Florida Vaccine Tourism

Posted on by Thor

Vaccine tourism involves people visiting other states across the country in search of COVID-19 vaccines. “Frustrated by crashing appointment websites, shortages of COVID-19 shots and a patchwork of confusing eligibility rules, people with time and money are heading out of town in pursuit of a potentially lifesaving inoculation.”
Tourists have been visiting Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to Bloomberg.

Vaccine is in short supply across the country. People who have set up appointments are finding their appointments canceled due to the vaccine supply running out. Stated simply there was no plan for this historically huge emergency distribution plan. The Joe Biden administration is hoping they can get the situation under control, but the previous administration kept them in the dark.

My sister in south west Florida worked hard to get her first vaccine shot. It involved dozens of calls and setbacks. when she was waiting for the shot in a line of cars she noticed the car in front of her had a New Jersey license plate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he doesn’t want out-of-state residents coming to Florida to get their COVID-19 vaccines, which are in limited supply, and is pushing a new restriction on the vaccine distribution. There have been multiple media reports about wealthy residents of other states or other countries flying to Florida to get COVID-19 vaccines. These included real estate developers, attorneys, Hollywood insiders and the mother of an Argentine television personality. There are now only two social classes in America, the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated.

A Florida Department of Health database indicates that 39,214 people who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida were from out of state, representing 3.5% of the 1,122,405 people receiving a vaccine. Individuals with an out-of-state identification now will be required to provide proof of residency or semi-permanent residency to get a vaccination through the Department of Health in Brevard County. Examples include a utility bill, property tax receipt or lease agreement for Florida property.

Pre-Pandemic: Christmas Cantata

Posted on by Thor

In October of 2019, Pam got a couple of free tickets to a show at the Amway Arena called Christmas Cantata. The all Chinese cast presented Christmas Carols in October. The entire floor and first level of the stadium were packed. A large orchestra in the pit supported the case on stage.

In 2014, Gracias Choir won the Grand Prize at the Riva del Garda International Choral Competition in Italy and First Prize at the Montreux Choral Festival in Switzerland. In 2015, Gracias Choir was recognized as the world’s best choir, winning 1st place at the world’s most prestigious International Choir Competition Marktoberdorf in Germany.

Gracias Choir’s Christmas Cantata is filled with cherished music and unforgettable stage sets.

The evening featured the Nativity story told as an epic opera, brand new Act 2 of a heartwarming musical based on “The Gift of the Magi”, and a glorious rendition of Handel’s Oratorio “Messiah”.  Also, there was be a dance performance and memorable gift.  Each act of the  Christmas Cantata expresses the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of hope, love, and forgiveness of God in our hearts.

After the music two guys got on stage and started proselytizing hard. Their story involved miracle cures from a disease from the Amazon. It was sort of like watching an Abbot and Costello vaudeville act that involved miracles. My sketch was done and we decided to slip out. On the way out, free books were being offered and they were being pushed hard. We managed to escape empty handed.

Due to the pandemic performances in 2020 have been broadcast on TV. a schedule is on their website.

January Surge

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January has been hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis. California has been hit hardest, on January 21, 2021 the state recorded 736 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, the highest since the start of the pandemic. Of nearly 36,000 cumulative COVID-19 deaths statewide, more than 10,000 have been reported since New Year’s Eve, including more than 4,500 in L.A. County. The state’s most populous county, which has tallied more than 14,600 deaths, accounts for roughly 41% of California’s cumulative COVID-19 deaths, despite being home to only a quarter of the state’s population.

Florida is also experiencing a Winter Surge. On January 10, 2021 the Florida Department of Health reported 108 more resident deaths linked to COVID-19 on Sunday along with 12,313 new positive cases.

The January 3, 2021 White House COVID-19 Task Force report categorized Florida in full pandemic status for all categories: test positivity and high levels of community transmission in nearly 90% of the counties. Weekly figures of closely monitored pandemic data continue to rise and trend closer in similarity to what was seen statewide during the summer spike, considered to be the height of the pandemic in Florida.

