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Texas Jeff

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Everything posted by Texas Jeff

  1. The Operation Warp Speed distribution folks are supposed to be automatically correcting for this. If they send 1000 doses to a location on one day they are supposed to be planning to send another 1000 doses to the same place at the correct time for the second shot later, along with the materials to give the second shot. No one has their second shot yet, so we don't know if the logistics will work, but that is the way it is supposed to work. Those places giving shots are about to have to deal with more complexity, as some people return for their second shot and others arrive for their first.
  2. I have seen clinics and hospitals offering the vax to established patients that meet the 1B criteria, but preventing the general public from scheduling appointments even if they meet the same criteria. This seems wrong, IMHO, and I have yet to see anyone offer an explanation for this preference. I agree with "if you are offered the vax then get it" approach because it looks like we are stockpiling, but once a place is serving a certain population then there should not be restrictions on who within that population can apply to get it.
  3. I can believe it is lagging a few days. I can't believe it's lagging more than 4-5 days. Let's say the vax is in stock on a Saturday or Sunday. Someone gets a shot on a Monday. Data has to be entered within 24 hrs, so maybe it gets entered on a Tuesday. The website updates on Wednesday with data from Tuesday. So maybe an efficient org has a 4-5 day delay between shots received and shots recorded. Longer than that, the vax is just sitting on a shelf somewhere.
  4. Map from Texas DSHS showing what orgs have received vaccine: https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=91ac7fb5e5fd47e7ada4acfe4a05920a
  5. Texas Week 3 allocation is out, looks like the bulk is going to hospitals plus some additional pharmacies: https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/updates/COVIDVaccineAllocation-Week3.pdf
  6. ALL of these places need to have a go-to text list of willing arms ready to drive to wherever the shots are available. Especially the Pfizer places. Is it OK to wake me up at 4am? Sure, Austin ISD does that a few times a year to tell me it's not icy outside but school is off anyway. Call me hospital people, I'll be right over. I understand that this is in start-up mode right now and they are learning how to do this but they need to drive any chance of waste out of the system.
  7. I thought it might be helpful to have a separate topic related to the vaccine. If this is too much duplication, mods please delete this thread. I thought it would be good to talk about who can get the vaccine, where they can get it, what side effects people are seeing, and in general what is going on with distribution. The CDC has published vaccine distribution guidelines, and if you care, they are worth reading. They are dividing the timeline into: Phase 1 - Potentially limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses available Phase 2 - Large number of vaccine doses available Phase 3 - Sufficient supply of vaccine doses for entire population Who you are will determine if you are eligible for a vaccine in the various phases. Phase 1 is divided into a Phase 1a and a Phase 1b: Phase 1a - Mostly healthcare workers Phase 1b - Other essential workers, people with higher risks, people over 65 If you are eligible to get the vaccine and they have in in stock and you want to get it, it is important to go get it. Both of the first two vaccines can spoil, so if a dose is sitting there and you aren't there to get it, they might have to throw it away. Both vaccines require two shots. It is important to go get that second shot. Who fits in phase 1b and who has to wait until phase 2 might be a sticking point. The "people in higher risks" category includes a lot of folks, maybe more than you would think might be in that category. Hopefully we can quickly get to phase 2 so that we don't spend too long arguing about who is or is not in Phase 1b. Anyway, I'm interested in everyone's experience with the vaccine and especially getting the word out for those that can go get it, so that every dose ends up in an arm rather than in the trash.
  8. someone earlier in the thread mentioned vaccine finder: https://vaccinefinder.org pretty much exactly what I want except they are not covering COVID yet and there is no real-time display of availability.
  9. The piece that seems to be missing right now is some website or app that helps connect people who want the vaccine to people who can give them that vaccine. Right now we don't need that because they are tightly controlling who gets it and most of the people getting it work in healthcare so they are close to the provider. Once Phase 1A is over and we move to 65+ or 16-65 with some condition, we will need the connector piece. Ideally it would work just like the voting map, show a list of locations and a green, yellow, or red status, with a link to make an appointment. I think we are all going to be playing a game of find-the-shot in a month or two.
  10. Companies aren't relocating here, they are choosing to expand here. Silicon Valley is full. Austin is a lower cost option with better traffic. I know it's hard to believe for those that think our traffic is bad and our housing is expensive, but it's much better here than there. I could be wrong, I can't point to exact data, but tech seems to be driving the growth in the area.
  11. We have zero income tax and lower housing costs and better traffic than the Bay Area. Bay Area execs think that the Austin vibe is similar to the Bay Area vibe, but cheaper. Austin employees can get to their tech jobs at 9am, which is 7am on the west coast, and work two hours before the Bay Area arrives for work. However, this does not stop Bay Area employees from scheduling meetings at 4pm their time, which means 6pm our time. Home by 7:30, maybe. Companies pay less and can stretch out their employees' days.
