I’m awake and up earlier today. As per usual on Fridays, my weekly SuperValu grocery delivery is scheduled to arrive 10:30-12:30. I get the customary courtesy call around 8:30 about unavailable items. To my surprise and delight, there’s only one minor substitution this week. The delivery arrives around 11:00, and it’s a new person… a middle aged Irish man (James?). The order is on the larger side, and it takes me two trips down and up the stairs to haul all the bags up.
I’m a little behind on my CMA lessons for the week, so I’m intent on catching up today. It’s good weather for staying in, with a noticeable drop in temperature and a mix of sleet/hail and rain throughout the day. The lap desk that was delivered yesterday arrived just in time. This week’s lesson covers a lot of variance calculations that I want to practice writing out on scratch paper like I’ll have to do for the actual exam. The surface is big enough for my laptop, calculator and a sheet of paper:
Later on in the afternoon, I watch a live webinar about advanced data visualizations and charts. My favourite part of financial analysis is transforming numbers into intuitive graphics, and while I like to think I’m already pretty good at it, there’s always more to learn. The webinar is part of free monthly series put on by an Excel guru I’ve been following for almost a decade now (Chandoo.org). It’s a little slow going at first, as the presenter tries to respond to questions in the live chat as well as acknowledge the many voluntary donations that attendees are making throughout the presentation. What was originally supposed to be a one-hour webinar ends up running 90+ minutes. Nevertheless, it seems like a good investment of time as I learn about some impressive new tricks and tips.
A scandal involving COVID-19 vaccines is one of the big topics on RTÉ (Ireland’s public radio) today. Earlier this week a private hospital had 20 extra doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that were going to expire in a short amount of time, and instead of following the guidelines for offering them to priority groups using standby lists, the doses were given to teachers and staff at a private school where the hospital CEO’s children attend. Ireland’s Minister for Health has said the teachers and staff should not have been the ones to receive the vaccinations, and some participants on an afternoon radio talk show were so furious they thought the CEO should resign. Later on in the evening, another story breaks — the hospital had also previously given extra vaccine doses to its childcare workers with the justification that they provide an “essential service” to its frontline healthcare workers — this is more of a grey area in the national guidelines and seems less controversial. At any rate, this scandal is a telling example of Ireland’s egalitarian values. People here feel very strongly about fairness and equal access to services. The fact that both the hospital and school were private institutions surely added to the public’s indignation.
On this topic, Ireland has 15 “provisional vaccine allocation groups” with no set rollout schedule — groups are called as vaccine supplies become available. Currently groups 1-4 are being vaccinated, which include nursing home residents aged 65 or older, all people over 70, frontline healthcare workers, and those with very high risk medical conditions:
As of earlier this week, only about 500,000 people or ~10% of Ireland’s population had received at least one vaccination dose:
Ireland’s mandatory hotel quarantine went into effect today in the early morning hours. Passengers without a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of arrival or anyone arriving from 33 “high risk” countries, including many in South America and Africa as well as the United Arab Emirates and Austria, will be required to isolate for 12 days in prebooked designated hotels at a price €1,875 per person. Apparently one woman arriving to Ireland today refused to leave the hotel shuttle bus but was eventually led inside by security staff. They’re not joking around!
Until next time….