The former administration had literally no plan for distributing the vaccine and hopefully Joe Biden the president elect will treat the ongoing COVID crisis with advice from scientists and experts. He plans to “manage the hell” out of the pandemic. His detailed strategy, pledged a genuine “wartime” effort to expand vaccine distribution, supplies and testing. He mandated masks on federal lands and in inter-state train, bus and air travel. He plans new vaccination sites across the country and to activate pharmacies in every neighborhood. There is hope now that the White House is taking the virus seriously. Dr. Anthony Fauci is almost giddy being able to state facts with no fear of presidential reprisals. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is — let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling,” Fauci said.

Rep. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) said, “In terms of potential deaths and the impact on our economy, the crisis we face from coronavirus is on the scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly. We must begin thinking on a scale comparable to the threat, and make sure that we are protecting working people, low-income people, and the most vulnerable communities, not just giant corporations and Wall Street.

 

Vaccine Hunger Games

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The botched United States Government roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine has been referred to as the Vaccine Hunger Games. After being sworn in, President Joe Biden found out that the former administration literally had NO PLAN for vaccine distribution. His administration will have to start from scratch. The former administration said there was a reserve of vaccines on hand to be used for a second inoculation for people who got the first shot and Biden decided to use that reserve to get more shots in arms up front. However once in office he found out that there was no reserve.

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has had a disjointed plan in distributing vaccines. The Governor said he is not smart enough to figure out how to best get vaccine shots in arms. He is leaving it up to hospital administrators. At first hospitals were assigned the task of giving the shots to essential workers but the governor’s plan quickly changed to include anyone 65 years and older. That forced health departments to scrap plans to inoculate grocery store clerks and teachers. By setting the age to 65 instead of 75 the Governor created a melee as thousands fought for the limited supply of vaccines. It would be survival of the fittest or most tech savvy.  Senior citizens sat in lawn chairs sometimes overnight to try and get the limited number of shots. People are facing dead phone lines and overloaded websites which crash from the overload. Many are having to travel to other counties in their quest for a shot. The statewide vaccination rate is less than 5 percent of the vaccine that was sent to the state. Since every state has its own plan the overall distribution has been chaos up until now. On top of this each state has no idea how many doses they will be getting which making it impossible to ramp up the distribution process.

On a positive note, it looks like the National case numbers are starting to fall from the height of over 250,000 cases a day earlier in January. I also post risk levels for each state each day and for a solid month every state was blood red meaning every sate was a high risk for COVID-19 infection. However over the last weeks several northern states have been showing signs of improvement. Today Maine turned green for the first time in months meaning it is moving in the right direction. The effects of vaccines on the numbers will not be immediate so the basic precautions, of wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands often, are the best defense of combating this virus until enough people are vaccinated. About 90% of the population needs to get the vaccine for herd immunity to protect everyone from the virus. The other 10% would be protected thanks to the virus’s inability to spread among the other 90% of the population. It will require a major campaign to convince 90% of Americans to get vaccinated.

My sister in South West Florida made it her full time job to get vaccinated and I am thankful that as of yesterday she succeeded. It was a log arduous battle for her but she won the Hunger Games.

 

COVID-19 Wildfires

Posted on by Thor

California is experiencing a wildfire of a COVID-19 crisis surpassing 3 million COVID-19 cases this week. The state reported 694 new Covid-19 related deaths January 20, 2021, its second highest single day toll to date. As of January 20, 2021, California had a total of 3,019,371 confirmed infections. More than 20,800 people hospitalized across the state for Covid-19. Approximately 4,750 of those patients are in intensive care units.

The Los Angeles Times reported that LA County is particularly hard hit. A dozen mobile refrigerated trailers are parked in the county morgue parking lot to handle all the bodies. Each trailer can store 25 bodies. Overwhelmed funeral homes are forced to turn families away.

As the pandemic rages in California, medics are being told to ration oxygen.  At the start of the new year, oxygen and the medical supplies associated with it were hard to come by in parts of Southern California and some hospital administrators worried they would have to choose which patients get these resources during the next COVID-19 surge.

There is hope that the vaccine roll out might help curb the surge in deaths. However the vaccine roll out has been slow, coming in fits and starts. San Francisco’s public health department will run out of covid-19 vaccine January 21, 2021 because the city’s allocation dropped substantially from a week ago and doses that had to be discarded were not replaced. Two thirds of the state is under a regional stay-at-home orders based on ICU capacity. Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings north of Sacramento’s downtown has been turned into a COVID-19 treatment facility to ease the strain on southern California hospitals. The arena should be able to handle 244 patients with the proper staffing and resources. Creating more bed space is easy, but finding staff for these facilities is the dilemma.

