Throwback Blog: Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023

Throwback Blog: Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023

Blogger's Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023 written on Feb 1, 2023. Bay Area people remember the big rain storm in Jan 2023 causing widespread power outages. The tripledemic COVID-19, the flu, and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was weak. California ended the public health emergency on Feb 28, 2023. President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 national emergency on May 11, 2023. The ending emergencies seemed they happened a long time ago.

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. The COVID-19 winter surge tripledemic COVID-19, the flu and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was weaker than expected. Strong winter rains. Near freezing temperature lows. Jan started the year slowly.

Tue Jan 3. Went to the bank. Shopped at Smart & Final and Nike Outlet. More people wore masks and more people didn't wear masks.

The biggest rain storm in decades arrived in the Bay Area.

Wed Jan 4. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the omicron variant XBB.1.5 is the dominant and the most transmissible COVID-19 variant. There is no evidence XBB.1.5 made people sicker. The initial research concluded XBB.1.5 is more resistant to vaccines compared to XBB and XBB.1. Infection rates doubled every two weeks. XBB.1.5 was identified in 29 countries.

Thur Jan 5. 90% of people with long COVID-19 started with mild symptoms according to a study published in the American Medical Association. Long COVID-19 is defined as the continuation or development of symptoms three months after the initial infection. Fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive problems such as brain fog are common long COVID-19 symptoms. Women are twice as likely as men and four times as likely as children to develop long COVID-19. COVID-19 patients hospitalized increase their risk with long COVID-19 with longer lasting symptoms. Researchers don't know why some symptoms disappear, reappear, and new symptoms develop. Other symptoms include loss of smell, loss of taste, insomnia, gastrointestinal problems, and headaches. The initial evidence shows lower risk of long COVID-19 from omicron. Most people in the research were infected with deadlier variants.

Mon Jan 9. 89% of the residences in the Henan province in China tested positive with COVID-19. The province is the third most populated. Total infection 88.5 million. A possible reason for the spike is ineffective China vaccines compared to the effective US vaccines.

Tue Jan 10. Power outage started at 2:30am. The household listened to the news with the emergency radio. It was the first time the household turned on the emergency radio due to the weather. The emergency radio was used two times overall. Power was restored at 4:30pm.

Secretary Of Defense Lloyd Austin officially rescinded the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the military. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act required the mandate dismissal.

The Washington Post reported an international expert estimates 5,000 people die each day and 1,000,000 people die in China from COVID-19 for 2023. The Chinese government official stated 5,200 people died since the start of the pandemic.

Satellite images of certain China provinces showed cars and crowds at crematoriums and funeral homes.

Wed Jan 11. The US renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency to April 2023. The emergency protected public health insurance coverage for millions, provided hospitals with greater flexibility to respond to patient surges, and expanded telehealth. Hospitals lose flexibility deploying staff, adding beds, and caring patients during surges when the public health emergency ends. Millions are expected to lose health insurance under Medicaid.

President Joe Biden said the pandemic was over in Sep 2022.

Thur Jan 12. A hospital in Beijing in China reported half of its 2,000 staff tested positive for COVID-19. They all recovered taking traditional Chinese medicine. Pfizer's Paxlovid is in short supply. A local manufacturer is contracted to manufacture Paxlovid available in three to four months to the Chinese people.

Fri Jan 13. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) said a possible safety problem with Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. Regardless, the CDC recommended people are updated with vaccines. It's possible people 65 and older increases their chances of a stroke.

Sat Jan 14. China reported 59,938 deaths from COVID-19 since Dec 2022. 5,503 deaths were due to respiratory failure and 54,435 deaths were due to COVID-19 plus other health ailments.

The CDC reported the tripledemic didn't happen. RSV and flu cases and hospitalizations declined in Dec 2022; although, some states experienced higher illnesses than other states. COVID-19 hospitalizations increased in Dec 2022. The RSV and flu mostly affected the children.

Mon Jan 16. Multiple celebrities tested positive for COVID-19 after the Golden Globes on Sun Jan 8, 2023. Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Jen Statsky were some of the celebrities. Experts said it was no surprise because many people gathered indoors and poor COVID-19 safety practices.

