Monday, January 03, 2022

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog December 2021

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. Christmas arrived in a blink of an eye; however, the Christmas holiday slowed down. Case numbers increased worldwide. The winter surge is real. Family was cautious celebrating Christmas.

Wed Dec 1. I got my booster shot at the county fairgrounds. There were two lines. The first line was for adults 12 years old or order. The second line was for children ages 5-11. I picked up my Black Friday purchases at Macy's. My sister tested positive for COVID-19.

The first US omicron case was identified in San Francisco. The person flew back from South Africa. Mild symptoms. Person was fully vaccinated with Moderna. He was not due for a booster shot.

Fri Dec 3. Google postponed workers returning to the office on Jan 10, 2022. Googles prohibits hybrid employees.

Mon Dec 6. New travel testing procedures. International travelers must be tested 24 hours instead of 72 hours before flying to the US. All non US citizens must be fully vaccinated.

Mask mandate for all public transportation extended from mid Jan to Mar 8, 2022.

Tested for COVID-19 at a testing site in Cupertino, CA. The junior college across the street was dead. I witnessed no people walking on campus. No cars drove in, out, and around the parking lots and roads.

New York City mandated all city workers must be vaccinated was expanded to the private sector starting on Mon Dec 27. Two doses required for adults and one dose required for children ages 5-11 for indoor dining, entertainment, and fitness centers. The requirement started on Sat Dec 11.

Tue Dec 7. My test came back negative.

A district court halted President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for federal contractors.

Thur Dec 9. Book shopping at used book stores. Filled up my car with gas.

The Center For Disease Control (CDC) and the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer boosters for people age 16-17. Six month minimum wait to receive booster shots.

The FDA approved Astra Zeneca COVID-19 antibody drug Evusheld for people age 12 or over with serious health problems or allergies. These people included organ transplant recipients and taking immunosuppressing drugs.

Fri Dec 10. Repaired laundry dryer. Replaced defective residence phone.

Sat Dec 11. Watched the Golden State Warriors at Philadelphia 76ers basketball game.

Sun Dec 12. Second storm of the rainy season.

800,000 US people died. Omicron was detected in 27 states.

The United Kingdom predicted omicron virus becomes the dominate strain in the country.

Mon Dec 13. Early research from multiple countries concluded mild symptoms for the omicron strain. Omicron was more contagious than delta.

All Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees must have at least one shot or may be fired by being placed on administrative leave to begin the termination process. Valid medical or religious exemptions exclude having at least one shot.

State Of California restored indoor mask mandate due to increasing cases from Wed Dec 15 to Jan 15, 2022 regardless of vaccination status. Cases increased 47% since Thanksgiving. Unvaccinated people attending events greater than or equal to 1,000 must be tested negative 24 hours with the rapid antigen test or 48 hours with the PCR test before the event.

The CDC reported omicron cases increased six-fold in one week. 73% of new infections were omicron in the last week.

The first US death from the omicron variant was in Texas. Person was unvaccinated and was infected twice.

The NHL postponed games from Wed Dec 22 to Sun Dec 26. All games between US and Canada were postponed because no US and Canada border travel.

Tue Dec 14. Total global cases 270,031,622. Total global deaths 5,310,502. Total vaccines administrated 8,200,642,671.

Wed Dec 15. Mailed package at my local post office. Returned most of my The Gap Factory Cyber Monday purchase.

3% of US cases were omicron variant. 13% of New York and New Jersey area cases were omicron variant. 75 countries reported omicron variant. 36 US states reported omicron variant.

The NBA began postponing games.

Thur Dec 16. The Ontario government reinstated capacity limits for large sports and entertainment venues which included the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, Ottawa Senators hockey team, and Toronto Raptors basketball team. Quebec reinstated zero attendance for their large sports and entertainment venues which included the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.

The United Kingdom reached a record daily cases 88,376 since the pandemic began.

The Premier League postponed games. Nine games were postponed as of today.

Mailed another package at my local post office.

Apple delayed employees returning the work indefinitely. The date employees return to the offices was Feb 1, 2022.

Stanford University Winter 2022 Quarter classes are taught online.

CDC recommended Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and not recommended Johnson & Johnson vaccine because Johnson & Johnson can cause rare blood clots. Pfizer and Moderna are more effective than Johnson & Johnson.

US hospitals admissions up 8% and deaths up 5% in the last seven days.

Fri Dec 17. The NFL postponed three games. Las Vegas at Cleveland moved from Sat Dec 18 to Mon Dec 20. Washington at Philadelphia and Seattle at Los Angeles moved from Sun Dec 19 to Tue Dec 21.

A federal appeals court reinstated President Biden's vaccination requirement for businesses at least 1,000 workers. Workers must be fully vaccinated or subject to weekly COVID-19 testing. Unvaccinated workers must wear masks. Citations are issued beginning on Jan 10, 2022.

Sat Dec 18. Slept with six blankets last night.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 89 countries has the omicron variant. Case numbers are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in some locations.

The Netherlands announced lockdowns. Schools, universities, non-essential stores, bars, and restaurants were closed. France, Cyprus, and Austria tightened travel restrictions. Denmark closed theaters, concert halls, amusement parks, and museums. Ireland instituted an 8pm curfew for pubs and bars. Limited attendance at major events.

Prince George's County in Maryland was the first US school district to return to online learning. The New York City Department Of Education closed 859 classrooms and partially closed 2,500 classrooms.

Tue Dec 21. Drove my dad for a doctor's appointment in Redwood City, CA. The day was the slowest day in months.

President Biden announced 500 million at-home COVID testing kids available by mail starting Jan 2022. People can sign up at a website. The federal government set up 20,000 testing sites nationwide. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deploys ambulances and paramedic teams to transport patients from full capacity hospitals to other hospitals.

The NHL withdraws from the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Wed Dec 22. California Governor Gavin Newsom requires all health care workers must be a booster shot before Feb 1, 2022 or risk losing their jobs.

The FDA emergency approved the Pfizer antiviral pill Paxlovid to treat COVID-19. The pill reduces combined hospitalization and deaths by 89% after initial COVID-19 symptoms.

Israel plans to administer a fourth vaccine dose. The first group are people age 60 or over, immunocompromised people, and medical workers. The group must wait a minimum of four months from their third dosage.

California State University and University Of California colleges announced students, faculty, and staff must receive a booster shot for the upcoming school session.

Thur Dec 23. The FDA approved Merck's pill Molnupiravir against COVID-19.

The CDC shorten quarantine for health care workers tested positive from ten days to seven days if tested negative and don't have symptoms. The seven days can be reduced to five days if staffing shortages are severe.

Fri Dec 24. Airlines cancelled flights because of staff shortages. Some airline staff were tested positive for COVID-19.

Mon Dec 27. The CDC reduced isolation restrictions from ten days to five days. There was evidence people with COVID-19 are most infectious two days before and three days after symptoms developed. Isolation begins the day a test returns positive.

Tue Dec 28. San Francisco cancelled the New Year's Eve fireworks event.

Wed Dec 29. California was the first state with five million cases. 4.4 million cases in Texas. 3.9 million cases in Florida.

The average cases in the US was 265,000 per day. It was the highest since Jan 2021 at 250,000.

A Michigan schoolteacher tested positive on a flight to Iceland. She felt sick. She brought rapid test kits. She tested herself in the airplane bathroom. She isolated herself in the bathroom.

Fri Dec 31. Shopped at Smart & Final first thing in the morning to avoid potential larger crowds.

At-home rapid tests were difficult to find in stores. People requesting one day to three days COVID-19 tests were waiting days for an appointment.

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