Thursday

[Shirlv]

Morning All, snowing and freezing temperatures. Snowplows are continually riding up and down the road outside my window. They must be doing a good job because the traffic hasn’t slowed down. Plan to spend the day in fuzzy pjs and drinking hot chocolate. Have plenty of leftovers so don’t plan to cook. No idea what I will do with myself today. Sure hope someone has something to post. Be safe

[Othersharon]

Good morning Shirl and all who follow! We have snow too and my sweet neighbor just did my sidewalk for me so I just need to snowblower the driveway. He got out before I was ready to go out otherwise I was going to do the sidewalks with the snowblower. I think he likes to get out and do it! At least that’s what he told me once. So guess this round is over and getting ready for a couple more storms in the next week. Usually have a thaw about this time of February but just the opposite this year. I have been spending time on websites trying to find a site for vaccine but so far I’m on a bunch of wait lists. Youngest son got his second shot the other day and my other son has an appointment for his second. Since they’re both considered first responders they were in , I guess, the first group as was one of my DIL’s. So I will keep trying and stay as safe as I can. Other than that not much else happening here. Tina, I was thrilled to hear you got out and feeling better. One step at a time. Liz, glad Bob’s surgery went well. That was a long day! And being able to work outside has me envying you! Wonder when I’ll be able to see the ground again! Well, guess I’ve procrastinated long enough....time to go out and clear the driveway. Have a great day and be safe.

[Acadianmom]

I'm glad it's not snowing or freezing here. The weather channel is saying a low of 18 here next Monday night. I won't make it through that without broken pipes somewhere. I need to go to Lowe's and get some pipe insulation. The toilet tank in one of the bathrooms is not holding water. I knew how to work on the old floats in toilet tanks but this one has something different. I'm going to take a picture and hopefully someone at Lowe's can tell me what I need. Hope I don't have to find a plumber.

It rained off and on all night and was storming this morning. Sugar was acting like she was scared but wanted to be scared on the porch. I don't know what her problem was but she finally came in.

They are showing a 100 car pile up in Fort Worth. What a mess. That will happen here if we get ice on the roads. People in Louisiana don't know how to drive in rain much less ice.

Martha

[MandysMom]

Sure glad we don't get snow! Be careful out there all of you with snow and ice! Supposed to rain here sometime today, but dry so far. I've got some nerve pain coming from my back to right thigh at moment each time I lay flat, so not sleeping as well. And think I'll take it easy today. I can always sit and sort and or shred old papers and still feel like I've made progress. Mandy cat doing ok. She has her echocardiogram second week of March. Meanwhile I'm just happy to see her eat enough to maintain. As of now, when I go to the vaccine site for my provider hospital, they have no appointments because no vaccine! Ugh wish they would get supply up. Then I read an interview today with a immunologist at the nearby university on the newest African variant of the virus. He said they really don't know yet if the current vaccine is somewhat effective against the mutated strains or not effective at ll! He says take vaccine, but keep wearing masks and social distancing ! All these variants seem much more easily transmitted than the first strain seen and they create higher viral loads thus causing possibly more serious illness! So, be careful everyone. My fear is vaccine we currently have will give a false sense of safety and people will get careless, even more than they have been! Sure don't want to see things go backward! Even my church is starting in person meeting with half the congregation at a time and rotating weekly half home on zoom and half at the building not singing and sitting distanced in family groups. Not me, I'll wait until I have vaccine and feel safer with viral activity area wide.
Velda

[Shirlv]

Just read Walgreens and CVS will start vaccinations in Maryland tomorrow. Don’t know if they will in every state. Maybe vaccine alottman is increasing. I get my first shot tomorrow thru the health dept.

Walgreen.com/schedule appointment

[Cudedog]

Just read Walgreens and CVS will start vaccinations in Maryland tomorrow. Don’t know if they will in every state. Maybe vaccine alottman is increasing. I get my first shot tomorrow thru the health dept.

Walgreen.com/schedule appointment

I have looked into getting he vaccine from my local Walgreens. There appear to - maybe - be some available appointments.

The first red flag I am having is that one needs to first register online, on a website that appears to be neither a Walgreens website, nor a government website.

The second red flag is the depth and amount of required information that one MUST supply to this website in order to register for what is ostensibly a FREE vaccine.

In total, once one submits this information to this website, this website now possesses every single bit of information (including one's mother's maiden name!) that is needed to easily do identity theft and/or clean out one's bank account. The only missing piece for a bank account clean-out is one's account number - which they would have should one buy something with a check while at the pharmacy getting the vaccine.

Most banks only require this information for one to access ones bank account over the telephone: Name, address, phone number, account number, and mother's maiden name.

