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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Today my husband and I got first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the FEMA site in Oakland, California. Yay for prioritizing teachers; we are so relived that going back to in-person school doesn't mean we have to worry that we will also risk dying from COVID. Yay for all the FEMA & National Guard employees who are running this operation. Our visit couldn't have been easier. When we pulled into the coliseum parking lot, the attendant checked through the window that we had appointment QR codes and photo IDs. At the next station, we showed our licenses and they confirmed our registration. After we drove through the cone maze, another attendant directed us to pull up to a shot station in the tent. There were two or three tents with several lanes and all the stations in a line vaccinating at once. I hopped in the back seat and we put our windows down. The team quickly went over the questions we'd already responded to online and two of the women gave us both our shots at the same time. The woman who vaccinated me was warm and friendly; after a year of no contact with most of the world, I had to resist the impulse to get out and hug her. The shot was super quick and didn't even hurt. They handed back our identification and gave us our CDC cards, put a "15 minute" card with the time under the front wiper, and we pulled forward to wait 15 minutes before being released. Couldn't have been easier or more efficient, and I'm hoping more of these federal doses can be made available. Our county has experienced interruptions with supply and distribution that haven't impacted this FEMA site. Hoping efforts continue to ramp up so everyone can get vaccinated ASAP!
March 5, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
A few days ago, on the first day of Thanksgiving break, I decided to drive to the airport to watch the planes land and take off. The drive was longer than expected, and once I got to the free parking lot, I couldn't really see much of the airport or tarmac through the grated fence. However, when I was on the highway near the airport, I saw a glimmer in the sky from a plane that had just departed, and that got me really hopeful and excited. I think a plane took off as I was turning in to the parking lot, but I couldn't stop to take a look because I had to make a crazy hairpin turn. I saw 2 planes take off and 2 planes land in total. The cell phone lot is the perfect place to see incoming planes, and the first plane I saw come in was a beautiful blue Southwest Airlines plane. I saw it at a perfect, beautiful profile side angle. I couldn't see the departing planes that well, but I got very excited when their engines revved and when I saw them take off into the sky. It was dusk by the time I left, and the last plane I saw come in looked like a bright, distant star or streetlight as it flew in from a distance. Surprisingly, it was an Amazon prime cargo plane. I didn't expect to see those types of planes come in to Bradley, but with it being the only major airport in the state, I guess it makes sense in hindsight. I didn't feel the exact sense of excitement that I was hoping for when going to the airport, as I thought I would feel like I was travelling myself and have the same excitement and energy as if I was going somewhere. However, I still felt good for going to the airport, and I was really happy and excited whenever the planes came and went. I did have some minor car trouble when leaving though, and it made me realize just how difficult it is to find a place to pull into to check your car out without being on the side of a major road. Going to the airport made me want to travel for real and get 100% of the experience and excitement instead of just looking from afar.
November 26, 2020