Coronavirus Alaska versus California

Recently, I travelled to Alaska and had an amazing time. However, prior to visiting I had heard many rumors about how red-state-last-frontier Alaska was dealing with the coronavirus differently than blue-state hyper-sensitive California.

In California people have to wear masks to go into stores, restaurants, or to go on fishing boats. Many Californians still wear masks when walking outside and occasionally will still cross the street rather than walking by some one. Less so now since the mask mandate has been lifted, but it still happens. Los Angeles still has an announcement at the airport that when visiting the city you are subject to a 14-day voluntary quarantine.

In Alaska, I was concerned about the need to get a covid test with negative results before visiting. Fortunately, that rule was changed a few weeks before I arrived and vaccinated travelers did not need to be tested. Not only that, a test was only voluntary now. I am not sure who would take a voluntary test at the airport if they didn't have to, but the testing station was still there. I heard rumors that masks weren't need in freedom-loving Alaska. That was not true. At my hotel, everyone wore a mask. At breakfast the next morning in downtown Anchorage, the hostess handed me a mask as soon I stepped through the door. On the trolley tour and glacier cruise, masks were also required. Although walking down the street, no one wore masks. So in many ways, except for the Alaska testing and Los Angeles quarantine, I saw no difference between California and Alaska covid restrictions. However, I did feel a difference. People in Alaska did not seem as concerned. Restaurants were full and once we boarded the tour or cruise, masks came off to drink water and eat and never really went back on and no one seemed to mind.

It would have been more interesting to compare the two states two months ago when the vaccine was just being rolled out and Los Angeles was still in virtual lockdown.

Someone I spoke to from Eastern Washington said his town (except for the schools) had been operating all year as if there was no such thing as the coronavirus. Restaurants were open, no one wore masks, and no one got sick.

The strictest place I have found regarding masks during my trip was on board airplanes.

However, even on the planes I was surprised by how lenient the crews were with masks. I think it is the whole eating/drinking loophole that creates the gray area. I had brought a burger at the airport that I took on the first plane. I pulled my mask down, hunkered down between seats not to be seen taking a bite, and then pulled up my mask to chew. Fortunately, it was a disposable mask because it soon smelled like hamburger and I had to swap it out when I was done.

However, once the drink and snack cart rolled around, people's masks came down to eat and drink. I no longer had to hid in shame to eat. What a relief! That is not to say that people were not wearing masks. Everyone had them. As we neared the end of one flight, I went to the restroom and saw everyone with a mask up. And before take off, I heard flight attendants asking a couple of people to pull their masks over their nose. No fuss. People did what they were supposed to do and the flights went smoothly.

All in all, while Alaska felt more relaxed regarding measures to prevent coronavirus' spread, visibly and at least on the books, I didn't see much of a difference between the two states.

That is the great thing about travel, you see that we aren't really different after all.

Take care and be safe.

Coronavirus Birth Control?

When coronavirus first started making waves, people debated how the epidemic would affect birth rates. One argument was that there would be more babies because there was nothing else for people to do but stay home and make whoopie. The other argument was fewer babies because fewer people were getting married, fewer people were dating so there was less chance of unexpected pregnancies, and during tough economic times people historically have had fewer babies.

The verdict: the birth rate in the United States is the lowest that it has been in 42 years according to the CDC. It appears that the second argument won.

Which begs the question, what happened in 1979 that caused such a low birth rate? PRB said it was due to the oil shock, economic recession, and double-digit inflation in the 1970s. These scenarios created a situation where for the first time since WWII, being able to support a family on one income became impossible for most Americans. With two parents working, having babies translated into increased childcare expenses, the term latchkey kids became a thing, and the birthrate declined.

But not all is doom and gloom for humanity's future, at least in regard to depopulation. When economies rebound and people feel better about their prospects for the future, birthrates tend to rebound. Declining cases of covid, increased vaccination rates, and an opening economy are examples of better prospects. Yahoo stated that condom sales increased by 23% from March to mid-April this year according to market research firm IRI. While condoms are used to prevent pregnancies, that statistics indicate that people are becoming more sexually active. My wife and I walking through the park the last couple of days have seen many young couples in their late teens on obvious dates. My wedding photographer friends said they are getting lots of bookings now after a brutal year and a half.

Our coronavirus winter is ending and humanity is emerging from their dens. Let Spring begin.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus Family Vaccination

We have been vaccinated! Aside from sore arms and tiredness the 1st 2 days we had no side effects.