To me this online registration could lead to a massive wave of identity theft. I have written to my local Congressman, John Garimendi, to request clarity on these points.

I, personally, will NOT be registering for this "free vaccination" at my local pharmacy due to the breathtaking requirements for my personal information. I guess I'll just wait for a slot at my local medical provider - which might not be until June or later

Looks like there are about four "tiers" of information needed to make an appointment. Below my signature I am putting all of the the REQUIRED INFORMATION one must put in to get a vaccination slot. The information here (below my signature) is only for the first two tiers.

BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS IN PUTTING IN THIS KIND AND AMOUNT OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION INTO ANY UNVERIFIED WEBSITE.

Anne (The "required" information is below - again, this is only for the first two information tiers, out of four)

First name
Middle initial
Last name
Mother’s maiden name
Race
Ethnicity
Occupation
Date of Birth
Age
Email address
Retype email address
Primary phone number
Phone number type
Address
City
State
Zip code
County
Insurance type
Insurance company name [Anne's note: if your insurance carrier is Medicare, there is also the possibility that they could get access to your Social Security Number]
Member ID number
Group number
Medical Assistance Number
Policy holder first name
Policy holder last name
Policy holder date of birth
Policy holder relation to client
Upload the frond of your insurance card [!]
Upload the back of your insurance card [!]



.

[Shirlv]

Wow! Anne, I don’t blame you.

Just read that the two pharmacies are in partnership with the federal government for vaccination That explains a lot.

[Cudedog]

Another thing that is not disclosed is the amount of the "Administration Fee" required to receive the vaccine. The vaccine itself is, ostensibly, "free", but there is an Administration Fee that needs to be paid (one assumes to the vendor giving the vaccine, but even that isn't clear) before one can receive the vaccine.

One wonders how much this fee might be.

Is it $50? $100? $500? It is impossible to know from reading over the information on the website the exact amount of this fee.

Another question might be: is this fee covered by insurance and/or Medicare? If there is a deductible on one's insurance, is the deductible waived for this fee - or not? Is the vaccine recipient totally responsible for paying the undisclosed amount of this fee?

Lots of missing information here.

I'm not blaming anyone - it is definitely a scramble to get the vaccine out to as many people as possible in the shortest possible time, and I am extremely thankful that there IS a vaccine that has been developed.

But. . . as they say, "the devil is in the details". I want to know all the details before I commit.

Anne

[Redetotry]

Anne, My neighbor signed her parents up for Walgreen shots so I just sent her a message asking if they asked all these questions. I think either that is a scam site or else it is different in every state. You could call your local Walgreens and ask.

I just heard back from my neighbor and the site where they registered, Walgreens did not ask all those questions and they did not ask for insurance cards.

[Cudedog]

Anne, My neighbor signed her parents up for Walgreen shots so I just sent her a message asking if they asked all these questions. I think either that is a scam site or else it is different in every state. You could call your local Walgreens and ask.

BJ, thank you for following up on this. I think it is likely different in every state, maybe different in different localities within every state.

But that is the way it is here in my area. When I go on my local County website, there are links on the County website to local pharmacies. Once on the page of the local pharmacy, there is another link that leads to the online form. In order to "register" to receive the vaccine, one must supply all of the information required on this form.

This is the site (it says "Franklin Pharmacy", but to register at any other pharmacy, the link leading to the online form is the same):

https://www.calvax.org/client/registration?clinic_id=16607

I am reading that "calvax.org" is supposedly the California state website to register for the vaccine - but having worked in local county government for many years, I know that most - if not all - government webites end in ".gov", not ".org".

Anne

[Colliemom]

Good afternoon from the frozen north. It’s 15 degrees here, sunshine gradually turning cloudy. Just returned from a walk with the fur kids. They were getting cabin fever although they are in and out all day especially Molly who loves cold weather. Even after our walk, she laid out on the deck for another 45 minutes But the collie breed was bred for herding in Scotland and northern England and those are harsh climate areas, so it’s in their genes.

Been busy here painting my living room. Took two days of taping and painting but it’s done. Today I did some touchups and also ran a bead of caulk along my bathroom vanity in prep to install mosiac tile. First had to take out the old Silicon caulk as ai want to paint it blend with the wall and sink and you can’t paint Silicon caulk as it won’t stick. So will let it sit and see if I need to add anymore before I do the tiles. Never did those before, so this is a learning curve. Would like to put some n my other bathroom too, but first want to paint it. Might do that this weekend.

Sounds like you gals out eaxt are having some stormy weather again. We are supposed to have some snow tomorrow but nothing big. Getting a little effect on and off during the night, but not enough to bother with as far as cleaning it up. But there’s at least a foot on the ground, so winter sports folks are happy. Tina, so glad to see you starting to get out and about a bit. Bet that felt good. One day that open road will beckon again.

