Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Keep wearing masks

It’s been about a week since the CDC said you no longer have to wear a mask outdoors if you are fully vaccinated. I did that to full effect this past weekend visiting Fresno. The only time I wore a mask on that trip was when I had to enter indoors into establishments. A few times I even I forgot I had to, so freeing it is to be finally without masks when walking around.

Back home in San Francisco, I find myself still wearing a mask when I am outdoors. It’s purely for convenience: since I need to wear a mask when I go to campus, it’s less hassle to just have it on already. The less chance my hands touch my face, the better. The same goes when I go grocery shopping, or visiting the local shops. When I know I’ll be indoors soon enough, I keep my mask on at all times - even when I am outside.

Obviously, if I’m just going out on a hike, that’s different.

I’ve been seeing on twitter people wondering why folks are still wearing masks outdoors, especially those who are vaccinated. Don’t these people trust the science of very low risk of outside transmission in the open air? Why the performative mask wearing still, even after the vaccine?

And I thought we are a country of live and let live! Who gives a crap if someone is still wearing a masks outdoors even after the CDC dropped the mandate? Is it bothering you? So long as they are not in turn hassling people for not wearing a mask, then who the heck cares? I’m sure that like me, these people have their own reasons. Perhaps they live with people who are vulnerable, or perhaps they themselves have respiratory issues that are totally unrelated to COVID-19.

Something tells me people are going to make fun of Asians for our habitual mask wearing that long predates the coronavirus. I hope I am wrong on this, of course. I still plan to wear masks - though not nearly as often - long after this pandemic is over: it’s something I’ve done for awhile (especially when I travel). Masks are quite handy in area of huge crowds, or at work when a coworker is sick during flu season.

One more benefit to mask wearing: no more chapped lips!

Good news!

Good news! The cargo ship that’s blocking the Suez Canal is finally free and moving.

Better news! I received the second of two Pfizer vaccine shots this past Thursday. In a few weeks’ time I shall be considered fully vaccinated, ready to meet the world again without fear of dying from COVID.

Best news: my parents are finally due to get their vaccines later this week! California will be opening up the eligibility to any persons 50 and over starting on April 1st. Half a month later on April 15th, vaccinations will be open to all adults over the age of 16. The endgame has truly arrived, and it’s a small miracle that we are this close to returning to normalcy.

It sure looks like San Francisco is already there. If this sunny and warm (for San Francisco) weekend is any indication, any semblance of lockdowns and restrictions are de-facto over. The citizenry are out in droves! The city has entered the orange tier, so practically everything is open, with capacity restrictions. I cannot wait to sit down and eat a meat inside a restaurant, though I’m going to wait out the initial rush of people. I’ve never seen Costco so empty on a Sunday noon: people have things to do now other than grocery shop!

You really love to see it.

It’s really perverse that United States have seen some of the worse COVID figures in terms of infections and deaths, yet we will likely be the first country on the planet to sufficiently vaccinate to fully open back up. Of course, countries like Taiwan and New Zealand didn’t need any vaccines to keep the numbers low and lives normal, but at least the problem here is getting solved. Bottom line: way too many people have died needlessly from COVID in this country.

But we’re almost there at the end. Thank you to the cast of many hundreds of thousands that made it possible.

One year of the pandemic

March 9th, 2020: a day that will live in infamy. Well, infamous at least to me. It was on this day last year when San Francisco State University sent every student home. The coronavirus has arrived to our shores in full-scale. Learning will be entirely remote for the foreseeable future. Here we are one calendar year later: instruction is still remote, though we are nearing the end of COVID, with vaccinations happening nicely.

Remember when we thought this thing would be over by the summer of last year? That was hilarious.

Cliche as it may be, it certainly doesn’t feel like a year has gone by. The interminable Groundhog Day-like experience of everyday feeling exactly the same as the previous doesn’t offer much signs that the days are progressing. We’ve all at some point or another got utterly sick of being suck inside our houses, lacking any social contact beyond the Zoom meeting screens. It’s a fortunate miracle indeed if you’ve made it this far in the coronavirus saga with your health and employment intact.

Because we are rapidly on the descent towards normalcy. One in five adults in San Francisco have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine. Public places and commercial districts are looking as alive as its been since last March. Traffic has returned to the pre-pandemic levels of bad. America may have botched the overall response to COVID (half a million people dead is appalling and criminal), but damn it are we kicking ass in producing and disseminating the vaccines. It’s an absolute achievement that we have three viable vaccines within one year of the outbreak.

It probably won’t be that easy, after one year of this tremendous and involuntary lifestyle change, to return back to the way it was. But that’s one of those good problems to have. I am beyond ready to meet up with friends, to travel again to foreign countries. It’s been one long year of the pandemic, but the end of it is within reach. Take care!

May is the endgame

Yesterday, President Biden announced the United States will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May - two months ahead of the previous projection. It seems the emergency approval of the third vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson is an absolute game-changer. If we all play our cards correctly, the Summer of 2021 will surely be memorable and spectacular.