My wife received the J and J two days before the news broke about blood clots. That was over 3 weeks ago so she should be out of the danger zone. Also, the FDA has allowed the J and J shot to be used again.

I was vaccinated a week later during the J and J hiatus so I was left with the two-shot option. I received the Pfizer shot. I had no problem scheduling a shot 48 hours later through the city's Carbon Health site.

Last week, my sons booked their shots but they were cancelled. Not because of shortages, blood clots, or equity tiers but because of the Chauvin verdict.

Los Angeles city officials feared that its citizens would not be able to handle the jury's decision.

My sons received their shots a couple of days later - a couple of days after school reopening.

The vaccination program, early high infection rate in Los Angeles, and ongoing precautions seem to be putting the city in a great situation.

This week Los Angeles County made the numbers to move to the least-restrictive yellow tier for reopening meaning 1.9 new covid cases for every 100,000 residents. One more week of these low numbers and we will move from orange to yellow.

Yellow means that indoor fitness centers, bars, amusement parks, and stadiums would all be able to start operating or if operating already, increase their capacity percentages.

Being vaccinated means life is almost back to normal. A week ago, a coworker shook my hand. It was so odd, yet so normal. It felt really good. I did sanitize afterwards, but having that physical contact with someone who did not live in my immediate household over the last 14 months was liberating.

But we are not out of the woods yet. There is still negative news: deaths in India soaring, covid booster shots may be needed - for years, new variants keep appearing, so we still have to take precautions.

The entertainment industry just extended their covid safety measures that were set to expire today, April 30, to June 30. That means continued covid tests - I had seven in the last week alone.

As coronavirus' reign seems to be coming to a close, my blog posts will be weekly or every other week depending upon new coronavirus developments.

Take care and be safe.

Coronavirus - Mixed Messages

Coronavirus news has been all over the place from super positive to dire. Take a look at a few headlines I pulled today:

"California Oks indoor sports, concerts as COVID cases plunge" - AP News 4/2/21

"COVID: California reports most new cases in almost 4 weeks" - The Mercury News 4/3/21

"The final insult: Some dying of COVID while awaiting the vaccine" - AP News 4/3/21

The CDC said 30% of all Americans have been vaccinated so far. And my wife and friends (over 50) have secured appointments online for vaccinations at Cal State LA, CVS, and Walmart.

And then different states are doing their own thing. Half of the states are now vaccinating anyone over 16, the other half are only vaccinating people still people only over 50 unless you qualify for one of a dozen varying exceptions. Then there is this news:

"The CDC updated its guidance to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting tested for the coronavirus or going into quarantine afterward." From

Yet as of today, states like Alaska and Hawaii are still requiring testing. Los Angeles "requires" any resident who travels more than 150 miles from LA and comes back to self-quarantine for 10-days. However, I don't know anyone in LA who is abiding by the quarantine.

Then there is the vaccination symptoms concern where like a box of chocolates you don't know what you are going to get. Most people I have spoken to have had side effects. Most with minor arm irritation but others have had slight fevers or belly aches to one person who said they were down and out with flu like symptoms for a week - but they were never sick enough to go to the hospital.

Overall, I feel that we are in a better place than a month ago. But it is a confusing time. The government has to balance positive news to keep hope alive with news that will keep everyone's guard up until everyone is vaccinated.

I do not envy our government officials.

What I do know is come April 15th, I will secure a vaccination appointment, continue wearing a mask, and continue being thankful for my health.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus - Sprint To The Finish Line

Coronavirus news keeps getting better and better.

As if to confirm that productions are ramping up across the board, I overheard a producer on one set tell a crew member that Hollywood is going full bore on filming right now. Everyone is busy, he said.

Less than a month ago, President Biden said that the vaccine rollout was going so well that by May 1st, every person over 16 will be eligible to receive the shot. Then Texas said they will move up that date in their state to March 29. As if not to be left too far behind, California moved their date for all adults to begin scheduling their vaccinations to April 15th.

President Biden on March 25th, said that by his 100th day in office over 200 million shots will be put into people's arms - that is over half of all Americans.

I keep hearing multiple people on set and even on the radio state how their entire families have been vaccinated already. The other day someone said they were planning on having a big family bbq on Easter as they have all been vaccinated.

Last week I walked into a taco shop and was asked if my tacos were for here or to go. I automatically said for here. When I sat down to eat, I realize that I had slipped back into my old pre-covid routine of indoor dining. Something I had not done in over a year. It was so odd, yet so familiar.

