COVID-19, Round 2

I talked to a woman today, who said she originally contracted COVID-19 one year ago today. She said the 1st time around she was feeling a whole lot worse than she is today with her 2nd infection. She also said as soon as she is eligible, she will be getting vaccinated to reduce her chances even further of getting COVID-19 for a 3rd time; she is making a smart choice. For more information about how naturally getting COVID-19 compares to getting the vaccine, you might want to watch this 11 minute video by Dr. Mike Hansen.

Dave had great news for us today; with 11 or 12 of us working each day we have been able to keep up with the slightly lower case numbers than we were able to a week ago when the numbers were about 100 per day higher than they are now. Today I was working with the team that started with the Day 3 calls; I did 7 of those. We finished the Day 3 calls by mid-morning then moved on to the Day 2 calls; I did 20 of those. Just before lunch we were all working on the 1st day calls. We finished all our calls by 4:55 p.m. Hulō! I had made 29 Day 1 calls for a total of 56 calls; by the end of the day I was able to make contact with 22 people (39%). Of those people 2 declined to complete the interview; all of last year I had a total of 2 people who declined. Of the remaining 20 people, 9 were vaccinated (45%); 5 with Pfizer (25%) and 4 with Moderna (20%). There were 8 people who were too young to be vaccinated (40%); one of them was only 3 years old. 

My throat is getting better; it was not as scratchy at the end of the day as it was last Wednesday. But I could tell I needed to stop talking or I would be in trouble again. Dave is expecting a lot of cases tomorrow & asked me if I could work again; I declined so I could rest my throat. I also want to be able to save my talking for the vaccine outreach & education with the PHNs. I think I could make a bigger difference by providing people with the information they need to become comfortable with thinking about getting vaccinated & actually going & doing it, than I could talking to them after they have contracted COVID-19 & possibly infected others & put their life in danger.

Since today is a Fast Day, there will be no photos of breakfast or lunch.

During our lunch break I spent some time practicing 'ōlelo Hawaiʻi on Duolingo. I did not finish high enough to get any rewards but neither did I finish so low that I got demoted down to the next lower level; I did the Goldilocks thing & finished just right!

For dinner I had a whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter & sharp cheddar cheese; but I forgot to take a photo. I was originally going to eat some vegan chili that I had picked up from Kokua Market a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to take it out of the freezer. It is now defrosting for use tomorrow.

The Aix weather app forecast rain through mid-afternoon here followed by partly cloudy skies; that did not happen today. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast rain all day with it being heavier in the morning; the local paper only called for partly cloudy skies with scattered showers & a 50% chance of rain. The local paper appeared to be more correct with the Honomū weather station only registering 0.48 inches of rain. For Marysville, Aix forecast totally cloudy skies becoming partly cloudy by mid-afternoon; the traffic cam showed skies that were clearer in the morning than forecast.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:33 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:33 a.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 7:33 a.m. HST.

Nā Koʻolau at 8:29 a.m.

The surf summary highlighted the south swells again. It noted that surf on the northeast & east facing shores, like Keokea, would begin to decrease through next week due to the decrease in the trade wind speeds.

Chun's Reef (N) at 7:38 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 7:43 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:43 a.m.

Dr. Mike Hansen has a video discussing podcaster Joe Rogan & the misinformation about the different  "treatments" he has been giving himself for his recently acquired COVID-19 illness. Dr. Mike notes that this individual is only providing anecdotal information & not results from a clinical study, so his "results" are not totally reliable. Dr. Mike said some of the treatments the podcaster received (monoclonal antibodies & prednisone) are valid; but the others have not yet been shown to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 & in some cases has been harmful. Dr. Mike also notes the potential negative impacts of refusing the FDA-approved vaccine in order to rely on natural immunity & unproven treatments. 

There were 731 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 67,509. There were also 10 new deaths reported, increasing the number of fatalities to 624; currently 11,206 cases are considered active. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 499 with a positivity rate of 7.9%.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Tim, Denise, Chris, Kerry, & Rikayla!