Punchbowl Home Boosters

Today I was at the Punchbowl Home vaccine clinic; Pharmacare was here again but with a different crew than yesterday. Some of the interpreters from yesterday were also here. The other MRC volunteer today was Joyce; we have worked together during the pandemic on a number of different projects & at a number of different venues. Harvee, the Pharmacare lead today, said they did 42 shots; she was also at LCC as a volunteer in the early part of the POD. We were busy; from the moment we walked in there were about 10 people in line at 9:45 for the 10 a.m. opening. For the 1st 1&1/2 hours it was a steady line. After that it slowed down but we had people straggling in until the 1 p.m. end of the clinic.

 

 

I  walked a little over 1.3 miles today during the clinic. Once again I was helping kūpuna fill out paperwork; I kinda like that. I get a little time to bond with them; there are some personal questions I have to ask to fill out the questionnaire. I try to add a little humor to the process to put them a little more at ease; the last question is, "Are you pregnant?" If I think the kupuna will find it humorous I will ask the 80-year old aunty that question. Today I also asked a man that; he said, "Oh I just went miscarry..." 🤣 A generous resident came down later with a bunch of Cup Noodles for all the clinic staff; this housing is for people with low to moderate income.

There really was an elevation gain today.

I went with RN Raphaela when she went to give a shot to one of the residents who was unable to come down to the clinic; the patient's neighbor had picked up the paperwork for her earlier, then brought the completed form back to us. Since we had to stay with the resident for the 15 minute observation period, I got to know more about Raphaela. She is originally from Cameroon & is now living in Hawaiʻi; because of her life experiences she has a much different perspective on vaccines & health care than most people. It's refreshing! Raphaela is also a molecular technician & has worked with vaccine development; she is trying to find more info on the actual titer levels post-vaccination rather than the "vaccine becomes less effective after 8 months" type of information that the news outlets provide. I asked if she would share the information with me when she finds it; I will pass it on if she can find it. 

Our view from the 5th floor balcony while we waited.

When things slowed down I also had time to talk with certified Korean interpreter Leslee; she is also a realtor. Leslee's younger son is going to school at UH Hilo so when she goes to visit him after I move, we'll try to get together. She wants me to meet him since he is studying environmental science. One of the other people I met today was Sol, I saw her yesterday at Pumehana Elderly Housing since she is on the management team. She had dropped by today to see how things were going here; just like she checked in yesterday. I told her how Ralph & Frank were very helpful yesterday; resident Jerry was helping us today. In general, the residents are also very helpful to each other.

There are a lot of cats at Punchbowl Home. They wander around the grounds in the back of the building on the terraced hillside; I saw at least 4 of them. I think the calico is the mother and the white & orange tabby ones are its offspring.

This appeared to be the youngest of the cats.

I slept in this morning; I had intended to get up early & walk but yesterday's "double miles" tired me out. I am getting back in to my old habits of burning the candle at both ends & in the middle! 

When I got back from the kūpuna clinic, Keala was napping in my chair. She was also there when I left in the morning; I am not sure if she spent all that time there but she was looking very comfortable. She finally left the chair about 3:30 & went out to the cat run to sleep. 

At 8:53 a.m.

At 1:55 p.m.

I made a proothie for lunch today; I had skipped it earlier in exchange for a little more sleep. I also got back closer to 2 p.m. so it was getting kind of late for a regular lunch. The proothie hit the spot.

For dinner I had originally been thinking of eating the furikake salmon that I had picked up at Times Supermarket for lunch. But there was still a lot of cream of mushroom soup left & half a package of Buffalo Tempeh. So I ended up having that for dinner instead. I had no additional vegetables I could add to it tonight.

They look faintly like the brains in iZombie food scenes.

Kīlauea volcano is still erupting. It looks like there were different hot spots that developed during the course of the day.

At 7:12 a.m.

At 4:49 p.m.

At 7:12 a.m.

At 4:49 p.m.

There was some snow on the ground at the Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope when I checked this morning a little after 7; and some snow or ice on one of the lenses. But it was not actively snowing; I missed that yesterday. This afternoon it was apparent there was no new snow during the day; there was less snow on the ground at 4 p.m. On the news tonight they said they are expecting more snow later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Looking northwesterly at 7:12 a.m.

Looking northwesterly at 4:04 p.m.

Looking northerly at 7:12 a.m.

Looking northerly at 4:05 p.m.

Looking easterly at 7:12 a.m.

Looking easterly at 4:05 p.m.

Looking southerly at 7:12 a.m.

Looking southerly at 4:05 p.m.

The Aix weather app forecast rain all day in Honolulu; it was pretty nice & only started raining during the late evening news. For Kapaʻau, Aix forecast more rain than in Honolulu all day; Big Island Now forecast mostly cloudy with numerous showers & a 70% chance of rain. The Honomū weather station had recorded 0.04 inches of precipitation by 4:47 p.m. but nothing after that. For Marysville, Aix forecast rain until mid-morning when it would turn to partly cloudy for the remainder of the day; on the traffic cams it looked like there might have only been a light drizzle rather than rain in the morning.

Waikīkī looking easterly at 7:04 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:10 a.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 7:10 a.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 7:11 a.m. HST.

Kaimukī looking northerly at 9:42 a.m.

Nā Koʻolau at 9:46 a.m.

Kaimukī looking westerly at 1:15 p.m.

Honomū looking northerly at 4:47 p.m.

Marysville looking southerly at 4:47 p.m. HST.

 

The north & west facing shores had the largest surf today.

Laniakea (N) at 7:03 a.m.

Hilo Bay (E) at 7:03 a.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 7:09 a.m.

Banyans (W) at 7:04 a.m.

Laniakea (N) at 4:44 p.m.

Waikīkī (S) at 4:45 p.m.

Banyans (W) at 4:41 p.m.

A day after Omicron was found in California in an international traveler, Omicron has now been found in Minnesota. The significance of this case is that it is purely community spread; the case had no international travel unlike the case reported yesterday in California. The only travel this new case had was associated with an anime convention in New York City. As predicted by Dr. Fauci & other epidemiologists, it was only a matter of time before Omicron would be found in the U.S. 

The last report on variants in Hawaiʻi was issued on 11/23/21. At the time of that report, 100% of the cases here were attributed to the Delta variant. Although genetic sequencing takes place daily, the reports are only issued once every 2 weeks; the next report will be released on 12/08. But if the Omicron variant is detected before then, I am pretty sure the DOH will hold a media conference & let everyone know.

Shortly after I wrote the previous paragraph, this "Breaking News" below was issued. As I noted above, the DOH would tell us know immediately when Omicron was detected here; and they did. I was glad to hear that they are now able to do the genetic sequencing faster than the original 7 to 10 days when they 1st began issuing the variant reports; now it takes only a couple days to get the results. The most important take-away from this case is that this was an instance of community spread since this person did not have any travel outside the state. They are doing contact tracing now to minimize the spread.

There were 126 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 87,898. There was also 1 new death reported, increasing the death toll to 1027; currently there are 1294 cases that are considered active. There are 38 cases who are currently hospitalized with 8 in the ICU & 4 on ventilators. The 7-day new case average for the State is 83 with a positivity rate of 1.4%. The 7-day new case average for Oʻahu is 43 with a positivity rate of 1.1%.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Stan & Roy!