The CDC said weekly COVID-19 cases topped 400,000 for the last six weeks. Weekly deaths increased with 3,907 reported as of Jan 11, 2023. However, flu cases declined.

Wed Jan 18. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tested positive for COVID-19. Mild symptoms. Powell is fully vaccinated and boosted up to date.

Thur Jan 19. I shopped at Target to purchase Bar Keepers Friend to clean sinks. I shopped at Smart & Final. I purchased the last pack of chicken.

Fri Jan 20. Shopped at Costco and Sports Basement. The cell phones and service booth was closed. The booth was covered with Costco services displays. Costco was dead inside at the 10am hour. I exchanged a Christmas gift at Sports Basement.

Wastewater samples show COVID-19, flu, and RSV rates declined in the Santa Clara County. Hospitalizations declined 30% from one month ago. COVID-19 hospitalizations were less severe because more people have antibodies and more vaccinated people.

Sat Jan 21. Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center For Disease Control And Prevention said 80% of the people in China is infected with COVID-19. Infections increased during the Lunar New Year. The government reported 60,000 people died from COVID-19 as of Jan 12, 2023.

Sun Jan 22. Watched Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers football game.

Mon Jan 23. Shopped at Smart & Final. There were lots of customers at 9:45am.

The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) assessed the COVID-19 vaccine administered as an annual one shot like the annual flu shot before the flu season. Two doses may be needed for the children, the elderly, or the immune compromised. The goal is improved vaccine coverage rates and simplify vaccine deployment. Currently, most people receive the original COVID-19 vaccine two times separated 3-4 weeks apart. A booster is administered three to four months later.

Wed Jan 25. The North Korea capital Pyongyang was locked down for five days due to an unspecified respiratory illness. Citizens measured their temperatures which are reported to a hospital by phone four times a day. North Korea declared the pandemic ended on Aug 2022.

Thur Jan 26. The FDA pulled AstraZeneca's Erusheld from the market because it's not effective against at least 90% of the COVID-19 subvariants in the US. Erusheld is ineffective against BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and the XBB subvariants.

The CDC said omicron XBB.1.5 accounts for 49% of new cases. XBB.1.5 is adaptable to evade antibodies which block infection. 93% of new cases are the BQ and XBB variants.

Sat Jan 28. Shopped at Costco. It was busy at 9:45am. I avoid parking in the area next to the gas station in the future. I was lucky I found an open space near the entrance.

Sun Jan 29. Watched the San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles football game. I also watched the Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs starting at the 2:00 in the second quarter football game.

Mon Jan 30. The WHO said COVID-19 remains a global health emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world transitions out of the emergency phase of the pandemic in 2023. Reduce hospitalizations. Minimize deaths. The health system manages COVID-19 in a sustainable way. At least 90% of the world population has some immunity to COVID-19. Tracking has declined detecting new variants difficult. Regardless, COVID-19 continues to kill. Resources must continue to research COVID-19.

President Joe Biden ends the COVID-19 national emergencies on May 11, 2023. The federal government roles are reduced for the COVID-19 pandemic response. The medically insured pay some out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments. The medically uninsured pay fully for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.

Tue Jan 31. The following are anticipated changes for COVID-19 government policy when the US public health emergency ends on May 11, 2023:

*The FDA authorizes COVID-19 home testing kits, vaccines, boosters, and products for emergency use. However, insurers no longer are required to cover the costs for home testing kits. Vaccines and boosters are free because the government purchased them. Congress didn't fund future vaccine and booster purchases.
*Medicaid enrollment increase during the pandemic because states can't remove people during the public health emergency. States can remove ineligible people in Apr.
*Title 42 allows the federal government to deny people seeking asylum to prevent COVID-19 spreading inside the US borders. The end of the public health emergency may end Title 42.
*More patients use telehealth to communicate with their doctors on a smartphone or a computer. Patients under Medicare pay nothing because Medicare covers the service cost. Congress extends telehealth for Medicare to the end of 2024.
*State public health emergency varies state by state. California public health emergency ends Feb 28, 2023.
*Hospitals no longer receive an extra 20% financial compensation for treating COVID-19 patients on Medicare.

