Alas, vaccination is not happening at a pace that is fully countering other risk increasing changes. Thus we almost certainly will be experiencing significant surges throughout state (as is now being reported in parts of CA)
That is, unless we make some changes to reduce risk.
Things I think we could and should do especially in public facility reopenings (e.g., schools) include:
1) Increase testing & when possible make it mandatory & easier & include ID of variants 2) Ramp up even more contact tracing & isolation
3) Increase masking and use of high quality masking 4) Improve ventilation and air filtration 5) Do not relax physical distancing recommendations
These are but some examples of what could be done. But as variants spread and reopenings increase and people get more and more fatigued we need to compensate by ramping up counter measures.
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Newsom says he’s worried about COVID variants, urges Californians to take precautions sacbee.com/news/politics-…
Me: don't do the Susan Collins thing @GavinNewsom - do more than just say you are concerned ...
Examples of things to do:
1) Increase surveillance in CA for variants 2) More aggressive counter measures (e.g. even more testing and contact tracing) 3) For school and other reopenings stronger mandates for masks, tests, ventilation, filtering
Dear @GavinNewsom - if you are really worried about the spread of the variants, then you have to step up the counter measures, especially with so much movement to reopening various sectors
Had an overwhelming day today. Meetings, 1st day of class, more meetings, wasn't feeling great. Yada Yada Yada. At end of the day I went for a quick drive to the Woodland Water Treatment Plant, about 10 minutes from my house. Lighting was really nice for stilt pics. 1/n
Also got some nice pics of some other water birds like these (shoveler and green winged teal) 2/n
But the real treat was not a water bird but a Swainson's Hawk hanging out on a telephone pole 3/n
So I went out early this AM to go for a walk and do some birding. And at the last minuted I changed my mind on where to go and ditched #YoloBypass and decided to go to the @ucdavis Riparian Preserve. 1/n
I got there, parked (see red star) and put on my boots and started walking to the West to head along Putah Creek 2/n
But then I bumped into a birder who came over to me (wearing a mask) and asked "Are you looking for the Harris Sparrow" and I remembered seeing reports about this bird via @Team_eBird (this was at the point where the Yellow star is) 3/n
Incredibly thankful to my lab manager and friend @davidacoil for his amazing efforts on this project, helping set up the testing, working with @HealthyDavis, managing procurement of supplies (which he loves), and just working his tail off on this. #HealthyDavis
Also incredibly impressed with the @genomecenter and @michelmorelab and others for getting the high throughout testing up and running and working very well #HealthDavis
So I had one of those amazing birding encounters I get maybe 1-2 x / year. I went for a walk at #YoloBypass and got in my car and was driving out through some of the rice fields when I saw what was a pretty big bird in front of a bush. I couldn't tell what it was at first. 1/n
Then it turned around and, even with the incredible camouflage, I could tell it was an owl. At first I was not sure what kind. I kind of caught me off guard. 2/n
And so I took a bunch of pics as it sort of hid there. It eventually went into the bush and I lost track of it. So I waited. I then noticed some other birds nearby. Cool. Horned larks. More on them later. 3/n