Shutdown Diary
The latest stats from WaPo:
The latest vaccination stats from CDC:
I want to be cautious in what I write; even if omicron doesn't in general cause as serious lung damage as earlier variants, the sheer volume of infections and related hospitalizations are stressing hospital capacities, not to mention depleted staffs. It's hard to be positive in a duration where we have seen multiple days in the million-plus diagnosis range; it was just weeks ago we were nearing the 10K range. Not to mention given shortages of testing supplies, the real numbers could be much higher. And it's hard to be positive when all major stats are up by significant double digits. But as bad as the numbers are, it seems as though we're past the inflection point of the omicron contagion, i.e., we haven't peaked, but the rate of increases appears to be slowing. We have already seen signs of omicron peaking in South Africa and Britain in recent news reports. As always, I encourage all readers to get vaccinated and/or boosted if they haven't already.
The big news over the past week was SCOTUS overturned the Biden OSHA Vaccine Mandate on larger employers and narrowly upheld one for healthcare providers I believe with federal program beneficiaries. Not to say I called this in my last journal post, but I did paraphrase some good court observers of SCOTUS proceedings. Make no mistake; I fervently believe in COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots for all, including my readers. But government tends to apply force bluntly and without necessary nuance, unlike the unfettered market which relies on voluntary transactions. It's not hard to come up with numerous public policy mistakes: Andrew Cuomo's putting infected patients into nursing homes, the federal government's initial monopoly and disastrous rollout of testing, public education responses especially remote instruction, masking policies which focused on less effective cloth masks, ignoring proper usage fit, etc. There was an emphasis on the stick vs. carrot approach, e.g., tax incentives, health insurance premium credits for vaccinations, etc. I personally believe in the principle of Subsidiarity--for example, employers have a vested interest in the safety of its employees, suppliers and customers; remote bureaucrats are more likely to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Life's Little Problems
I think in a recent post I mentioned I had a problem with my EZ-PASS (tolling transponder account). I don't frequently use tollways in the Baltimore/DC/VA area but I don't carry a lot of cash and in 2 drives to New England for funerals nearly came up short driving through 4 states (both ways) collecting tolls on I-95 (especially NY), even after going to the ATM. I wish Google Maps, etc., had toll estimates; if it does I don't know specifics. Ironically I once had an Illinois EZ-PASS, but I must have packed it in a move. I hadn't used my MD transponder recently; I think I had used it most recently getting a vaccine shot in Howard County maybe 8-plus months earlier. I wasn't sure when my account would be replenished against my credit card and whether the charge would go through if my credit card expiration or address had changed.
When I drove through the tunnel at about 3:30 AM on the way to BWI airport parking for an early flight, I noticed the response was in yellow--not green lights, which I could have sworn I had seen the last time I had gone through the tollway. While in Texas, I tried to log into my account, but despite my having the username/password in one of my password managers, they had done some sort of transition requiring re-registration, but it required the use of an account number or transponder ID, not the username. (I would more recently find the account number via a pdf on an external hard drive). There wasn't a link to their IT support; they had chat or voice call queues, which were literally over 200 ahead in queue. I finally got to the top of the queue; the agent quickly asked for my account number or transponder ID but settled for my old mailing address. He finally gave my account number, but I had an issue saving it on my cell and asked him to email me. (Nope.) Did I get a transcript of my chat session? No. Did he update my new mailing address? No. At least he was able able to tell me my account was funded.
Apparently my account was successfully replenished over the weekend. And I did note on my way through the Baltimore tunnel that "PAID" was in amber lights. I was finally able to log into my account. I tried to change my change of address which failed for unknown reasons. No IT support link, so I'm going to have to go back into queue over the coming week.
I had used a parking service to find an alternative to my usual vendor, which had suspended operations for undisclosed reasons. It turns out airport area hotels sometimes rent out parking spaces at discounted rates. There was a free shuttle service mentioned by the vendor; I had timed my trip to the airport for the early scheduled shuttle. The return trip was more uncertain. There was verbiage to the effect that you had to contact the hotel for a pickup. And the third party app sent a message around my return to contact the shuttle service through the app (non-existent). I ended up calling the hotel and was told, "Nope. We don't do pickups, just drop-offs. There is a light rail option from the airport, or you can rent a taxi or ride share." Well, I hadn't done an Uber in a while. And I discover I first have to update my credit card. I was surprised to get quoted a $15 fare for a nearby hotel. I had outside parking and was worried about picking out the car after 2 interim snowstorms, but luckily the car's trunk was recognizable, but I had to spend 15-20 minutes clearing the snow off my car. The $15 Uber charge made the parking charge less of a bargain but competitive with my usual vendor offering free shuttles both ways.