Judy, that campsite reservation game is going on in MI too. People are online as soon as the site opens at 8 a.m. weekdays, 9 on weekends and snatching up sites left and right. The lower peninsula parks are hotbeds for reservations with the U.P. Following. The game here is, because you can reserve up to 15 days, six months in advance from the current day, people are getting online, booking 15 days in order to get the site they want for when thty want it and then after a month, canceling the extra days. They don’t care if they have to pay a cancellation fee plus, lose a percentage of the fees thry paid anywhere from 10 to 40% depending on how long you hold the site after booking. So a lot of people can’t get sites until somebody cancels some dates or something. Sites or dates can’t be changed or cancelled until one month from the day you originally booked them. Not everybody does this, but enough to mess things up. There are just too many people trying to camp anymore, especially ially since Covid hit and with more people working from home, they can work from camp too. And kids doing remote schooling. A lot of it is wrapped around the prime waterfront sites or other prime sites at popular parks. Going to take the gun out of camping as parks get more and more crowded even Into the fall.

I haven’t signed up for vaccine shot as yet, but do have the number to call. Had my pre op for my eye surgery this week and both my NP and I concurred that I should wait till after that before getting it. Don’t need to have a reaction or something although They are booked wsy out probably. Might call and check in situation.

[monik7]

Anne, have you tried:

MyTurn.ca.gov

When I entered my info (county, age, occupation (other) and ZIP code) it offered appts. which were about 22 miles from me so not exactly the best, but if someone really wanted to go they could. I did this just to try it out since I’ve received my first dose and am awaiting the second in two weeks.

Sandi

[Cudedog]

Anne, have you tried:

MyTurn.ca.gov

When I entered my info (county, age, occupation (other) and ZIP code) it offered appts. which were about 22 miles from me so not exactly the best, but if someone really wanted to go they could. I did this just to try it out since I’ve received my first dose and am awaiting the second in two weeks.

Sandi

Thanks for the suggestion, Sandi, but I have tried "registering" on this site nearly on a daily basis. When I enter my info (like you): county, age, occupation (other) and zip code, this is what I get:

"Based on your results you are not eligible for the current phase of the roll out but you will be eligible for a future phase

Everyone in California will have an opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but we’re starting with the groups who are at highest risk, like people with more chance of exposure and people 65 and older."

I have "registered" on this site requesting "further information" multiple times. I have yet to receive a single acknowledgement of any of these "registrations".

I am over 65. Way over. Even when I contact my local medical provider (Sutter North) via their "My Health Online" portal with questions (trying to phone is a no-win situation), all I get back is that "Current vaccinations are for Phase 1a, and for those over 65 years of age, only. No exceptions."

I always state my age in my inquiry. It's like they don't even read my message - the reply is pure boilerplate - probably written by a bot. Total brush-off.

How were you able to secure a vaccination so easily?

Thanks.

Anne

[JudyJB]

My son and his wife both got shots a couple of weeks ago, but my son is a high school teacher, currently teaching live in a classroom, and his wife is a middle school principal and has 800+ kids in her school, so she also is on site in the school office while kids are in school half days. (Half of kids go in morning and half in afternoon.) And it was the school that arranged for their shots. I assume the school district went through the health department, but I am glad they had had their shots because even with mask precautions and plastic shields in front of desks, they are really exposed to kids. They have both been getting tests every two weeks ever since school started in person in November, and have luckily been negative each time.

On the other hand, I have had the same experiences of getting an email or text saying I can schedule for a vaccination, but by the time i get online, there are no slots available!! I registered with the State of New Mexico and Walgreens. I also got a notice from my doctor in Ohio, but no slots there either, and I am not driving to Ohio anyway. Gets depressing.

I am going to register for CVS, but if you read the newspaper articles carefully, they point out limited states and limited pharmacies. Supposed to open more next week, but I suspect I will have to wait until they have so much vaccine they are giving it to everyone. And I am 77 with an extenuating condition. Everywhere I sign up says I am eligible, but it doesn't get me anything. Trying to be patient.

The good news is that cases are going down and the number being vaccinated is going up. The more people getting vaccinated, the happier I will be, even if it isn't me.

[Bethers]

Judy, are you still in Maricopa county? That's one of the easiest places in Arizona to get the vaccine. But they could have waiting lists... Just I understand not as long as my county. That's one reason I decided to stay put and it seems to have worked since I have an appt for my first vaccine... If course it's almost 4 weeks away, but I'll wait it out.

No new news here. If I get up in time tomorrow I want to go to a couple committee meetings here. The second is no problem. The first, well, I'll set my alarm and hope I get up lol