Author Topic: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid  (Read 127643 times)

Offline Michaelnaut

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1020 on: May 07, 2021, 12:19:20 PM »
Wait, what? There's no Bigfoot??
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Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1021 on: May 07, 2021, 08:03:10 PM »
Pfizer announced today they will apply to the FDA for full authorization and Moderna is expected to follow suit in a few weeks.

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« Last Edit: May 07, 2021, 08:06:51 PM by Andrew Costa Mesa »
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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1022 on: Today at 03:16:42 AM »

Offline perc2100

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1022 on: May 08, 2021, 02:05:32 PM »
This is really cool:
Quote
San Diego schools offer COVID vaccine clinics to get students, teenagers vaccinated
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Bravo to Sweetwater Unified HS District & SD Unified School District setting up vaccine clinics for their students/community!

(note: neither are the districts I work for so no self-promotion here - as an instrumental music teacher I would love for ALL of my students to get vaccinated and sincerely hope my district does this too  :P )

Offline janray

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1023 on: May 10, 2021, 09:21:39 AM »
My Granddaughter got her second Pfizer dose on Saturday ;D
Only side effects were the sore arm and Sunday morning a very low fever which was gone by noon.
I'm a very happy Grandma :D

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1024 on: May 10, 2021, 02:31:21 PM »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just authorized emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for adolescents between 12-15.
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1025 on: May 10, 2021, 06:03:07 PM »
In a surprise today, Governor Newsom announced that California ran a $76 billion dollar budget surplus this last year.  It was projected to run a $50 billion deficit due to the costs of fighting the pandemic, fighting history wildfires and dealing with historic protests.  Some of the money will be returned to taxpayers and some of it will be used to help people hit hard by the pandemic to pay off expenses like back rent.

Offline sessionka

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1026 on: May 11, 2021, 09:41:46 AM »
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In a surprise today, Governor Newsom announced that California ran a $76 billion dollar budget surplus this last year.  It was projected to run a $50 billion deficit due to the costs of fighting the pandemic, fighting history wildfires and dealing with historic protests.  Some of the money will be returned to taxpayers and some of it will be used to help people hit hard by the pandemic to pay off expenses like back rent.

hmmm...

Who's doing the accounting here...Forrest Gump?  I'm always suspicious of government book keeping.  How does a projected $50 billion deficit 'magically' turn into a $76 billion dollar surplus when you've shut down revenue generators (small businesses, conventions, disney land, tourism, etc).  I wish it were all true, but I'm not buying it.   
« Last Edit: May 11, 2021, 09:46:59 AM by sessionka »
Phasers on Stun!!!

Offline perc2100

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1027 on: May 11, 2021, 10:50:43 AM »
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hmmm...

Who's doing the accounting here...Forrest Gump?  I'm always suspicious of government book keeping.  How does a projected $50 billion deficit 'magically' turn into a $76 billion dollar surplus when you've shut down revenue generators (small businesses, conventions, disney land, tourism, etc).  I wish it were all true, but I'm not buying it.
I thought this too for a minute, but it's not as simple as just a "we have a surplus!"  last spring/early summer when the state did their budget, they had to literally prepare two budgets: the "doomsday scenario" of Trump winning with the thought of cut spending, and the 'we're saved!" scenario of Biden winning with the _hope_ that he would quickly enact more COVID relief.
Because the state had to submit their final budget well before the election (summer 2020), they went with the doomsday scenario budget of lots of cuts and wracking-up a deficit.
But then...
1) Biden won and quickly got the state significantly more money (about $25 billion was from Federal COVID relief money)
2) taxes (especially business taxes) FAR exceeded what they originally planned for (about $50 billion more)

So really, CA state Gov. planned for the absolute worst-case scenario on paper and the absolute best-case scenario played out: Federal relief money + far better state tax revenue than they thought.  Remember that CA makes a significant amount of money from the Entertainment Industry + Tech companies.  We all know tech companies thrived throughout the pandemic, and looking at streaming services we also know the film/TV industry mostly didn't shut down anywhere near as long as, say, restaurants or amusement parks (remember the many social media vids last summer/early fall of restaurant owners upset that film and TV productions had setup locations near their businesses while they were closed).

