Indy Digest: Aug. 26, 2024
Some questions and answers about that new COVID-19 vaccine …
You mentioned last week that the shots should be available within days. Any update on that?
Yep! The Los Angeles Times reported today: “New COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available as soon as this week, a promising development amid California’s potent and enduring summer wave of the disease. … Major retailers—including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons and Safeway—are already accepting appointments for the new COVID-19 vaccines, or soon will. Kaiser Permanente expects to begin administering the shots by mid-September, and possibly earlier in some locations.”
Cool! But “as soon as this week” seems pretty vague. Can you be more specific?
Well, the CVS website was offering appointments for the new COVID-19 jab (as well as this year’s flu shot) in the Coachella Valley as soon as Wednesday, Aug. 28. So pretty gosh darn soon!
Should I get the shot now, or should I wait a bit?
Good question. That’s a decision you need to make yourself, and there are good reasons both to get it now (we’re currently in the midst of a pretty gnarly COVID-19 wave that shows no signs of slowing yet) and to wait. KFF Health News has a story here looking at the pros and cons. “It’s important for those in high-risk groups to get vaccinated, but vaccine protection wanes after a few months. Those who run to get the new vaccine may be more likely to fall ill this winter when the next wave hits, said William Schaffner, an infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. On the other hand, by late fall the major variants may have changed, rendering the vaccine less effective, said Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, at a briefing Aug. 23. He urged everyone eligible to get immunized, noting that the risk of long covid is greater in the un- and undervaccinated.”
OK, cool. Any other COVID-19 news worth knowing?
Yes, actually: The government is going to be offering another round of free at-home COVID-19 tests here soon. NPR reports: “The Biden administration is bringing back free at-home COVID-19 tests by mail. At the end of September, each household will be able to order up to four rapid tests through COVIDtests.gov. The tests, which will detect newer COVID-19 variants, will be good for use until the end of the year.”
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Collaborate Through Rhythm: Rock Icon Matt Sorum Brings Music Education to Palm Springs Unified Elementary Schools
By Matt King
August 23rd, 2024
Adopt the Arts—the music-education nonprofit started by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer (and Coachella Valley resident) Matt Sorum—is coming to four elementary schools in the Palm Springs Unified School District.
Hiking With T: Cool Events and Cooler Trails Can Be Found Less Than Two Hours Away at Big Bear Lake
By Theresa Sama
August 26th, 2024
In the area around Big Bear Lake, you can experience the season’s changing colors of the leaves as you enjoy the great outdoors—at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet.
Social Satire: Channing Tatum Gets a Great Showcase in the Uneven but Compelling Film ‘Blink Twice’
By Bob Grimm
August 26th, 2024
Channing Tatum turns in what winds up being one of his best performances, while Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat shine as they negotiate some difficult and progressively unpleasant material.
Investigating Laughs: Apple TV+’s ‘Bad Monkey’ Is a Perfect Vehicle for the Talents of Vince Vaughn
By Bob Grimm
August 26th, 2024
Vince Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, a suspended detective who can’t help but continue investigating things, especially after somebody hooks a severed arm on a fishing trip.
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More News
• If you’re 1) looking for work, 2) think it would be cool to work at the airport, and 3) you can be at the Palm Springs Convention Center between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday), here’s some news from the Palm Springs International Airport: “Join us at the Fourth Annual Palm Springs International Airport Job Fair! PSP and its partner organizations are hiring for about 200 open positions ahead of the Coachella Valley’s busy tourism season. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet with potential employers and explore a variety of career opportunities. A wide range of organizations, including airlines, rental car companies, restaurants/retail, parking services, and federal agencies, will be offering positions such as customer service associates, ramp agents, sales representatives, and many more, with on-the-spot interviews and hires available!” Click on that link for more details.