California health officials and researchers at the state’s universities and hospitals are trying to learn more about another variant of the coronavirus. Only days after the so-called “UK variant” was identified here in the state, a different, separate variant has now been traced to outbreaks in Santa Clara County. The UK variant spreads more easily being more infectious. Researchers are trying to find out if the the California variant is also more infectious.

Los Angeles International Airport is now offering COVID-19 test results in as little as 30 minutes with the addition of rapid antigen tests at the airport’s on-site laboratory. The nasal-swab antigen tests are available only at the Terminal 6 lab location and cost $80. California officials are pinning their hopes on the newly inaugurated President Joe Biden as they struggle to obtain coronavirus vaccines to curb the surge that has packed hospitals and morgues in the state.

Twilight’s Last Gleaming

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As a petty and petulant Donald Trump left the White House, 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. More than 20,000 people are dying per week. An American dies abut every minute. The virus is about to surpass the number of Americans who died in WWII.

My father fought in WWII and one of my most vivid memories as a child was our family visit to the capitol building. I remember the feeling of awe when entering that huge vaulted dome for the first time. A faded black and white photo shot by my brother documents the moment my father held the doors open for my mother to enter our Nations Capitol.

The National Mall, was covered with 200,000 American flags as a memorial for the lives lost as Joe Biden is worn in as the 46th American president. On January 6, 2021 this was the sight of an angry mob’s violence as they attacked the Capitol.

I had to work through the inauguration but at lunch time I listened to Lady Gaga as she performed the Star Spangled Banner. Her performance chocked me up for the flag was still flying   above the Capitol despite the violence of the insurrection just days before. She wore a giant gold pin in the shape of a dove that reminded me of the Hunger Games. The violence the mob had incited was very much like the dystopian nightmare presented in the Hunger Games. Finally this field presents a symbol of hope. Biden plans to begin taking basic health precautions that Trump ignored and mocked. The country will still be divided among those who wear a mask to protect loved ones and those who deny science. Biden want to unify the nation and he has his work cut out for him. One year ago on January 20, the United States had its first known case of the novel coronavirus which was discovered in Snohomish County, Washington.

Thousands of COVID-19 Vaccines are Wasted

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At a hospital in a COVID-19 hot spot, a vaccination team inoculated employees. Most employees had already been inoculated. An ER doctor suggested the remaining doses be administered to vulnerable patients or non-hospital employees. The policy however was clear, the shots could only be given to hospital employees. The ER doctor pleaded with upper management and they ultimately relented.

However the vaccination team had gone off shift and the remaining doses had been thrown out. “This kind of thing is pretty rampant,” Ashish K. Jha said. “I have personally heard stories like this from dozens of physician friends in a variety of different states. Hundreds, if not thousands, of doses are getting tossed across the country every day. It’s unbelievable.”

Covid-19 vaccines have a short shelf life once they are thawed out for use. Because of federal and state mandates, hospitals and other health care providers would rather risk a dose going bad than give it to somebody who isn’t scheduled to get a shot. Some states like Massachusetts now have rules requiring hospitals to report the number of vaccine doses that have been discarded, Jha said.

While there doesn’t appear to be any solid numbers yet of how many of the Covid-19 vaccines have been discarded in the United States since the rollout began last month, the World Health Organization warned in 2005 that up to 50 percent of the vaccines released globally each year end up in the dumpster because of supply chain problems, such as not having enough freezer space or transportation issues. Vaccine doses are being thrown out by medical providers who couldn’t find the precisely correct recipients under rigid applicability tiers fashioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the 31.2 million doses distributed as of Friday morning, only 12.3 million had been administered. President elect Joe Biden has promised 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days. Guidance from the CDC may have been a bit too rigid, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a webcast hosted by Schmidt Futures and Social Science Research Council. The CDC recommended giving the very first vaccines to front line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. While the priorities won’t be abandoned, “when people are ready to get vaccinated, we’re going to move right on to the next level, so that there are not vaccine doses that are sitting in a freezer or refrigerator where they could be getting into people’s arms,” Fauci said. Flexibility and less waste is needed moving forward.

