A Couple of Firsts

Today was the 1st time I talked to someone who was answering as proxy for someone who had died of COVID-19; I talked to the father of a young woman who had died a couple days earlier. I also had an interview with a self-proclaimed antivaxxer; all of his family, except the son who was away at camp, were positive. He felt they were infected because of a teacher at the school of the 1st son who was symptomatic. I found it interesting that he was so strongly against vaccines but equally as strongly for masks; he felt that stronger mask mandates are necessary. He was very personable & very talkative; though that might be because he wanted to complain about the teacher & the school. 

Today's reminders.

All total, I made 65 calls today and interviewed 16 people (25%). Of those I was able to reach, I had 3 people who refused to talk to me (19%); 2 just hung up, the 3rd at least respectfully refused to answer the questions. And I had 1 person who wanted to know if we were looking for more people to help with making first calls! I gave that person Dave's number because just hours earlier he had sent out an email saying he was looking for more callers.

I was on the team that started with Day 3 calls; I did 20 of those (31%). Then we moved on to help the other team finish the Day 2 calls; I did 4 (6%). We all moved to the Day 1 calls about an hour before lunch; I did 41 of those (63%). Of the 12 people I was able to do a complete interview with, 4.5 people were vaccinated (37.5%); 1 with Moderna (8.3%) and the rest with Pfizer (29%). One of the Pfizer people got his 1st shot a week before he tested positive; he'll have to wait until his doctor clears him to take the 2nd shot. And 25% were too young to be vaccinated; all of them were less than 5 years old. We finished one round of calls to the Day 1 patients at about 4 p.m. Since OmniTrak's contract does not allow for overtime, Dave sent us home since we would not be able to finish a 2nd round in an hour.

No food photos today because it's a Fast Day. But here's my photo for lunch; I kept trying to get the green button to open the door; I finally noticed the sign above the buttons. Auē! When I finally got out of the building I had about 15 minutes to relax; I had also left about 5 minutes late to start my lunch break.

For dinner I found a piece of pizza in the freezer on my shelf; I did not remember putting it there. I asked DT, he did not remember it & said his usually has 2 pieces; he did not think it was his. I ate it.

I made it to 500 days on Duolingo! I was also able to stay in the Diamond League but only just barely. I am finding it is easier to remember both spoken & written ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi words & phrases; so I guess the daily lessons are helping. 

The Big Island Now has a weekly feature on their Hawaiʻi Volcano Blog called "Volcano Watch" written by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists. Today's article was about their research on the gas emission surveys at Kīlauea. The surveys started prior to the 2018 eruption & were interrupted by the eruption; they were started up again this summer. Results will be compared to past data. 

The scientists are walking across the lighter colored portion of the caldera floor.

The Aix weather app forecast rain through the morning hours until about mid-afternoon in Honolulu; I know there was some an hour or so after midnight since it woke me up. Later though it was just a drizzle as I left for work, cleared up in the middle of the day while I was "at lunch", then sprinkled as I was on my way home after work; there was also light drizzle in the late evening. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecazt rain all day while Big Island Now forecast partly sunny with scattered showers & a 50% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station had recorded 0.04 inches by 7:45 a.m.; I did not check later in the day to see whether the rain continued. For Marysville, Aix forecast rain until midmorning, followed by partly cloudy skies; the roadway in the traffic cam shot did look like there was at least a little precipitation though not enough to thoroughly soak the pavement.

My lens fogged up as I took a photo of the rain at 1:09 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:45 a.m. Looks like a little moisture on the lens.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:45 a.m. Pavement is definitely wet.

Marysville looking northerly at 7:45 a.m. HST. Signs of a light drizzle.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 8:28 a.m.

Honolulu looking easterly at 4:28 p.m. Very light drizzle.

The surf on south facing shores is near its usual heights for this time of the year. The east facing & west facing shores are also getting some small surf. But the north looks pretty flat.

Chun's Reef (N) at 7:46 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 7:47 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:49 a.m.

Waikoloa (W) at 7:50 a.m.

There were 735 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up 71,891. There were 7 new deaths reported, raising the death toll to 660; currently there are 9343 cases considered active. There are 404 patients that have been hospitalized with 84 in the ICU and 71 on ventilators. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kathleen!