One common question on set is how much longer will we need coronavirus testing as more people are vaccinated. Testing is a huge expense to the entertainment industry, yet shutdowns are even more costly.

While the pace of vaccinations is rapidly increasing, there are constant reminders that we still have a long ways to go to return to our old normal.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus Anniversay

It was exactly one year ago today, Friday the 13th of March, that coronavirus changed the world for me.

That morning, 50 background actors had just dressed in our 50's era costumes. The women had had their hair done (hair in curlers since the night before), men clean shaved and hair shellacked. We sat down for breakfast before a long day of filming when a production assistant hurried into holding and said, "That's it. It's wrap. The -- studio has just shut down all of their productions until further notice due to the coronavirus."

I later learned that every other studio had done the same thing that day. Actors, crew, craft services, musicians, and the like were now out of work.

Coronavirus had impacted me prior to this day: my wife's office had all employees working from home since the previous Monday; my son's school had effectively closed two days earlier; and I had been taking daily shopping trips looking for toilet paper. Oh, and the stock market had dropped over 30% over the previous three weeks.

But now, I was out of work. The mayor of Los Angeles effectively shutdown the city. Everything that used to be done indoors like haircuts, shopping, eating at restaurants, going to movies, museums, and working unless it was for an essential business was closed. It seemed like the only businesses a person could leave their house to visit were grocery stores and take out restaurants. We couldn't even visit family members who did not live in our dwelling. In Spain quarantining was so strict that some people used fake dogs so they could leave their house if only for five minutes a day.

Of course there was a valid reason for these precautions.

According to worldmeter.com, as of today, 2,658,861 people have died from coronavirus. In the United States, the number is 546,557. The total number of reported covid-19 cases in the U.S.is 30,043,115, or about 10% of the population.

Wow. Just, wow.

So where are we now one year later?

In a record amount of time, the world has created a vaccine, as our former President dubbed the effort, "Operation Warp Speed." Millions of people within the United States have been vaccinated. Our current President said that every American over 18 years of age will be able to make an appointment for the vaccine beginning May 1, 2021.

Grocery stores are fully stocked. The stock market is back to pre-coronavirus levels, as are gas prices, but thankfully, traffic is still not quite as bad as many people work from home now.

But things will not be back to the old normal any time soon.

Los Angeles still does not allow indoor dining, going to the movies, or exercising in an indoor gym, and my son still has to receive his education through distance learning as public high schools in Los Angeles County are still closed. However, it appears that Los Angeles will be lifting many of these restrictions soon. Cruise ships are still dead in the water with booking dates consistently being pushed back and international travel is still heavily restricted.

Yet, sets are open again, with everyone wearing masks, face shields, and some crew wearing full-on helmets. Coronavirus testing is a way of life whether in the mouth, nose, or what feels like the brain sometimes. My friend asked me the other day how many coronavirus test have I have had. The answer is 32, not including rapid tests on the days that I worked on set.

My wife and friend are still working from home as their companies' physical offices are closed and have told them that it will be at least summer before they can return to the office.

I will say that my family of 4 has definitely grown closer together by talking daily, eating meals together, working out together, watching t.v., etc. Life has slowed down. It has allowed me to focus on my goals and rebalance priorities in life. There is always a light somewhere, even during the darkest times.

It has been a year for the ages. I hope the next one is as well - but crazy happy instead of just plain crazy.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus - Rising Inflation?

Let me start by saying that I am not a financial advisor, so my thoughts about the coronavirus economy are based solely on my experience.

How is inflation related to covid? As the covid crisis eases with hundreds of thousands of people being vaccinated daily and restrictions on businesses loosening, the U.S. economy appears to be rebounding. Last week's unemployment numbers decreased and employment numbers increased.

With wages increasing and a new stimulus package on the way putting more money into the economy, the demands for goods and services will also theoretically increase. Where there is demand, there are price increases aka inflation.

If wages are increasing at the same rate as prices or slower, then inflation is not so bad. However, inflation has a bad reputation for many reasons. First, usually wages rise at a much slower rate than the prices on goods and services. This means that everyone is negatively affected. Second, wages rise much slower for low wage earners than high wage earners. For example, a 3% raise for a $30,000 a year worker is much different than a 3% raise for a $60,000 a year worker. Third, to combat inflation from getting out of control, governments will try to slow down the economy from overheating by raising interest rates. It encourages saving versus spending. Higher interest rates means that lending becomes more expensive. This means that housing prices will become cheaper, yet to buy a new house, you will have pay a higher interest rate. Business will be slower to expand operations because business loans will be more expensive. Now the hope for all this government induced pain is to crimp demand to a more "reasonable" level, so prices will stabilize or go down. That is the theory.