I know I can’t wait. Due to happy circumstances, most of my friend group are either already fully vaccinated, or on our way to our second shot. By the first week of April, we will have group immunity against COVID. So of course we are planning a get-together to celebrate the occasion. A proper redo of the Thanksgiving gathering back in November that happened over Zoom. There will be many hugs, and not a mask to be found.

The smugness I have in being one of the lucky ones to receive the vaccine will be short-lived, and that’s a very good thing. Honestly, I do enjoy the playful arrogance that comes with being amongst the special caste of people that got vaccinated first. That said, things aren’t going to get back to normal until way more people get the shots. I am happy to hear that this will be soon. May is a mere two months away!

The U.S. developing three vaccines in such a short period of time is downright a miracle. A testament to the science and engineering might that’s possible when failure is not an option. The tragedy of over half a million Americans dying from COVID shouldn’t take away from this amazing feat. We can mourn and celebrate both separately, respectively.

I’ll see you all soon on the other side. God speed.

First dose aftermath

It’s been two days since I got the first dose of the COVID 19 vaccine (Pfizer), and the intense soreness of the receiving arm has largely subsided. Thankfully I did not experience any other symptoms or side effects. My body is essentially fighting off COVID and creating antibodies, so I am fortunate to be good shape. I know people who have received the vaccine and suffered major symptoms afterwards. It’s part of the process, of course, but I’m definitely happy to be on the “feeling well” side.

There’s still the second dose to come, obviously. Anecdotally, that’s the shot that will enduce the COVID-like symptoms of fatigue, brain fog, and fever. I shall find out on the weekend of March 18th.

The drive-thru vaccination site at the City College of San Francisco - run by University of California San Francisco - is very efficient. Once you are checked in at the gate - and given a second mask to go over the one you should already have - you drive up to one of the 20 plus lanes and await your turn. From arrival to the needle going into my left arm (you get a choice) took about 30 minutes. After the shot, you are then to wait for 15 more minutes at another parking lot. This is to see if there’s any allergic reactions to the vaccine. Should that occur, paramedics are on hand to assist.

I am incredibly relieved to be (half) done with vaccination. It feels like I can finally relax now, even though I’m not easing up on any precautions until a solid majority of people are vaccinated. That day might come quicker than we thought: the Johnson & Johnson one dose vaccine have now been authorized by the FDA for emergency use. With three vaccines now in supply, I bet we can all return to some semblance of normal by summer.

And that would be just sweet.

First dose

Today is a highly anticipated day: I am getting my first COVID vaccine dose! After months of waiting since the vaccines were approved for emergency use, I finally get my turn at this big step in returning to normalcy. The sense of relief was palpable when the appointment confirmation came through. With the second dose marked for mid March, I’m in the endgame now.

My eligibility for the vaccine is predicated on me working at San Francisco State University. The first tier of people eligible were those over the age of 65, and healthcare workers. Education is lumped into the next tier - tier 1B - because I guess they really are trying to open back up the schools as quickly as possible. Tier 1B came in effect yesterday, and I was lucky to snatch an appointment for the following day.

I am to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and it’ll be interesting to see if I experience any adverse symptoms. Anecdotally, people I know who got the Moderna vaccine had a rough time with COVID-like symptoms for the few days after the shot. Those that got Pfizer seems to be okay for the most part. It’s probably idiosyncratic to the individual, rather than which company of vaccine. Obviously, I don’t care which one I get, and neither should anyone. The goal is to vaccinate as many as possible.

I reckon the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine is going to be the next game changer.

It takes two weeks for the vaccine to take full effect, so I reckon by early April I’ll be fully shielded from COVID. That’s an exciting thought, and I look forward to going outside and doing stuff with way more impunity - vis a vis the virus - than I’ve done the past year.

Morning in America

Ah, how nice is it to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about what crazy stuff the President has done this time. It’s a liberation that we have not known for the past four years. The sense that actual competence is in charge, and that ordinary citizens shouldn’t have to constantly worry about the country’s executive branch. Character matters. Kindness matters. And it’s welcoming to see integrity return to the highest office, the leader of the free world.

As we celebrate surviving the four years of Trump, we have to recognize the many that did not. The hundreds of thousands of Americans that didn’t need to die, if only we had a proper response to the coronavirus from the federal government. Folks of rural America, believing a con man can save them from their misery, but with only overdose death to show for it. The friends and family members, figuratively lost to the conspiracy rabbit hole, egged on by the self-affirming mechanisms of social media platforms.

The economy was going great, until it wasn’t. The one excuse that Trump supporters point to to explain away the many deficiencies of his presidency got utterly upended by COVID0019. How Trump must rue the misfortune of the pandemic. A better person would have seized the moment and lead with conviction. Trump only made it worse for himself by each misstep, doomed by the destiny of character that he so lacks.

That’s all over now, turning the page to the Biden presidency. After four years of sycophancy and nepotism, it’s such a relief to see capable people put back in charge. Normal has returned to Washington DC. Hopefully, with renewed effort on the vaccine rollout, normal will soon return to the rest of us as well.

God speed.