The House passed two bills to end the COVID-19 government public health emergency. The bills are the Pandemic Is Over Act and the Freedom For Health Care Workers Act. The freedom act ends the mandate federal health care workers must be vaccinated.

No Guarantees In Life Including Sports

Sports are percentages. There is pass completion rate, percentage drops, and number of points the defense gives up per game in football. There is field goal percentage and free throw percentage in basketball. There is batting average, walk to strike out ratio, and earned run average in baseball. There is goals against average and shots on goals in hockey. There is no 100%. There is no 1.000.

The percentages, rates, ratios, probabilities, averages, sums, and totals in all sports applies to life. Chances in life applies to sports. Timing and luck in sports applies to life. A basketball player experiences a bad shooting night in a regular season game. A no big deal. A basketball player experiences a bad shooting night in a championship game. A yes big deal. The thought process applies to a quarterback throwing a football, a place kicker kicking a field goal, a baseball player going 0 for 4 with three deep flyouts, a pitcher giving up four home runs, a winger missing too many shots on goal, and a goal keeper giving up four goals.

We blame the players for the bad performance. We blame the players for the miss critical plays. We blame coaches for bad decisions. Think rationally. No player wants to screw up. No coach wants to lose. The chances are there to connect, and sometimes there are no chances. Timing and luck are not there. The game is lost. The strategies don't work out. It's the other result. It's the opposite of the percentage. It's the other side. A basketball player free throw percentage success is 90.1%. The player missed critical free throws at the fourth period. It's the 9.9% failure percentage. Failed. The team lost the game. Regular season is a no big deal. Try again next time. Championship playoffs is a yes big deal. It's unfair. It's the nature of the sports world. A professional sports team not making the playoffs with at least 50% regular season wins is considered a successful season.

The Odds Are Against Professional Dreamers

There are a limited number of active professional sports players who play in the top leagues. There are 1,696 professional football players in the 32 team NFL out of all the professional football players. There are 450 professional basketball players in the 30 team NBA out of all the professional basketball players. There are 780 professional baseball players in the 30 team MLB out of all the professional baseball players. There are 736 professional hockey players in the 32 team NHL out of all the professional hockey players. Those numbers are small. Practice squad and inactive professional players are excluded from the numbers. The chances of professional sports players in a North American big league roster are slim. Life is rolling the dice. Many try to become professional sports players. Few succeed.

Update On A Past Blog

I add the percentages, rates, ratios, probabilities, averages, sums, and totals in all sports to the blog Top Ten Life Lessons I Learned Watching Sports written on Nov 5, 2016.

I wrote a no guarantees blog A Lesson Learned Tonight written on Feb 2, 2010. The blog talked about Conan O'Brien leaving The Tonight Show with a $45 million settlement on Jan 2010. I remind myself there are no guarantees in life; however, death and taxes are 100% certain.

I repeat an update on a past blog word for word from Owners Hiring The Below Average Worker on May 12, 2023:

Life is chances. The right place at the right time. Timing and luck are in favor. The wind blows behind your back. The odds are good. The dice are rolling well. Probability is close to 100%. Here are two blogs related to chances, odds, and probabilities: Roll The Dice When You Wake Up written on Aug 12, 2019 and The Homeless People Rolled Too Many Snake Eyes written on Apr 8, 2019. Death and taxes are 100% certain. Life is unfair regardless of the probabilities. Times continue to be tough going forward.

Maxed Out On Career Learning

I finished my WordPress self job training last week. Full disclosure. The WordPress was a satisfactory failure. The training resulted in finding a new web hosting provider for my webpage Innovate Infinitely and ending the training project due to costs. The last WordPress tutorial was an offline training I found from the YouTube algorithm. Regardless, I added the skill to my resume.

The remaining self job training skills are Excel, Python, and HTML as of the blog post. Years 2022 and 2023 were peak with the following skills: Excel with Power Pivot and Power Query, Git, Linux, Power BI, Python, R and R-Studio, SQL, and Sublime Text. There is no new job training related to my profession thereafter. Reviewing existing job skills are too repetitious with no additional benefits--borderline boredom and tiredness. It's like no more promotions. There's nothing more going up. My salary is maxed. My rank is at the top ceiling. Anything new adds no additional value; although, I receive information to learn PyTorch for machine learning.

