Omicron, Oh My!

There were 797 new cases of COVID-19 reported today; the highest daily number over the last 2&1/2 months. Auē! The Governor held a media event today with Dr. Char from the Department of Health. It was announced that there are now 31 known cases of Omicron in the State; there are also 17 suspected cases that are currently having genomic testing run. DOH anticipates Omicron will become the dominant variant by early January. One of the things I appreciated about what Dr. Char said was that as more people are vaccinated the percent of breakthrough cases will increase; it's just math. She also noted that even though it is suspected that Omicron causes a less severe case of COVID-19, because it is more contagious more people will contract it & the death toll may still be as high or higher; again, it's just math. Although it was about 30 minutes long, I found it to be an informative media conference. 

I got back on track & weighed myself this morning. I was a 0.2 pounds heavier than I was at my last weigh in a couple days ago. Auē!

I made a plain proothie this morning. I was a little late in making my proothie so it held me through lunch.

I was sorely tempted to make it a pineapple proothie; The Potential Most Favorite Roommate cut up the pineapple that Dylan brought over the other night & it smelled really good! It took a lot, but I resisted. I will make a pineapple proothie tomorrow since it is a Feast Day! 

In the morning Keala was in the cat run. Between climbing up the ends she was walking back & forth watching various birds. 

Unlike S'mores, she looks for the head.

About lunch time Marjorie sent out an email; the schedule for water quality monitoring with the Safe Drinking Water Branch has been revised. We will be getting Christmas & New Years Eve off! But it sounds like there is a possibility of the monitoring going in to January.

Later I also got a reminder about working tomorrow. And 2 notices showing that 2 dates I was originally scheduled to work have been deleted.

I got 2 of these with different dates.

Still later the MRC request for January availability came out. I said I was available for all weeks except the one when Janice will be here visiting. 

Our Neighborhood Security Watch coordinator Sue sent out an email & photo about a house that neighbors have been concerned is going to be turned in to a monster house. Based on workers that some other neighbors have talked to, it might not be. But we will just have to wait & see what happens.

That's a Cook Pine on the right! See the leaning trunk?

In the afternoon Ken sent me a text; he has finished replacing the screen on the doors of the safe. He will be working on the kitchen drawers next. I told him I would not be there until February so he did not need to rush things.

For dinner I had Turkey Stew, Winter Veggie Roast, & Steamed Broccoli & Kale. I also sprinkled some Super Crisps crumbs on top of the stew.

This afternoon Keala took over my chair again. And Luna was sleeping on the box by the sliding door. I did not see S'mores around. Luna got a big surprise; the box she was on is precariously balanced. She moved a little closer to the sliding glass door & it tipped, she scrambled off before it fell. I repositioned the box so it won't tip any more.

The calm before the box tipped.

She refused to go back up even after I secured it so it wouldn't tip any more.

The Navy is saying its water system now "meets guidelines". They are now saying that the contamination is from the fuel spill on November 20th; but back then the Navy said it was totally cleaned up. However, it sounds like the State Department of Health & Board of Water Supply are skeptical. I am, too; during our sampling we were told by a person who was a 1st responder to the 11/20 fuel spill that it really was completely cleaned up. To me, the video Town Hall sounded like a CYA affair. Their description they gave in the video Town Hall of what they did initially I also find suspect; we were told by a person who was involved with the initial sample collection that they collected about 1000 samples but they found out later that the samples were not collected properly. (The people being tasked with the sample collecting were not involved in any kind of water quality testing or sample collection before.) Auē! More transparency is needed; FYI the Navy has not yet shared the lab reports generated by their samples with either DOH or BWS that they say show that their water now "meets guidelines." Does not seem very transparent to me.

The media is being very careful about attribution of info regarding safety of the water.

Kīlauea volcano is still erupting.

At 9:37 a.m.

At 4:53 p.m.

At 9:37 a.m.

At 4:53 p.m.

It did not snow any more over night on Mauna Kea. And it looks like perhaps the daylight temperatures are warmer than they have been; the new snow that fell last night was melted off by midday. There might have been a little bit of new snow later in the day.

Some of the fresh snow has started to melt off.

Looks like most of the fresh snow is gone.

Is it going to snow again?

Nope.

Maybe now?

Looks like there might have been a light dusting of new snow.

I forgot to get a screen shot of the Aix weather app this morning. It was mainly sunny today in Honolulu. For Kapaʻau, Big Island Now forecast mostly sunny with isolated showers becoming partly sunny with scattered showers in the afternoon & a 50% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station had recorded 0.01 inches by 4:44 p.m. & 1.3 inches by 11 p.m. In Marysville it looked like it was relatively dry in the evening.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 9:34 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 4:46 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:46 p.m.

Marysville looking northerly at 4:48 p.m. HST.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 5:54 p.m.

The north facing shorelines had the best surf today. All other areas were relatively flat.

Laniakea (N) at 9:31 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) camera is AWOL again at 9:33 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 9:35 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 9:37 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 4:49 p.m.

A blurry Hilo Bay (E) at 4:50 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:50 p.m.

Banyans  at 4;52 p.m.

As mentioned above, there were 797 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, increasing the total known cases up to 91,067. There were also 2 new deaths reported, raising the death toll to 1067; currently 2842 cases are considered active. As of today there have been 2,453,379 doses of vaccine administered, providing 73.3% of the State population with full vaccination & 78.6% with at least one dose. The 7-day new case average for the State is 297 with a positivity rate of 4.2%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 251 with a positivity rate of 5.4%.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e B.J.!