Of course, if you're a bit cynical (as I am) you can also add in "Newsome is trying to save his butt from being recalled in the fall," which absolutely plays a part in the "we're giving away a lot of money to Californians!" into this mix.  This isn't necessarily the _full_ story but it seems unlikely the recall isn't at least a part of this financial spending.

Offline perc2100

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1028 on: May 11, 2021, 10:53:53 AM »
My 19 year old got their 2nd shot this am; everyone in our family currently eligible for vaccines is now fully vaccinated (or to be precise the 19 year old will be fully vaccinated w/full efficacy two weeks from today)!!

Now we just have to wait for our 6 year old: we're hoping by the start of the school year...

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1029 on: May 11, 2021, 11:27:14 AM »
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Of course, if you're a bit cynical (as I am) you can also add in "Newsome is trying to save his butt from being recalled in the fall," which absolutely plays a part in the "we're giving away a lot of money to Californians!" into this mix.  This isn't necessarily the _full_ story but it seems unlikely the recall isn't at least a part of this financial spending.

It doesn't have anything to do with the recall.  It's California law.  The state has had to do this before.  By law, once a surplus breaches a certain point, the state has to return those funds to the citizens.  Newsom literally has no choice in the matter.

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hmmm...

Who's doing the accounting here...Forrest Gump?  I'm always suspicious of government book keeping.  How does a projected $50 billion deficit 'magically' turn into a $76 billion dollar surplus when you've shut down revenue generators (small businesses, conventions, disney land, tourism, etc).  I wish it were all true, but I'm not buying it.

It's all public record.  There's no nefarious ploy at play.  How can there be?  Where is California getting money to return back to the citizens?  California can't print dollars.  It doesn't have a big stash of money somewhere.  The law prohibits that.  That's why it has to return the money to it's citizens once the surplus goes above a certain point.  It comes from tax revenue.

The explanation is simple.  The economy didn't shut down nearly as much as anticipated.  While it's tragic that a local restaurant has been closed for a year, that doesn't represent the entire economy.  Much of the economy didn't just stay open, it thrived during the last year.  The digital stay at home economy did just that.  The innovation economy makes up a large part of the California economy.  More than just about any other economy in the world.  More than countries that are synonymous with technology like China and Japan.

This last year showed that a digital stay at home economy does work.  Well established blockbuster companies like Apple and Facebook are based in California.  Upstarts like Zoom are based in California.  Older pedestrian companies like Adobe and Ebay are based in California.  All did really well during the pandemic.  They generated a lot of tax revenue for the state both directly or indirectly.  They pay their employees high wages.  California has high taxes.  High wages plus high taxes means a lot of tax revenue.

It's not only tech, many other parts of the California economy also boomed.  For example, real estate and construction had a really good year.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2021, 11:29:57 AM by chocolateshake »

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1030 on: May 11, 2021, 05:58:31 PM »
California will begin administering the Pfizer vaccine to adolescents 12-15 starting this Thursday, May 13.
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1031 on: May 12, 2021, 06:31:58 PM »
San Diego dropped under 1% positivity rate today.  Only 94 new positive tests.  So low that I celebrated by getting ice cream for the first time in over a year.

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1032 on: May 12, 2021, 09:30:32 PM »
The State of Ohio is offering five adults a million dollars each and five teenagers college scholarships if they get vaccinated.  The lucky people will be selected in a lottery.

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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1033 on: May 13, 2021, 11:21:02 AM »
Does no mask outdoors plus no mask indoors mean no masks anymore?  That's the recommendation for people that are fully vaccinated.  This has been the call for the ultimate carrot.  Tell the mask resistant that if they vaccinate then they won't be hassled about wearing a mask anymore.

Offline Michaelnaut

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1034 on: May 13, 2021, 12:13:48 PM »
This is happening even faster than we at Microsoft introduce new stuff to the cloud! :D

I wonder how these quick changes will affect those already-announced cons, and/or, those that had planned in-person.  For example: I bet NYCC was already thinking about rules and such for social distancing and all that.  With these newest changes, I wonder how that'll change con organizers plans...

Good news tho...to the earlier point...get vaccinated, no mask required. Crazy times.
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