MAGAts

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The Urban Dictionary defines MAGAts as… “Trump supporters who blindly regurgitate the simple minded rhetoric of their beloved cult leader. They typically drive vehicles with large Trump 2020 or MAGA stickers or flags attached to them and gather in large groups. They refuse to wear masks and unlike the larval stage of the diptera, they serve absolutely no purpose in either nature or society.” I heard the phrase used for the first time this weekend listening to a radio show about the domestic terrorist attack at the United States Capitol.

With Trump’s violent rhetoric cut off by Twitter this movement is seeking alternated methods to get their insurrectionist messages out to the masses. They use a messaging service on Zillow to communicate. Zillow claims they can not monitor communications on their platform.

This is a rare case where people literally live streamed their own crimes. This of course made the job of the FBI much easier since videos keep popping up every day. Wave after wave of MAGAts smashed into police, eventually overcoming defenses and entering the building shortly after 2 p.m. MAGAts mad their way right into the Senate chamber and rifled through lawmakers desks. One with bull horn pincers wrote a note of vice president Pence that read, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” He is being held without bail. In jail this MAGAt refused to eat the food insisting that he only eats organic foods. Most maggots I know of will eat any open flesh wound.

Pre-Pandemic: Subways

Posted on by Thor

This sketch was done during an Urban Sketching Class I was teaching at Elite Animation Academy. The girl seated in front of the soda machine and sketching, was one of my best students. It is always a pleasure to find a student who has laser beam focus and a real desire to learn.

I usually take students here after instructing them in one point perspective. This sketch was done in an ancient sketchbook that was returned to me after being in someone’s attic for 30 years. The paper is brittle and thin but I am happy to finally be filling the book up.

The great part of taking students to Subways to sketch is that I can order a sandwich to eat while there. I always ordered a ham and Swiss with lettuce and tomato and a splash of oil and vinegar with a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. I miss those days of going on location to sketch. For now I am exploring the world virtually to do my rather political illustrations each day.

This last week of 2020 I actually got to instruct two students virtually and I am teaching them how too use photo reference to piece together ideas. Growing up I longed to find a decent painting instructor but never really found one. Perhaps I didn’t ask the right questions. I am trying t give my students the basic and fundamental instruction that I yearned for when I was young. Hopefully they will run with what I give them. I know the student in this sketch soaked in everything I threw her way.

Disneyland Super Vaccination Site

Posted on by Thor

Disneyland in Anaheim, Orange County (O.C.), California is being used as a vaccination super site. Tents have been sett up in one of the iconic theme park parking lots and cars began lining up a 5AM on January 13, 2021. Appointments must be made before hand and many drivers were disappointed to find this out as they waited in line. 10,000 people signed up on the evening of January 12, 2021 for appointments. The website crashing shortly after going live. Across the country people have been having trouble getting signed up for a vaccination.

O.C. firefighters and paramedics  vaccinated 3,000 patients at the super site on the first day. The goal is to be able to do two and a half times that many people next week, if vaccine doses are available. Disneyland will be one of five O.C. vaccine super sites. Dr. Clayton Chau announced that anyone age 65 or older will now be eligible to get vaccinated in O.C. That’s in addition to healthcare workers, emergency responders and residents of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.

Projected ICU capacity remains below 15% in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions which remain under the Regional Stay at Home Order. The following areas remain under the stay at home order…

  • Southern California: Remains under order; four-week ICU capacity projections do not meet criteria to exit order.
  • Bay Area: Remains under order; four-week ICU capacity projections do not meet criteria to exit order.

Due to high rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations impacting the health care system, California is also under a Limited Stay at Home Order.

  • California has 2,900,246 confirmed cases to date. Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.
  • There were 40,622 newly recorded confirmed cases January 15, 2021.
  • The 7-day positivity rate is 11.4% and the 14-day positivity rate is 12.6%.
  • There have been 37,802,255 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 352,719 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.
  • As case numbers continue to rise in California, the total number of individuals who will have serious outcomes will also increase. There have been 32,960 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
  • As of January 15, 2021 providers have reported administering a total of 1,188,703 vaccine doses statewide. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayed. As of January 15, 2021 a total of 3,144,575 vaccine doses, which includes the first and second dose, have been shipped to local health departments and health care systems that have facilities in multiple counties.