I never thought about running out of new job training skills. I never realized the self job training spanned a decade. Students graduate high school. Students graduate college. The common wisdom is never stop learning; however, all training must come to an end. The student takes the pebble from the master's hand.

Two Business Lessons I Learned At Cisco

I share two business lessons which were business skills I learned when I worked at Cisco. I didn't learn them in college. I didn't learn them when I worked in the commercial real estate industry after I graduated college. It was an example of learning on the job.

The senior manager was gracious to teach me tables. Report data on tables. Don't use bullets. Don't write long sentences. Don't create boring charts. Use tables. There are column headers. There are row labels. Place the data matching the column headers and the row labels. Most readers don't have the time to read the specific details. Most readers don't want to move their eyes multiples times looking at multiple charts. Most readers want the summary. Most readers want the bottom line. Easy. Simple. Precise.

My department manager taught me to fidget the numbers. The company's fiscal quarter ended. There were deals which closed at the next fiscal quarter. My department manager told me to include those deals in the fiscal quarter ended. Manipulate the department quarterly report. Divisions and departments fought against each other for funding from senior executives. Include everything now. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. It was my first real experience with business politics.

Update On A Past Blog

The world can reduce the number of Same Shit. Different Day. Everything Happens. by being more honest. The blog focused on people reading and listening to daily events. The update focuses on people's character, behavior, attitude, qualities, and attributes. More people tell the truth. Lower the same shit. Express sincerely. End the cliques. I wrote the blog on Jul 28, 2021.

I'm Tired Stepping Up Making Other People Feel Comfortable

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar.

The title speaks for itself. Also, I'm tired of being at the short end of the stick too many times. If people want to make me happy, then do better yourselves. Unfortunately, many people lack motivation. It's okay to be angry. Angry is a valid feeling. Angry people don't act like jerks. There are boundaries.

High School Campus Is A Teenage Day Care Center

I dreamed last night I was a student in high school. One class was like a Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC) class. It was taught like a ROTC class. Most of the class material was ROTC. The instructor was like a ROTC who was a retired Marine officer.

The students and I were outside the classroom. The instructor told us to go inside the classroom which was like a mini gym. The ceilings were tall. The classroom was four times bigger than a standard classroom. The students were given a yellow piece of paper with questions. There were a few multiple choice questions. There were two fill in the blank. The rest were short answers.

My dream immediately fast forward to the instructor handing back the yellow piece of paper to the students. It turned out we were given a surprised test. All students did poorly. I scored a 73. The instructor punished the students by telling us to go outside and correct our mistakes. I woke up.

High School Is A Joke

My cynical thinking the ROTC like class was a waste of time. I thought back to my high school years. Many classes were a waste of time. Teenagers need to learn mathematics, learn reading, and learn writing. The deeper question is "How much depth do teenagers need to know US history, world history, geography, science, foreign language, and fine arts?" Parents are told by the government these classes must be taken to graduate with a high school diploma. US citizens should know the civil war, World War II, the capital of the USA, and water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. I reread a few literature books in high school as an adult such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane, and Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. Most of the books stank. Physical education was a joke. I don't know today's physical education curriculum.

My high school is a joke opinion may be weak. College bound high school students must take college requisites. I accept. Otherwise, my opinion has merit. Music, art, and cooking do nothing to get a good paying job in today's Information Age. Students who are lazy may have a point. They're bored. The high school standards and high school policies are a mismatch. I admit they're not perfect.

Start The Conversation

Education is passing knowledge to future generations. Any other definition is probably bullshit.

Update On A Past Blog

I add another lesson learned taking R.O.T.C. in high school. The blog is High School R.O.T.C. Leadership Lesson Another Viewpoint By Rank written on Oct 24, 2020. Here is the lesson on words.

*What is the one most important word? We.
*What are the two most important words? Thank you.
*What are the three most important words? If you please.
*What are the four most important words? What is your opinion?
*What are the five most important words? You did a good job.
*What are the six most important words? I admit I made a mistake.

Three Random Lists

Blogger's note: The three lists below were initially part of the Instant Bullets Blog Sep 10, 2025. The lists were too long to be their instant bullets. I separated the three lists as their own blog.

