DAY 88: "Steps Toward Vaccination, part 2"

     …Received notice via phone text that I can now schedule an appointment for my CoVax.

     Step 1: From the same phone, dial 1-844-520-8700 once again. This time answer a few more robo-voice questions: Are you eligible? Have you tested positive for COVID-19? Do you want to make an appointment via a human representative (wait times can exceed 30 minutes) or simply do it via text message? I opt for text.

     Step 2: Connect via the message to a secure website. A one-time link is provided. It expires in two days. From there, select a potential appointment date & time. My first choice takes me to the Montlake location. I carefully back out of it, preferring the Northwest UW Med site. There I find a Monday slot open.

     Step 3 requires a lot of annoying input of the name, rank, and serial number variety. Once accomplished, my appointment is confirmed -- but with no mention of the time, however. I had written down 1:30, but a check of my email confirms 11:30 AM. 

     I finish by securing a ride with St.Tom. Public transit might be too risky. What if I get sick? I'll bring a barf bag.

DAY 83: "Steps Toward Vaccination"

     The Washington State Phase Finder Tool is a website that assesses one's current eligibility for either of the available COVID-19 vaccines. The site asks a few nosy questions, particularly in regard to one's medical condition(s). It is recommended that you print the final results of the questionnaire if you are determined to be eligible.

     My risk group, above age 50 with two or more co-morbidities, recently moved ahead of the previously scheduled mid-April date-of-eligibility. In fact, I received a green light from Phase Finder on Sunday evening, March 21st.

     The next step: Select the location where you want to receive the shot (or "jab," as the Brits say). I noticed several QFC pharmacies on the list for my county, but I elected to go with our local UW Medicine hospital, as they were offering the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (those with the highest reported efficacy ratings).

     At the various UW Med vaccination sites, no appointments were readily available. So I had to get myself on the waiting list by calling 1-844-520-8700.

     This is an automated service that asks the caller a few short questions, including birthdate and phone-number. The service runs smoothly and takes about a minute overall. 

     In my case, I am to be texted with instructions once an appointment becomes available. I plan to take what I can get. It's not like I'll be busy doing something else during relative isolation.

DAY 79: "Red Flags"

     …No breaking news today regarding Trump's re-ascendancy to the Presidency, as predicted by QAnon conspiracists. …No mass arrests yet (of the Pope and other baby-eating Dems). 

     The next target date, according to religious nut-job & self-proclaimed prophet, Jeff Jansen, of Global Fire Ministries International (i.e. Tennessee), will be April 24th, 25th, or 26th (because he can't just say the weekend after Hitler's Birthday, apparently).

     Meanwhile, several red-state Attorneys General sue Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill due to it's stipulation that States cannot use the money to fund further tax-breaks for the richest of the 1%. As no single Republican in the House or Senate voted to save Americans from economic damages caused by COVID-19, couldn't they all just refuse the money, pack their things, and go home? What say you?

DAY 74: "Do-Si-Do"

     My Doctor, during a video-call appointment this morning, confirmed what I'd heard from my local news sources (Tomchick & Parrish) that my medical group, 50-or-older with two or more co-morbidities, will be eligible for the Covid vaccine sometime in the Ides of April.

     Available brand-name options will be the cold-storage Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, both in two doses administered weeks apart, or the room-temp Johnson & Johnson shot, which, I dunno, sounds like the discount-store variety to me, but we'll take what we can get.

     The current news scare beginning this week is the blood-clot variety, which is the AstraZeneca jab, already not for use in the U.S., and now withdrawn from several European countries.

     That leaves the Sputnik brand, from Russia, naturally, which is already the butt of some jokes.

     ...More as this story develops.

DAY 63: "A New Standard Indeed"

     According to the latest QAnon conspiracy, today was the day Donald Trump was to "descend from a cloud of thunder & lightning" * to be inaugurated as USA's 17th legitimate President, or some such malarkey. Needless to say, it didn't happen. Rates for Trump Hotel rooms were tripled in expectation. The Capitol was shut down & presumably well-guarded.

     On the Covid front, yet another new mutation of the deadly virus has arisen, this time from Manaus, Brazil. Referred-to as "P.1," the new variant is re-infecting many who have already recovered from the disease. In fact, the longer such a virus is allowed to run rampant through a given community, the greater the opportunity for mutations to occur. 

Now, against all recommendations, Governor Abbott of Texas has lifted the State's mask mandate. Perhaps the ensuing variant will rightly be named after him.

     Vaccine availability also remains an issue, despite a recent green light for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Meanwhile, I notice that nearly everyone in our nearby park is wearing their masks outdoors. I've always felt relatively safe walking my laps without a mask but now I wear it so as not to freak people out. It's model-citizenship. It's all we can do while crazy is normal.

*  Mike Malloy, sarcastically