Kianga and baby Kamaria. Today the calf is 2 months old. (Taken 10.17.21) |
I wanna talk again about messaging.
I've done my best for the past year and a half+ to organize information as it comes out. Local news sometimes gets it right, but they also love to use dramatic language - crisis, chaos, confusion are some favorites. It is literally their job to make things NOT confusing, and instead do man on the street interviews with people who are doing their own research, waiting and seeing, or just flat out not trusting the science/doctors/government. We really don't need to see these dumbfucks on our televisions every night.
Yet, at the same time, Dr Walensky SUCKS at messaging. Today she presented information about boosters and was asked a few more times to clarify what she was saying because her messaging sucks. There's this category of who should get boosters "those who are 18 or older who live or work in high-risk settings." They keep saying this is health care workers and teachers, for example. But if we look at, say, community outbreak data, restaurants, bars, sporting events, concerts, theatres, retail, grocery stores, factories, basically EVERYWHERE that is indoors with people not in your household is high risk. And with the number of cases that happened within households, if you have kids in school, if you work outside the home, if you go out in public, now you have potential exposures that you can bring home where you're probably not wearing a mask or taking the same precautions you might in public. Add underlying conditions-- more than 42% of Americans are considered obese, 14% are smokers, 47% have hypertension, 10.5% are diabetic, plus dozens of other conditions, and really, EVERY adult should get a booster.
And don't get me wrong, things feel better than before...cases are largely among the unvaccinated or in congregate settings and such, but if you look at the map below, there is still substantial or high transmission nationwide. For the country to be considered safe, we need to get below 10,000 cases a day. They've been saying this since the beginning. We're still averaging around 75k. For our county to be safe, we should be back around 100 cases a day. We've been around 400-700 a day, depending on lab reporting. If you remember the California tier system where we were trying to push below 7 cases per 100k, just among vaccinated people we're still above 11, and it's closer to 30 per 100k people for unvaccinated.
We're okay, but we're not great. People should still be wearing masks indoors. Bars and restaurants and music venues and conventions and public meetings should all be requiring proof of vaccine. I felt safer at the Repertory Theatre knowing masks and proof of vaccination were required. There was maybe something comforting that 95% of the audience were senior citizens, brave enough to go out into the world. I don't know how the Board of Supervisors and City Council and School Boards aren't requiring vax or masks at their meetings. Seems like a simple public health measure that would get rid of some of the nutjobs, too.
All this to say if you think you want a booster for an extra layer of protection, you should get one. I got my Pfizer boost on Tuesday and besides an appreciated solid 11 hour sleep and a sore arm, I had no side effects.
And this isn't the only thing where messaging sucks. All we're hearing about is supply-chain issues but not one person has said, "for the time being, people should stop buying stupid shit." Instead they show us crazy mom's at Party City spending $200 on decorations to make up for last year's Halloween being canceled. So which is it? Are we all struggling to afford the rising costs at the pump and grocery store or are we all flush with cash because the American Rescue Plan actually worked for the people it was supposed to target??
Today was a low key day around the house...I cut Darren's hair, he did laundry, we indulged in a home-cooked lobster dinner (6 tails for about $50 at Costco, still less than what it normally costs for the 3 of us to eat out) and I went to the San Diego Zoo for the last hour it was open to hear the mariachi and because I hadn't left the house all day. Looking forward to a low-key weekend. Nova is going to a friend's house so maybe we'll visit my dad while she's gone, and hopefully get a Safari Park trip in, too, though the rain cannot come soon enough.
Stay safe out there.
- COVID-19:
- Who Gets A Booster? Pretty Much Everyone.
- For those who received an mRNA vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna, people who are eligible for a booster shot six months or more after their primary series:
- Those who are 65 and older
- Those who are 18 and older
- Live in long-term care settings
- Have underlying medical conditions
- Live or Work in high-risk settings
- For those who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, all people 18 or older who were vaccinated two or more months ago are eligible for a booster shot.
- Boosters can be mix-and-match, i.e. do not have to be the same as initial series.
- Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine appears more than 90% effective in kids 5 to 11 - kpbs/npr (10.22.21)
- FDA says Pfizer COVID vaccine looks effective for young kids - AP News (10.22.21)
- Pfizer And BioNTech Announce Phase 3 Trial Data Showing High Efficacy Of A Booster Dose Of Their COVID-19 Vaccine - Pfizer (10.21.21)
- First results from any randomized, controlled COVID-19 vaccine booster trial demonstrate a relative vaccine efficacy of 95.6% against disease during a period when Delta was the prevalent strain
- In trial with more than 10,000 participants 16 years of age and older, COVID-19 booster was found to have a favorable safety profile
- Companies plan to submit these data to FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies to further support licensure in the U.S. and other countries
- CDC MMWR:
- Severity of Disease Among Adults Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19 Before and During the Period of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Predominance — COVID-NET, 14 States, January–August 2021
- COVID-19 Vaccination and Non–COVID-19 Mortality Risk — Seven Integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 14, 2020–July 31, 2021
- News:
- NASA launches a tool that uses satellite images to measure water loss in the U.S. West - NBC LA (10.22.21)
- Government:
- White House
- Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, October 22, 2021
- Press Briefing by White House COVID-19 Response Team and Public Health Officials
- Remarks by President Biden in a CNN Town Hall with Anderson Cooper
- Readout of White House Meeting with Black Leaders of Civil Rights Organizations on Police Reform
- Fact Sheet: National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality
- Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Meeting with Secretary for Strategic Affairs Gustavo Beliz of Argentina
- Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s Call with President Emmanuel Macron of France
- Memorandum for the Secretary of State on Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs
- A Proclamation on United Nations Day, 2021
- Dept of Defense
- Reducing the Backlog in Legally Required Historical Declassification Obligations of the DoD
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Holds a Press Conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
- Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Participation in the NATO Defense Ministerial
- NATO Leaders Stress Unity at Conclusion of Defense Ministerial
- State Dept
- Department Press Briefing – October 22, 2021
- The United States Applauds the OAS Resolution Condemning the Undemocratic Electoral Process and Repression in Nicaragua
- Dept of Justice
- Justice Department Announces New Initiative to Combat Redlining
- Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks Announcing a New Initiative to Combat Redlining
- Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks Announcing a New Initiative to Combat Redlining
- Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 10.22.21 5:21pm):
- 242,917,412 Known Cases/11,892,809 28-Day New Cases
- 4,936,832 Known Deaths/200,278 28-Day New Deaths
- US COVID-19 Stats
- CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
- American Academy of Pediatrics Children and COVID-19 Dashboard
- JHU
- 45,379,964 Cases/2,625,051 28-Day New Cases
- 735,175 Deaths/47,978 28-Day New Deaths
- CDC Data Tracker:
- +78,101 New Cases/45,235,796 Known Cases
- +1,414 New Deaths/731,931 Known Deaths
- 501,613,665 Doses Delivered
- 411,963,025 Doses Administered
- 219,900,525 Partially Vaccinated
- 190,179,553 Fully Vaccinated
- 57.3% of Total Population
- 67% of Population ≥ 12 Years of Age
- 68.8% of Population ≥ 18 Years of Age
- California COVID-19 Stats:
- State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
- Vaccination progress dashboard
- Coronavirus: Resources for Californians
- R-effective: 0.87
- 60,014,445 Doses Delivered/51,697,834 Doses Administered
- 2,652,429 Partially Vaccinated/24,549,354 Fully Vaccinated
- 6,093 New Cases/4,606,599 Total Cases (11 new cases/100k)
- 143 New Deaths/70,884 Total Deaths (0.2 new deaths/100k)
- 1.9% 7-day test positivity rate
- 3,988 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (+1 patients, +0.03% from prior day)
- 986 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (-46 patients, -4.5% from prior day)
- 1,896 ICU beds available (+39 from prior day)
- San Diego County
- Free Testing Sites and Schedule in San Diego
- Vaccination Locations San Diego
- Vaccination Dashboard
- COVID ActNow Daily Updates for San Diego Metro
- San Diego Unified School District COVID Dashboard
- CDC Data:
- 1,715,758 Fully Vaccinated
- 51.4% of Total Population
- 59.9% of Population ≥ 12 Years of Age
- 60.2% of Population ≥ 18 Years of Age
- State Data:
- R-effective: 0.92
- 387 New Cases/366,085 Total Cases
- 2.2% Daily Positivity
- 5 Deaths/4,183 Total Deaths
- 275 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (-10 patients, -3.5% from prior day)
- 83 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (-4 patients, -4.6% from prior day)
- 203 ICU beds available (-6 from prior day)
- County Data:
- 599 New Cases/366,661 Total Cases
- 0 New Daily Deaths/4,183 Total Deaths
- 2.2% Daily Test Positivity/2.4% 7-day average
- +13 Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations
- +2 Day Over Day COVID-19 ICU Patients
- Universities:
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