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Beluga Whale at Sea World (Taken 6.28.21)

Despite a heat advisory for our region, today was overcast and though a little muggy, wasn't unbearable as in many other parts of the country and the world right now. I can't stop thinking about the famines happening in Madagascar and Tigray region while we're so spoiled here in the US. The World Food Program is barely asking for $80M dollars to save lives while Bezos builds a $500M yacht. It's outrageous and obscene. But I digress. 

After Nova got out of her ensemble group this afternoon, she and Darren agreed to go back to Sea World with me. I'm obsessed. I can't help it. They sucked me in their advertising when I was a kid and I could never repel their advances. Even after Blackfish. Even through their mismanagement over the years, or their abuse of the City Charter, and let's be honest, not paying a decent lease for the acres of property where they operate. But I can't help it.

I've been thinking about why this is and can only come up with the fact that it's because without a park like Sea World, I would never otherwise experience these animals in my lifetime. I can get seasick on a rocking chair, so whale-watching or deep-sea excursions, or an Alaska cruise aren't options for me. I've snorkeled a handful of times in Hawaii and La Jolla but am not super great at that either, so finding San Diego's elusive sea turtles is probably not gonna happen for me, either. That's definitely some variation of privilege to feel like I deserve to see these animals up close, but such is this complicated life. 

So we went and I always forget this, but the weekdays before a holiday are the best days because the tourists are all waiting to blow their loads for the holidays. By Sea World standards, the park was empty. Nova got to ride Electric Eel three times and Manta twice. I sat inside the penguin encounter for 20 minutes by myself before anyone else even came in. I was in the Wild Arctic with a beluga whale coming right up to me at the glass with nobody else around for a solid 10-15 minutes. I was playing with a loggerhead who followed me before anyone else came into the Turtle aquarium. And at the end of the night while we waited for Nova to finish her rollercoaster rides, I was the only one at the orca tanks and one of them, came over and chilled by me for 15 minutes, which I thought was just coincidence until I left to the dolphins and came back and he was in the middle of the pool and when I squeaked at him, he came back over until the fireworks were over. It was magical and I'm a conflicted human in a complicated world. Just trying to find the upsides when sometimes all we can see are the downs. 

Be safe out there. 

• COVID-19:
• WHO says fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks because of Delta variant spread - Business Insider (6.26.21)
• "Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission," she added. "People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene ... the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you're vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing."
• As Delta Variant Circulates, Public Health Recommends Masking Indoors as a Precaution - LA County Health (6.28.21)
• With increase circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure. In the week ending June 12, Delta variants comprised of nearly half of all variants sequenced in Los Angeles County.
• White House begins final COVID-19 vaccine push - CIDRAP (6.28.21)
• Recommendations for national SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies and diagnostic capacities - WHO (6.25.21)
• Three Post-Vaccination COVID-19 Deaths Confirmed In San Diego County - inewsource/kpbs (6.28.21)
• Two of the people were fully vaccinated, and one died eight days after receiving the second dose but before the end of the waiting period. All three had underlying medical conditions.
  The cases are unusual and extremely rare.
• The Delta variant will cause 'very dense outbreaks' in these five states, expert says - CNN (6.28.21)
• The new ‘Delta-plus’ coronavirus variant has been identified; what does that mean? - LA Times/Stars & Stripes (6.28.21)
• The Covid delta variant has ‘exploded’ in the UK — and it could be a blueprint for the U.S. - CNBC (6.28.21)
• Politics: 
• Supreme Court gives victory to transgender student who sued to use bathroom - CNN (6.28.21)
• The court's decision not to review an opinion by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals means that public school students in the mid-Atlantic states covered by the 4th Circuit, as well as states governed by the 7th Circuit and the 11th Circuit, can use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
• White House: 
• Statement by President Joe Biden on House Passage of the National Science Foundation for the Future Act and the Department of Energy Science for the Future Act
• Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Meeting with President Reuven Rivlin of Israel
• Remarks by President Biden and President Rivlin of the State of Israel Before Bilateral Meeting
• Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, June 28, 2021
• Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Call with President Ivan Duque of Colombia
• The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS - State Dept
• Joint Statement on the Ministerial Meeting on Syria
• News:
• San Diego sues Molina, Kaiser, Centene's HealthNet over alleged 'ghost networks' - Health Care Dive (6.28.21)
• The city of San Diego is suing three major insurers for false advertising, alleging that they failed to maintain accurate provider directories, misleading consumers with the so-called "ghost networks" that are illegal under state and federal law.
• On Thursday, City Attorney Mara Elliott filed the complaints against Kaiser Permanente, Molina and HealthNet, a subsidiary of Centene, in San Diego Superior Court. Together, the insurers cover more than 3 million people across the state.
• Provider directories are a key resource for consumers when picking an insurance plan, helping them determine which doctors are in-network and what specialists are available in their area. According to the lawsuits, HealthNet, Kaiser and Molina's directories had overall error rates of 18%, 19% and a whopping 58% respectively in 2019, despite California law requiring such lists be accurate and up-to-date.
• Other Reading:
• Drought Woes In Dry US West Raise July 4 Fireworks Fears - AP/kpbs (6.27.21)
• The economics of dollar stores. A visual explainer of the numbers behind America’s ubiquitous bargain-basement chains. - The Hustle (6.26.21)
• Opinion: The Catholic bishops’ anti-Biden project is backfiring - The Washington Post (6.27.21)
• Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 6.28.21 10:21pm):
• 181,429,324 Known Cases
• 3,929,761 Known Deaths
• US COVID-19 Stats 
• CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
• JHU
• 33,640,572 Cases
• 604,115 Deaths
• CDC Data Tracker:
• +4,716 New Cases/33,451,748 Known Cases 
• +111 New Deaths/601,506 Known Deaths
• 381,282,720 Doses Delivered
• 324,414,371 Doses Administered
• 179,615,165 Partially Vaccinated
• 153,776,118 Fully Vaccinated
• California COVID-19 Stats:
• State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
• Vaccination progress dashboard
• R-effective: 1.09
• 48,007,055 Doses Delivered/41,371,676 Doses Administered
• 3,315,970 Partially Vaccinated/19,880,275 Fully Vaccinated
• 1,256 New Cases/3,714,051 Total Cases (2 new cases/100k)
• 4 New Deaths/62,994 Total Deaths (0.03 new deaths/100k)
• 1.2% 7-day test positivity rate
• 1,235 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (+12 patients, +1.0% from prior day)
• 309 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (+1 patients, +0.3% from prior day)
• 2,423 ICU beds available (104 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
• State Data:
• R-effective: 1.06
• 96 New Cases/282,359 Total Cases
• 0 Deaths/3,780 Total Deaths
• 73 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (+1 patients, +1.4% from prior day)
• 26 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (-3 patients, -10.3% from prior day)
• 282 ICU beds available (+9 from prior day)
• County Data:
• 58 New Cases/282,416 Total Cases 
• 1.6 Cases/100k
• 0 New Daily Deaths/3,780 Total Deaths
• 4,323,435 Doses Received/4,059,707 Doses Administered
• 2,182,024 Vaccinated/1,861,261 Fully Vaccinated
• +2,483 Newly Fully Vaccinated Since Yesterday
• 66.4% 12+ Population Fully Vaccinated/55.6% Total Population Fully Vaccinated
• 1.1% Daily Test Positivity/1.1% (7-day avg after 7-day lag)/1.0% Test Positivity (14-day average)
• 98.2% Case Investigation 
• +10.9% Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations (-4 patients)
• 33% ICU Capacity (+1 patients)
• 5 Community Outbreaks (7-day)