• Our partners at Calmatters take a look at the declining number of places in the state that are equipped to help women give birth: “More than 50 California hospital labor and delivery wards have closed in the past decade, creating maternity care deserts in rural communities and overburdening the remaining labor wards in cities and suburbs. Health experts have pointed to birth centers as a way to expand capacity in communities where hospitals no longer deliver babies. The midwife-run clinics handle low-risk births and direct higher-risk pregnancies to hospitals. But California has some of the toughest licensing requirements in the country, according to the American Association of Birth Centers, and facilities … have long argued that California’s onerous regulations and an uncooperative Public Health Department prevent them from succeeding. Only six operating birth centers are licensed in California. Another 26 are unlicensed. Licensure isn’t required, but it helps enable a practice to work with insurance plans and serve lower-income families who can’t pay birthing costs out of pocket.”
• ProPublica sets out to answer the question: Why is it so hard to find a therapist who takes health insurance? “Although federal law requires insurers to provide the same access to mental and physical health care, these companies have been caught, time and again, shortchanging customers with mental illness—restricting coverage and delaying or denying treatment. These patients—whose disorders can be chronic and costly—are bad for business, industry insiders told ProPublica. ‘The way to look at mental health care from an insurance perspective is: I don’t want to attract those people. I am never going to make money on them,’ said Ron Howrigon, a consultant who used to manage contracts with providers for major insurers. ‘One way to get rid of those people or not get them is to not have a great network.’ There are nowhere near enough available therapists in insurance networks to serve all of the people seeking care. And although almost all Americans are insured, about half of people with mental illness are unable to access treatment. The consequences can be devastating.”
• It’s widely known that employees with certain jobs can have a hard time making ends meet. But … flight attendants? Yep. The Washington Post starts off by telling the story of a Frontier Airlines flight attendant named Kay: “New flight attendants like Kay learn that although their work has been deemed ‘essential’ to the transportation infrastructure, it’s hard to stay afloat. A complicated pay structure that prioritizes hours in the air and entry-level wages that are on par with service industry jobs makes it difficult for many to turn the job into a career. ‘I have to supplement my income. But then I’m also not sleeping,’ said Kay, who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by the name she uses outside of work, because she fears retaliation from her employer. ‘We’re expected to save people on the plane … and we’re not getting paid a living wage.’ Kay is not alone. Most new flight attendants work ‘on reserve,’ spending days waiting to be assigned flights. It’s common for them to take side jobs—bartenders, semi-truck drivers, makeup artists, church musicians. Some say they are struggling to feed their families and are living out of their cars. In interviews with 18 current or former flight attendants, workers recounted dire financial situations, assault on the job from unruly passengers and mental health crises. They shared similar stories: Paychecks much smaller than expected. Quickly falling behind on bills. Spiraling into debt.”
• StubHub has agreed to pay a penalty and restitution for not giving cash refunds as it should have when the pandemic arrived. City News Services reports via the Orange County Register: “A Los Angeles judge approved an agreement Friday in which ticket reseller StubHub will pay a $295,000 fine and provide $20 million in consumer restitution to resolve claims it failed to promptly pay refunds to California consumers for canceled events during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the onset of the pandemic, StubHub failed to honor its advertised policy of providing full cash refunds for canceled events and instead issued consumers StubHub credit for future events, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Following an investigation by the California Department of Justice, StubHub reversed its decision in May 2021 and began providing cash refunds to California consumers. The settlement includes strong injunctive terms for future StubHub ticket sales, along with the penalty and restitution for more than 45,000 California consumers, the AG said.”
• And finally, a CNBC headline reports, and I quote, that “increased sausage demand could be (a) worrying signal on the economy.” What? The explanation: “An uptick in sausage demand can offer the latest sign of consumers tightening their belts as they continue grappling with high prices. There has been ‘modest growth’ in the dinner sausage category for one producer, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey released Monday. This underscores the trends of shoppers opting for cheaper products and pulling back spending (altogether) as cumulative inflation bites into purchasing power. ‘This category tends to grow when the economy weakens,’ the respondent said, according to edited comments included in the Dallas Fed’s report. That is because ‘sausage is a good protein substitute for higher-priced proteins and can “stretch” consumers’ food budgets.’“
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COVID-19 vaccines. Music education. Hiking at Big Bear. An airport job fair. The link between sausage and the economy. (Link … get it?) Terrible puns. You will not find such a breadth of quality local journalism anywhere else—only in the Coachella Valley Independent. Please help us, if you can, by clicking the button below and becoming a Supporter of the Independent. Thank you, as always, for reading!