Someone once told me that the best analyzer of the market is not a business analyst who studied business, but a business analyst who studied psychology.

Last week the government did not raise rates, however the fear that they would raise rates caused the bond market and stock market to move significantly last week. In the case of the stock market, a serious drop.

I hope this post sheds a little light about why the stock market tanked last week with all the good news coming out about our economy rebounding from the coronavirus slump. I know, it seems counterintuitive, but as the coronavirus-era has showed us, life is full of curveballs.

Stay safe everyone.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus - There Is Light In The Darkness

The last two weeks have been filled with good news regarding the fight against coronavirus. The LA Times reported that during the 7-day period from 2/26-2/19/21, 2000 new coronavirus cases were running at 2,000 a day vs early January when they were at 15,000 a day. Considering all the talk about variants - South African, UK, even Californian, it appears the vaccinations and herd immunity are overpowering the potential negative consequences.

And regarding the vaccinations, according to the CDC, 66.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US and 20.6 million people have received both doses. That is a lot people. It is so many in fact that according to ourworldindata.com, we now rank at # 4 in the world in terms of total doses per hundred people after Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Trust me, I was very surprised too after all the negative news we are hearing about supply shortages.

Finally, it appears that the FDA'S approval of Johnson and Johnson's 1-shot coronavirus vaccine is imminent. Not only will this add more vaccine supply to the world's epic fight, but needing only one shot will greatly improve the simplicity of giving the shot and getting people fully vaccinated more quickly.

All this is good news, especially for international travelers. I had mentioned months ago my "fear" that countries my start insisting on vaccine passports before allowing people to travel into their countries. One passport for people who are vaccinated, one for people who are not. Last week, the UK officially advocated to the G8 that vaccine passports should be a thing. Perhaps they want to pressure anti-vaxers into vaccinating.

Which leads me to, yes there are still issues with people protesting the virus, others refusing to take it, a few cases of sabotaging supplies, and an overall shortage of supplies, but the fight is going in the right direction. I am looking forward to putting the virus era behind us.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly.

Coronavirus - Testing In The Rear?

I thought the story was a joke, but if it is in The Washington Post, it must be true:

"China rolls out anal swab coronavirus tests…"

You have got to be kidding, right? I can’t imagine showing up on set, going behind a curtain and having a nurse say drop your pants and bend over. I am not sure who would have it worse, the nurse or the patient. Could you imagine the nightmares the poor nurses must have every night? I think many actors would find a new profession until they were vaccinated.

So why would China subject their medical professionals and patients to this treatment? According to the second half of the article's title, "…it's more accurate than throat method." Two patients who had tested negative with a throat swab, tested positive with an anal swab test. I would hope that there was more data than just two people with contradictory results to instill this practice.

The process is controversial in China and is currently only being used on a sample of group of unlucky coronavirus patients before being discharged from hospitals and some people in quarantine. China is still determining whether or not they will roll out the process across the country.

Hopefully, the experiment ends before it really gets started, otherwise there will be a whole new meaning to the pharse, "Coronavirus Testing In The Rear.".

Take care and be safe.

Posts Weekly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/anal-swab-china-coronavirus/2021/01/27/cc284f56-6054-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html

Coronavirus - Gray-Area Vaccinations

I think someone in the government is reading my post. After last week's post, I read that 4 new super vaccination sites opened in Los Angeles County. Those were in the pipeline it turns out, but like so much of the coronavirus and coronavirus vaccination news, it is hard to find and hard to separate fact from fiction.

Last week, I said one way Israel is vaccinating so many people so quickly is that they have a standby line so that at the end of the day, if there is any vaccine left they put it in someone's arm rather than let it go to waste. The reason why there can be left over vaccine at the end of the day is because people cancel their appointments or don't show up and any vaccine defrosted has to be used within 6 hours or get dumped.

Two weeks ago, I heard someone had received the vaccine and did not fit in any of the priority categories, but since their company was in the industry and had vaccine left over they started inoculating the rest of their employees. Last week, I heard similar stories about other companies doing the same thing.

