CoViD-19: Masks Are Still Mandated in California | One Month After Indoor Services Resume, Church Outbreaks | Uber's Tax Dodging Scheme Brought To Light |

Today is Love A Tree Day (Taken 5.10.21)

I broke my streak. 

For the past couple weeks I've been trying to force myself to some adventure out of the house every day and yesterday's was just a brief run to the San Diego River Garden and I had planned on San Diego Zoo Safari Park today, but conditional on it raining, and since there was pretty much no traceable rain besides Oceanside, we decided it would just be a normal crowded Sunday there and passed. 

But then I decided to make a Korean feast with the bulgogi we got at H-Mart, and some of the sides we picked up as well as a steamed egg and by then it was late. Then I wanted to go shopping but Darren talked me out of it and then he felt bad but by then I was already back in pajamas and so here we are and I didn't leave my house today. I hope to make up for it this week for sure. 

Global news has been especially charged lately, so I'm gonna steer clear and stick to the usual around here. The mask debate carries on and almost exactly one month to the day that churches were allowed to reopen to 100% capacity indoors, The Rock Church is having outbreaks among their many campuses. It's almost like we knew that was going to happen. 

Beyond that, I'm just cozy at home catching up on my shows and looking to get back in my groove after a full night's sleep. Stay safe out there. 

• COVID-19:
• Mask mandates might be going away, but don’t ditch yours just yet, scientists caution - STAT News (5.16.21)
  “A global statement for all of society is going to be overinterpreted by the wrong groups and then there will be more cases because people are not going to be protecting themselves as well,” said Petru. “So I don’t think it’s time to throw masks away in any kind of social scene where you’re indoors with others.”
• I wouldn't typically  want to amplify some fucking idiot like Rick Shroder, but I'm sharing this article because it emphasizes the differentiation that California, at least for now, is still under a mask mandate. As is Los Angeles. And any business can (and should) choose to continue require masks. One of the things that has bothered me is that we are talking about overall percentages of the population vaccinated, but while I spend a lot of time with my senior parents, whose age group has extraordinarily high vaccine rates, I tend to spend time in bars and restaurants and venues (at least in pre-pandemic life) and the people who are there, generally the 20-60 year olds, have a much lower vaccine uptake so far. So this whole thing is completely ridiculous and fuck Ricky Shroder and until the Governor says otherwise, wear a damn mask whenever you're indoors anywhere that isn't your own goddamn house.
• Former Child Star Ricky Schroder Harasses Costco Employee Over Masks - Variety (5.16.21)
• COSTCO Updated Mask Policy: U.S. locations with state or local mask requirements - no policy change. In those Costco locations where the state or local jurisdiction does have a mask mandate, we will follow the state or local regulations and continue to require members and guests to wear a face mask or face shield.
• Thank you, Supreme Court, for getting everything SO. FUCKING. WRONG. 
  
  • Multiple staff members test positive for COVID-19 at Rock Church. At least 15 people tested positive at 5 Rock locations throughout San Diego County. - CBS8 (5.16.21)
  • This is a playlist of the April reopening story and the May outbreak story:

 

• White House: 
• On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia - State Dept (5.16.21)
• Other Reading:
• 'Champions League of tax avoidance:' Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on nearly $6 billion in revenue, report says - Business Insider (5.11.21) 
• Prop. 22: Rideshare-driver measure is most expensive in California history. Proposition 22 has become the most expensive measure in California history with over $204 million contributed to this single issue. - ABC7 (11.3.20)
• Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 5.16.21 5:20pm):
• 123,282,685 Known Cases
• 3,374,566 Known Deaths
• US COVID-19 Stats 
• CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
• JHU
• 32,939,906 Cases
• 585,965  Deaths
• CDC Data Tracker:
• +28,692 New Cases/32,753,426 Known Cases 
• +415 New Deaths/582,769 Known Deaths
• 344,503,495 Doses Delivered
• 273,545,207 Doses Administered
• 157,485,596 Partially Vaccinated
• 123,282,685 Fully Vaccinated
• California COVID-19 Stats:
• State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
• Vaccination progress dashboard
• Aggregate California ICU Bed Availability: 33.8%
• R-effective: 0.88
• 43,145,000 Doses Delivered/34,377,697 Doses Administered
• 4,798,894 Partially Vaccinated/15,499,787 Fully Vaccinated
• 1,370 New Cases/3,664,909 Total Cases (3.3 new cases/100k)
• 55 New Deaths/61,499 Total Deaths (0.06 new deaths/100k)
• 1.0% 7-day test positivity rate
• 1,684 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (-39 patients, -2.3% from prior day)
• 397 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (+16 patients, +4.2% from prior day)
• 2,333 ICU beds available (+98 from prior day)
• San Diego County 
• Free Testing Sites and Schedule in San Diego
• VaccinationSuperstationSD
• Vaccination Dashboard
• San Diego County Of Education School Reopening Dashboard
• Evening COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics Coming to North, East, South County

• State Data:
• Southern California ICU Bed Availability: 36.2%
• R-effective: 0.88
• 138 New Cases/278,991 Total Cases
• 5 Deaths/3,737 Total Deaths
• 4.1 cases/100k population (Assessed on 5/11. Unadjusted Case Rate)
• 1.7% Test Positivity (Assessed on 5/11)
• 2.0% Health Equity Positivity (Assessed on 5/11)
• 140 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (-7 patients, -4.8% from prior day)
• 43 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (1- patients, -2.3% from prior day)
• 219 ICU beds available (+51 from prior day)
• County Data:
• 108 New Cases/279,098 Total Cases 
• 5 New Daily Deaths/3,742 Total Deaths
• 3,735,305 Doses Received/3,335,701 Doses Administered
• 1,790,264 Partially Vaccinated/1,343,639 Fully Vaccinated
• 1% Daily Test Positivity/1.4% (7-day avg after 7-day lag)/1.6% Test Positivity (14-day average)
• 3.7 cases/100k population (Assessed on 5/11. Adjusted case rate per 100,000 excluding prisons.) 
• 97.2% Case Investigation 
• -6.8% Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations (115 patients. -29% over 30 days)
• 30% ICU Capacity (35 patients. -35% over 30 days)
• 44 Staffed ICU Beds Available
• 3 New/10 Community Outbreaks (7-day)
• Universities:
• SDSU COVID-19, UCSD COVID-19, USD COVID-19, CSU San Marcos, PLNU

This is an old chart from January, but I wonder if this has any influence on why employers are having a hard time hiring at the moment? Add up cooks, bakers, chefs and head cooks, and bartenders, and there were 1,612 deaths in California in March through October alone.