*A Person's Name Says More Than People Think. The following actors and actresses changed their names. Source: Who was/is forced to hide their ethnicity to make it in Hollywood? from Reddit.

*Margarita Carmen Cansino was Rita Hayworth. Half Irish and half Spanish.
*Helen Lydia Mironoff is Helen Mirren. Half English and half Russian.
*Ramon Antonio Gerald Estevez is Martin Sheen. Half Irish and half Spanish.
*Carlos Irwin Estevez is Charlie Sheen.
*Issur Herschelevitch Danielovitch was Kirk Douglas.
*Kemal Amen Kasem was Casey Kasem. Lebanese.
*Jameel Joseph Farah is Jamie Farr. Lebanese.
*Farrokh Bomi Bulsara was Freddie Mercury. Parsi.
*Krishna Pandit Bhanji is Ben Kingsley. Half English and half Indian.
*Chloe Michelle Wang is Chloe Bennet. Half Caucasian and half Chinese.
*Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff was Doris Day.
*Dino Paul Crocetti was Dean Martin.
*Natalie Zacharenko was Natalie Wood. Russian and Ukrainian descent.
*George Kyriacos Panayiotou is George Michael. Half English and half Greek.
*Jennifer Ellen Chan is Jennifer Tilly. Half Caucasian and half Chinese.
*Eric Marlon Bishop is Jamie Foxx.
*Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson was Merle Oberon. Welsh and Ceylonese descent. Ceylonese is now Sir Lankan.
*Jo Raquel Tejada was Raquel Welch. Bolivian.
*Linda Jean Cordova Carter is Lynda Carter. English, French, Irish, and Spanish descent.
*Catherine Bachman is Catherine Bach. Half German and half Mexican.

*What are some things younger gamers don't understand today? Source: Gamers 30+, what's something from "back in your day" that younger gamers today wouldn't understand from Reddit.

*Clean the wheels from the mouse's ball.
*Buy a game because of the box art and description.
*Demonstration discs in gaming magazines.
*No streamers and no internet to find game secrets.
*Blow air in cartridges.
*Wipe a CD on your shirt.
*Multiple floppy disks or multiple CDs to install a video game.
*Set the channel to channel 3 on a television set to play consoles.
*Change discs to continue playing a game.
*Read instruction manuals before playing the game.
*No patches.
*Character passwords to restore or to continue games.
*Need the manual to look up a password or answer a question to continue installing a game.
*Can't play online because parents expect a phone call.
*The GameShark and the Game Genie.
*Browse the video rental store to rent video games.
*Trip over a controller cord.
*Lose memory cards.
*Draw dungeon maps on graph paper.
*Load a game from cassettes.

*The BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame. The following 25 games are the first inductees to the BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The hall of fame focuses on modern board games. Classic games such as Chess, Backgammon, Go, and traditional 52-card games are excluded. Source: The BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame.

1. 1830: Railways & Robber Barons
2. 7 Wonders
3. Acquire
4. Agricola
5. Brass: Lancashire
6. Carcassonne
7. The Castles Of Burgundy
8. Catan
9. Caylus
10. Civilization
11. Concordia
12. Cosmic Encounter
13. Diplomacy
14. Dominion
15. El Grande
16. Magic: The Gathering
17. Pandemic
18. Power Grid
19. Ra
20. Race For The Galaxy
21. Terra Mystica
22. Through The Ages: A New Story Of Civilization
23. Ticket To Ride
24. Tigris & Euphrates
25. Twilight Struggle

Update On A Past Blog

The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart podcast interviewed Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Sep 25, 2025. Stewart admitted in the post-interview the podcast was a hard listen. The Democratic leadership is weak. YouTube video WANTED: Democratic Leadership with DNC Chair Ken Martin | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart.

The interview reminded me of the blog The Democrats Are Unhappy They Won written on Sep 8, 2025. I listed past major victories including Obamacare, DEI Diversity Equity Inclusion, and more people earning higher incomes. I add the Democrats are on different pages. There are too many goals. The Democrats are too divided. The Democrats are too diluted. The Democrats are too spread out. The Democrats fail to maintain their victories at the minimum.