And then there was The Los Angeles Times story last week about "unofficial" standby lines where people are waiting outside clinics - sometimes all day - for the hope that there will be left over vaccine at the end of the day. Some people are lucky and actually receiving the vaccine, but most are not and go back and wait again the next day.

The Times' article commented about the wealthy jumping the vaccine priority queues to get the shots, but they are standing in the same "unofficial" lines anyone else could. And the 3 stories I heard had nothing to do with wealth in terms of who is receiving the "unused" vaccines. No one I have heard about has paid for early access to the vaccine. It was a more of who you know and where you worked.

There are moral and perhaps legal issues here, but in the end people are beginning to receive vaccinations at a much quicker rate by plying the gray area of vaccinations which in the end helps society as a whole as more people are vaccinated.

In the last week, new coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County have dropped from 39,000 a day to 23,004. Deaths are still at their unforgivable high levels, but hopefully that is due to the delayed correlation between new cases and the death rate and we will see a decrease in deaths soon.

There is hope.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly

Coronavirus - Herd Immunity In Los Angeles

Los Angeles reported that 1 out of every 3 people in the County have been infected with Covid-19. We may be the first population group outside of Sweden to try herd immunity. Herd immunity to a virus is when 60-80% of a population has a virus' antibodies in their system. We are already at 33% infected. At this rate, in another couple of months we could hit 60%.

Los Angeles opened its first vaccination super center this weekend with a trial run for 2,000 people. They hope to inoculate 12,000 people a day when it is fully operational. That would be 120,000 people every ten days. Good numbers. I look forward to those numbers increasing as more centers are opened.

With the coronavirus' exponential spread and vaccinations hopefully increasing exponentially as well, we may have herd immunity even sooner and Los Angeles may go from a hot spot crisis zone to a beacon of hope.

I watched a CNBC report that Israel has enough vaccinations for everyone over 16 by March. It was quite fascinating as LA County's website predicts I will be vaccinated for Covid-19 sometime in May or June. How did Israel do it (Israel/US):

- Population 9 million / Los Angeles County 10 million (US 331 million) - Universal health care / Combination state run, private medical care (US is the only developed nation in the world without universal healthcare by the way) - Large vaccination centers have been running for over a month / LA opened first center Friday - Standby line for anyone if unused vaccine is available at end of day / nothing similar in LA - Reserved enough doses for entire population from 1 supplier / US reservations were spread across suppliers - some still waiting for FDA approval

Hopefully, the US can learn best practices from its fellow countries: universal healthcare, more vaccination centers, standby lines, follow up on research and target the most promising drugs to reserve in advance.

California has floated the idea of a standby line - online standby. A more expensive and time consuming process, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

In conclusion, there is hope. The two waves of coronavirus vaccinations and infections are rushing together. It seems like one way or another Los Angeles will acheive herd immunity much sooner than predicted and lockdowns will be a thing of the past.

Take care and be safe.

Posts weekly

Coronavirus - Acting Update

Los Angeles asked the entertainment industry to shutdown for 2 weeks because of the rapid spread of covid-19 sweeping the county. Friday, 318 deaths were reported along with 18,313 new cases in Los Angeles.

Through November, I only knew 1 person personally who had covid-19. Since Thanksgiving, I know 4 more people plus their family members who had become infected. I definitely understand the abundance of caution.

Still, asking yet another industry of thousands of people to stop working is tough. (Salons, gyms, servers, amusement parks, and others have already been forced to stop.) I recently had one job postpone a shoot for a month. Fortunately, I secured another gig to replace it. Yesterday, I saw more jobs posted for background actors to work than I had seen in a month. Still, Hollywood is super cautious. I imagine this is due to all the break outs on sets last December. One job posting said that they were going to pay a background actor to be tested 5 times in the next 9 days and to not work any of the 8 days prior to working a one day shoot. Another posting said that to be eligible, a background actor could not have worked any job in the past 4 weeks.

I am very glad Hollywood is taking precautions as nobody wants to get sick - but it takes a toll on the finances.

If only the coronavirus vaccine rollout was proceeding as smoothly as we had hoped. Only 6 million doses as of Friday have been injected across the country versus the 20 million the government had hoped for by 2020. NPR gave numerous reasons for the slow rollout, but whatever the reason, thousands of Americans are dying across the country daily because they have not been vaccinated.

I can only hope vaccination process speeds up for all our sakes and that Hollywood's more strigent precautions are effective in keeping its employees safe in the meantime.

Take care and be safe. Posts weekly