Thursday, November 02, 2023

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog October 2023

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. There were fewer COVID-19 headlines. COVID-19 positive rates leveled after a summer spike. More mask mandates are coming back. The month went by slow; however, the more I think about Oct, the more I convince myself the month went by fast. The end of the day Oct went by slow.

Mon Oct 2. Shopped at Smart & Final first thing in the morning.

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine for developing the mRNA vaccine. The mRNA vaccine technology is used to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The letter m stands for Messenger. mRNA tells the cells to produce antibodies.

Tue Oct 3. The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for people ages 12 and older. The vaccine is protein based which targets the EG.5 strain and XBB omicron subvariant. Protein based vaccines gets the body's immune system to recognize small modified pieces of the virus it's targeting.

The Center For Disease Control (CDC) is no longer distributing the white vaccine cards. Recipients should contact their state health department's immunization information system to keep track of their COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Thur Oct 5. My morning errands were smog check for my car, AAA, and Safeway.

Fri Oct 6. A study published in the Lancete's EClinicalMedicine journal stated a person who feels sick long term and tested negative for COVID-19 may have long-cold. There are other respiratory infections related to the common cold and not related to COVID-19. It's too soon to determine the number of days defining long in long-cold. The symptoms include the common respiratory virus and the flu.

Four family members found guilty of conspiracy to defraud people by selling a COVID-19 miracle cure containing a toxic bleach. The product was called Miracle Mineral Solution under the guise of the Genesis II Church Of Health And Healing.

The CDC published a study 63% of hospitalizations Jan-Aug 2023 were people ages 65 and older. All other age groups admissions declined. 24% of all hospitalized patients were up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations. 90% of COVID-19 related deaths were people ages 65 and older. 155 people died due to COVID-19 on average per day. The majority were over 70 and/or immunocompromised. 43% of people ages 65 and older received the previous bivalent booster shot available from Sep 2022 to May 2023. 1.14 million people in the US died due to COVID-19. 52,000 people died in 2023 as of today.

Sun Oct 8. Watched the Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers Sunday Night Football 1st quarter, 3rd quarter, and 4th quarter.

Mon Oct 9. Shopped at Lucky's first thing in the morning.

Thur Oct 12. Went to a satellite Kaiser Hospital campus in the afternoon. There was no vaccine because supply ran out.

The Department Of Health And Human Services said 7 million Americans received the latest COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines available are Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Novavax. Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are recommended for people ages 6 months and older. Novavax is recommended for people ages 12 and over. 18 million people received the 2022 bivalent booster at the same time last year. 56.5 million people received the bivalent booster as of May 2023 which is 17% of the US population.

A concern is the latest vaccine unavailable to children. One problem is distribution delays. People reported trouble finding doses or problems with their insurance.

Fri Oct 13. Arrived at the same satellite Kaiser Hospital campus at 8:20am. There was a line in front of the entrance. Vaccinations opened at 9am. I waited 20 minutes for my vaccine shot.

Wed Oct 18. Pfizer increased the price for a five day treatment Paxlovid at $1,390 for the commercial market. The federal government paid $529. Paxlovid is the COVID-19 antiviral drug which has been free since Dec 2021 when the FDA authorized the drug. Pfizer sells Paxlovid to health insurers in 2024. Pfizer plans to subsidize copays for commercially insured people from 2024 to 2028.

Tue Oct 24. Bank Of America, Costco Business Center, and helped my dad run an errand.

Wed Oct 25. Cruise operator Carnival was found negligent in an Australian class action lawsuit. The Ruby Princess liner departed from Sydney on Mar 8, 2020 for a 13-day cruise to New Zealand. The liner returned to Sydney 11 days later. 663 passengers were infected with COVID-19. 28 people died.

The lead plaintiff Susan Karpik sued for $230,000 in damages. Karpik was awarded the cost of her medical expenses because she didn't experience long COVID-19. Carnival refunded all passengers on the Ruby Princess. Carnival offered free cancellations for cruises on Mar 9, 2020. All cruises were suspended on Mar 13, 2020.

Thur Oct 26. The CDC reported from a survey of thousands of Americans 2% of children and 7% of adults got the latest version of the COVID-19 vaccine. The latest version targets the XBB.1.5 omicron variant. The government transitioned distribution from the federal government to commercial. Case numbers are low; however, 18,000 are hospitalized and 1,200 people die on average per week.

Mon Oct 30. Went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and Toyota.

Tue Oct 31. Bay Area counties Santa Clara, Marin, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities must follow county mask mandates. The counties fear an increase in COVID-19 and RSV cases. The mask mandates begins on Nov 1, 2023 and ends on Mar 31, 2024.

The CA state positivity rate was 6% in mid Oct. Santa Clara County wastewater transmission data indicated medium levels at the end of Oct.

Update On A Past Blog

I'm living my last hours of borrowed time being unemployed from the blog Unemployed Borrowed Time I wrote on Apr 27, 2018. The borrowed time has been lasting at least five years with a COVID-19 global pandemic delay. I don't know what happens when time is up. I don't know my actions when time is up. Death is at the bottom of the outcomes list. I continue doing the best I can staying sharp.

The Times Are Changing continues. I wrote 2020 was a year of significant changes including government shelters in-place, black lives matter, modified professional sports seasons, and online school learning. I wrote the blog on Sep 17, 2020. Some 2023 significant changes are inflation, Ukraine war, climate changes, former President Donald Trump's criminal charges, and the Gaza Strip war.

I also wrote Beelzebub collected the bills past due during the 2009-2010 global recession. Beelzebub collects today. There are more people he made deals before the global pandemic. There are more bills past due.

The times are changing.

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