stuff she'd found at my parents' house while cleaning my old bedroom and in it was this angry and bitter ranty essay about how rich people and the whole college application process sucks. I also found my admission acceptance from UC Berkeley, where I never went because my parents made me go to community college first. In retrospect, a good decision, though I wonder about the whole sliding doors effect, what life would've been like if I had gone as a freshman. The documentary highlights just how outrageous this scandal was. 

I didn't really do much else today. I dressed like I was going to actually leave the house but never did. I caught Jen's morning briefing and watched the county's briefing in the afternoon. I watched a ton of news commentary about the Atlanta shootings, and I watched Ginny Silver explain the latest news from CA EDD. I forgot to eat dinner, however, so I'm gonna get to it now. 

Stay safe out there.  

• COVID-19:
• Lessons From The COVID-19 Crisis: Overcrowding Hospitals Cost Lives - NPR (3.18.21)
• Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is 'safe and effective,' European Medicines Agency rules. “Its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19, with the associated risks of death and hospitalization, outweigh the possible risks," Emer Cooke, the agency's executive director, said. - NBC News (3.18.21)
• Lingering symptoms go away after getting vaccinated, some COVID-19 long-haulers say - Becker's Hospital Review (3.16.21) 
  an informal survey (of long-haulers) showed 216 people felt no different after vaccination, while 171 said their conditions improved and 63 said they felt worse
• Roche releases test for SARS-CoV-2 variants - Homeland Preparedness News (3.18.21) 
• Politics:
• Biden plans to send COVID shots to Mexico, Canada - AP News (3.18.21)
• News: 
• Department Issues Update on Launching the American Rescue Plan of 2021 to Continue Helping Unemployment Insurance Claimants - EDD (3.18.21)
• Californians collecting either regular state Unemployment Insurance (UI) or Federal-State Extended Duration (FED-ED) continue to receive the extra $300 per week in benefits without interruption.
• Californians can now file new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims, and will start receiving a minimum of $167 per week – plus the extra $300 Pandemic Additional Compensation (PAC). These new claimants will also be able to provide income documentation to potentially increase this payment up to $450 per week, starting April 10, 2021.
• Californians with existing or exhausted PUA claims will be able to certify for benefits by April 10, 2021.
• Californians with existing or exhausted Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits can expect EDD to begin automatically processing PEUC extensions, with the additional weeks of benefits available for certification by April 30, 2021.
• Tax Day for individuals extended to May 17: Treasury, IRS extend filing and payment deadline - IRS (3.17.21)
• Other Reading:
• People Who Text While Walking Actually Do Ruin Everything. Clever experiments demonstrate how having your face in your phone disrupts the flow of pedestrian traffic and makes life difficult for everyone. -Wired (3.17.21)
• Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 3.18.21 8:25pm):
• 121,731,658 Known Cases
• 2,690,663 Known Deaths
• US COVID-19 Stats 
• CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
• JHU
• Data in Motion (Youtube)
• 58,480 New Cases/29,665,202 Cases
• 1,173 New Deaths/539,663 Deaths
• CDC Data Tracker:
• 29,431,658 Known Cases 
• 535,217 Known Deaths
• 151,108,445 Doses Delivered/151,108,445 Doses Administered
• Moderna 74,077,400 delivered/55,811,286 administered
• Pfizer 72,885,345 delivered/57,876,875 administered
• Janssen 4,145,700 delivered/1,911,052 administered
• California COVID-19 Stats:
• State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
• Vaccination progress dashboard
• Aggregate California ICU Bed Availability: 28.7%
• R-effective: 0.77
• 17,213,150 Doses Delivered/13,382,046 Doses Administered
• 3,038 New Cases/3,535,534 Total Cases (new cases/100k; % increase)
• 218 New Deaths/55,795 Total Deaths (0.1% new deaths/100k; 0.4% increase)
• 2% 7-day test positivity rate
• 3,812 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (-146 patients, -3.8% from prior day)
• 1,030 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (-1 patients, -0.1% from prior day)
• 2,080 ICU beds available (136 from prior day)
• San Diego County Media Briefing:
• For kids 16-18 who are eligible for vaccines, Pfizer is the ONLY vaccine they can take. 
• Homebound seniors create challenges with vaccine transport, having to sit with patients longer due to underlying conditions. Early provider did 3 dozen vaccines and quit, and now Sharp is taking over, using Johnson & Johnson. In the meantime, caregivers in the home have been allowed to be vaccinated. Program is back on track. 
•  All K-12 educators have been offered vaccines, but unclear how many teachers have been vaccinated, as many went outside the VEBA program. 
• 95.3% of south region seniors have received at least 1 dose.
• MOU with the state regarding Blue Shield has been confirmed. County made sure it was collaborative, county could be in charge of reallocation.
• Eligibility in disabilities broadened because County looked at CDC determinations, and the State changed according to CDC list as well. Original list only included underlying conditions that were are associated  with causing complications whereas the expanded list includes conditions that might be associated cause complications. 
• Always areas for improvement in vaccine distribution, like access, walkup locations, appointment systems, etc. 
• It's COVID. Everything is a concern. Travel, sports, etc. Everyone needs to be responsible and do plans safely and cautiously. 
• County isn't holding vaccines for teachers, they're making up to 20% of appointments available. If not used, the appointments are redistributed. 
• Fletch thinks the US should implement a vaccine passport program. 
• San Diego County 
• Free Testing Sites and Schedule in San Diego
• VaccinationSuperstationSD
• Vaccination Dashboard
• San Diego County Of Education School Reopening Dashboard
• State Data:
• Southern California ICU Bed Availability: 30.5%
• R-effective: 0.83
• 3,038 New Cases/3,535,534 Total Cases
• 8 Deaths/3,470 Total Deaths
• 6.8 cases/100k population (Assessed on 3/16. Unadjusted Case Rate)
• 2.8% Test Positivity (Assessed on 3/16)
• 4.2% Health Equity Positivity (Assessed on 3/16)
• 282 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (-22 patients, -7.2% from prior day)
• 89 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (-3 patients, -3.3% from prior day)
• 275 ICU beds available (+2 from prior day)
• County Data:
• San Diego County COVID-19 Update – 3-18-2021 - County News Center 
• 439 New Cases/266,756 Total Cases 
• 8 New Daily Deaths/3,478 Total Deaths
• 1,438,515 Doses Delivered/1,326,259 Doses Administered
• 3% Daily Test Positivity/2.6% (7-day avg after 7-day lag)/2.8% Test Positivity (14-day average)
• 6.8 cases/100k population (Assessed on 3/16. Adjusted case rate per 100,000 excluding prisons.) 
• 99% Case Investigation 
• -3.2% Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations (238 patients. -69% over 30 days)
• 37% ICU Capacity (82 patients. -67% over 30 days)
• 53 Staffed ICU Beds Available 
• 1 New/19 Community Outbreaks (7-day)
• Universities:
• SDSU COVID-19, UCSD COVID-19, USD COVID-19, CSU San Marcos, PLNU