Going to Tier 3

Every Wednesday is when they determine whether we can move to the next less restrictive tier. This week we passed the test! Hulo! Beginning at 12:01 am we are officially in Tier 3.

The 2nd hand of maiʻa are starting to ripen. Good thing, too, the 1st hand is almost gone! 

Most other days it has been smooth sailing on the freeway when I am on my way to LCC. Today there was a traffic jam about 5 minutes after I got on. I did not see any accidents or other things on the freeway that might have caused the slowdown.

Because VAMS changed the sign-in, a burner phone is now part of the tool kit for the Data Entry team. (We also have a copy machine.) During the sign-in process, when someone logs in, the verification code is sent to the burner phone, Audrey reads out the codes and whomever was signing in tries them. She has set up 30 different sign-ins for us to use for th PODs; so far we have used up to 20 in one day. It might be higher next week. Today we only did 869 forms; there was an erroneous email sent out to a bunch of people with appointments for today saying the POD was cancelled. The agencies spent the late morning calling people to come in as soon as they could but were not able to get everyone to come in today.

I am now MRC Data Supervisor; it is still a volunteer position. It allows me to get in to VAMS with admin level clearance so I can help debug more of the problem files we come across. Alicia & Marjorie asked me if I would assist with this since I now have a lot of experience with the Data Entry duties; I can enter data, troubleshoot data entry, train others on data entry, do the runner position & train others to do it, and I can help with set-up & break-down of the Data Entry Center. I can also assist with getting the VAMS sign-ins started in the morning. They are looking ahead since next week they plan on having more vaccinators so they can catch up on the appointments that had to be cancelled last week when the vaccines did not arrive due to weather issues at the production points. FYI - I have helped with about 75% of the vaccine PODs that MRC has collaborated on so far (17 out of 23).

Having the runners be part of the Data Entry team is working out very well. Today I trained Jean & Julie to be runners. Jean had done it before as part of the Line Monitor position so the changes we have made were new to her; she said it seemed to work better than before. This was the first time Julie did the runner position; they both did well. Since they both have also done data entry, they also know how frustrating it was when a whole stack of forms would come in at or after 4 pm. I think I will be training more runners tomorrow when there will be 20 people assigned to Data Entry.

Lunch today was from Aiea Bowl; I did the non-vegetarian option because the vegetarian option was just a salad. The non-vegetarian option was very meat heavy; I think I should have done the vegetarian option even if it was just a salad. The table I normally sit at was occupied so I went around the corner to the chair, but I moved it so it was in the shade of the tree and in the middle of a nice breeze.

I took a closer look at the loʻi the other day. They are not loʻi; it appears it is a watercress farm. But still cool.

The Aix weather app forecast that there would be some precipitation though  not measurable in Honolulu til about 2 pm, then precipitation would increase. Although there were some clouds in the morning it never rained today. In Kapaʻau it forecast rain throughout the day, with it being a little heavier before 2 pm.  The Tesla app seemed to bear that out and the web cams on Mauna Kea showed cloud cover over Kohala.

Clouds in the distance over Kohala.

Cloud cover coming in from the east.

I checked out the Kīlauea caldera web cams during the day and in the evening again. Here is an updated video about the eruption.

There was an earthquake in southeastern Alaska early this morning; it did not cause a tsunami.

In his LG Update, the LG talked about how we now have the lowest new cases & fatality rates in the nation. And we are 8th best in the country on vaccinations; we have administered 93% of the vaccines that have been delivered. 

There were 50 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 27,320. There were also 4 new deaths reported, bringing the death toll up to 435; currently 684 cases are considered active. The 7-day average of new cases on Oʻahu is 28 with a 1.1% positivity rate; this allows Oʻahu to move to Tier 3! Hulo!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Rich!

Only 900 Today

Only 900 vaccinations were done today; usually we have been doing closer to 1100 each day. We started out very hectic, VAMS has changed the sign-in requirements to a 2-factor authentication system & we were having difficulty signing in. Then only one of the 14 Stations was coordinated with the Vaccinator number; we had to reassign all the data entry volunteers. Which meant trying to sign-in again! Auē! After about an hour or so we got things straightened out; although about half the volunteers are new to data entry, nearly all of them were very good with computers. I walked over 2&1/2 miles today. Towards the end of the day, when the vaccinators were closing up the stations, a student nurse came up to me; it was Crystal, one of the CNAs at Maunalani that took care of Dad! It was nice to see her there; she said she was going to be back on Thursday. We got everything done by a little past 4 pm.

There was a lot of work being done on the roads this morning. The first was about a block away from the house; the second was on the freeway near the exit I take to get to LCC.

Lunch today was from S & P Kitchen. I had the vegetarian option. But it's a good thing I'm not really a vegetarian; the "tofu" was actually fishcake. 

This morning the bananas were definitely yellow and ready to eat. One (or more) of The Roommates took some to work as a snack; I tried one when I got back from the POD.  They're ready!

The Aix weather app forecast cloudy with precipitation through early afternoon for Honolulu; there were some clouds. But it was an occasional light misting, nothing measurable. For Kapaʻau it forecast clouds and precipitation getting heavier towards the early afternoon. The Tesla app recorded less insolation than on a sunny day, with even less as the day progressed after lunch.

Looking easterly, 8:37 am.

Looking northerly at the nā Koʻolau, 8:42 am.

The lava lake at Kīlauea caldera is showing some cooler spots floating in the lake.

There were 47 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 27,270. There were no new deaths reported today so the death toll remains at 431; currently there are 693 cases that are considered active. The 7-day new case average for O'ahu is 29 with a 1.1% positivity rate.

Yesterday the information on vaccine administration changed. The "Doses Administered by State" graphic has been available since I first found this information but it was originally on the right side until about a week ago when it was flipped with the "Vaccines Shipped to States" graphic. The "Doses" also originally showed what percent of the doses shipped had been administered; it now shows the portion of the total US population that has received only the 1st dose as well as those who got both doses; this is a more meaningful metric. The "Vaccines Shipped to States" graphic that was originally provided, showed the number of doses shipped as a portion of the population & further broke it down by Pfizer doses & Moderna doses; which would have become unwieldy as more vaccines are approved. The "Status of the Supply" graphic only showed up on Sunday; it is the original "Doses Administered" graphic but in blue instead of red.