  12. From that article: “This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said. So, maybe June at the latest even for young folks in good heath. I'll take it. This school year is trashed but at least everyone will have a chance to get the vax prior to the next school year.
  13. They could split regionally based on how many 6A schools are in each large area. Austin, for example, has two 6A districts. Put the upper eight teams in one division and the lower eight in another division and you get this: "Big 6A" Austin-area schools (with enrollment): Round Rock (3714) Lake Travis (3401) Del Valle (3337) Cedar Ridge (2874) Westwood (2858) Bowie (2848) Westlake (2833) Stony Pt (2789) "Small 6A" Austin-area schools: Akins (2770) Vandegrift (2761) McNeil (2753) Vista Ridge (2492) Austin High (2359) Hays (2351) San Marcos (2309) Hutto (2247)
  14. Yeah, I'm not even sure that the vaccine is approved for pregnant women under the emergency use authorization.
  15. Phase 1B definitions for Texas are out. Phase 1B may start "in the coming weeks", but no specific date yet: https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine/EVAP-Phase1B.pdf Ages 65 and over, you're in... Ages 16-64 can get a shot if you have one of these: Cancer Chronic kidney disease COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies Solid organ transplantation Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher) Pregnancy Sickle cell disease Type 2 diabetes mellitus There is some vague language in the definition that could be interpreted several ways, but that's the basic idea. About 70% of the deaths so far have been in the 65 and older group, so we may not see cases drop as fast from this allocation but we should see deaths significantly drop. I would think this will also lower the burden on hospitals faster, but younger groups will still be passing it around.
  16. Thanks for posting that drawing, it helps to see it... Why are two-way bike lanes needed on both sides of the street? That seems like overkill, esp with Lee Barton and Josephine parallel to Lamar. Anyone biking north on the Zach side of the street is going to have to cross over anyway to continue north across the Pfluger bridge. The people riding against traffic, closest to traffic, will be a lot less safe than their counterparts across the street. Also, any P. Terry's in town should be required to have a 50 car queue for the drive in that does not block traffic on a major street. I see five cars in line on that drawing. That rightmost southbound lane on Lamar is going to be P.Terry's parking from 11-1.
  17. Texas is doing a pretty good job on this, at the dashboard previously linked. You can click on any county in Texas and it will give you the stats just for that county, or click on nothing and get the stats for Texas as a whole. Since the vaccine is being distributed almost per-capita to the states, I would expect the the numbers for any state are about the same. The only variable is how many people choose to get vaccinated. The data for vaccine distribution is pretty new. I expect that some of the national aggregators will eventually include that in their websites. I like to follow Covid Act Now, which shows how things are in each state and county. They don't have vaccine data now but I bet they will include that in the future. It will be pretty cool to see the colors start to change on the national map as the number of vaccinations reaches critical mass.
  18. I just realized that list does not include about 125,000 Pfizer first shot doses headed to long term care facilities. Hang in there Grandma, help is on the way!
  19. Texas has allocated vaccine for week two, adding Moderna to the mix: https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/updates/COVIDVaccineAllocation-Week2.pdf The Pfizer vaccine is going almost exclusively to hospitals and the Moderna vaccine is being split up all across Texas at mostly local providers. It is great that they are getting it to so many places but I wonder how they are going to coordinate the vaccine phases with most sites having such small quantitates. This seems like a week where a lot of pharmacies and clinics are going to get their first few shots and learn how to distribute the vaccine. Travis Co is getting 16600 Moderna and 2900 Pfizer doses, compared with about 13600 Pfizer last week. At this pace, by the end of the year around 5% of residents will have had a first shot and more people will have had a first shot than have tested positive for COVID. Travis Co needs to receive 40,000 first shot doses per week to get it to everyone over 16 in the first six months of the year. This is a good start; hopefully the allocation rate can continue to climb over the coming weeks.
  20. Hopefully the data is just lagging reality. Some unfortunate people have to enter data into a tracking system for each dose given. Texas allocated 224,500 doses to providers during week one. So the number of delivered doses should come up to that value pretty soon, and the number of vaccinated should rise to about that number a few days later. If it does not, something's broken or people aren't getting vaccinated.
  21. Texas DSHS has a vaccine dashboard up.
  22. Washington's IHME has a projection: https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america Using that model, deaths start to drop in February. By March 1st deaths are around 1300/day with the vax vs 2000/day without. By April 1 we are around 400/day vs 1300/day without. Universal masking could really cut death down in January if implemented now. Infections follow the same Feb/Mar drop. The projected infection rate is cut in half by April 1st. Current projections show a max strain on our healthcare system in late January.
  23. Gonna try again at 4:40 CST
  24. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
  25. Yes, I think you are correct ... insurance or some other program is likely to cover the admin fee in many cases. Stephanie Hayden was asked a question like "Is the vaccine free and who is going to pay for giving the injection?" and she answered something like "the vaccine is free but the provider can charge an admin fee". She didn't go into who ultimately would pay that fee. Sorry if I mislead anyone...
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