7:17 a.m. New York
Thank you for calling the covid-19 vaccination hotline we are sorry, due to high call volumes we are temporarily unavailable to take care of your call answers to many of your questions can be found on our website: nydotgov backslash vaccine please try your call later
7:20, 7:24, 7:27, 7:32
rinse, repeat
7:37
Bla bla bla
stay on the line…
elevator music
bla bla bla
press three if you would like to schedule a vaccine
(hurray!)
your wait time will be 13 to 27 minutes
elevator music
all of our representatives are currently busy please stay on the line
elevator music
rinse, repeat
(real-woman voice!) “hello, how can I help you…”
(she sounds nice)
“I’d like to schedule vaccination appointments for my husband and myself….”
“just a moment…”
elevator music
3 minutes
no elevator music
telephone line dead
8:02
Bla bla bla
(real-man voice) “hello”
(he sounds nice)
“…husband and me, 79, 75…”
“be glad to help”
elevator music
2 minutes
no elevator music
telephone line dead
rinse, repeat
I’m not an anxious person. But I am beginning to worry.
At our ancient age, D and I are qualified for Phase 1B vaccinations in New York State that began to be dispensed on Monday. Tier 1B includes people 65 and over and workers in categories like first responders, school faculty, public transit. An April date is sounding heavenly. But will it be September? Will we see our sons, our grandchildren, sometime?
Nancy scored an appointment after a 75-minute wait on day one. And 45-minute Claude. Friends in the city walked into Mt. Sinai Hospital to achieve the deed. Our neighbors snared dates at the Westchester County Center before the facility shut its metaphorical doors.
The newly vaccinated are proudly prancing on FaceBook.
¡Ay Dios!
On top of the swirling tornado of fear and distress—the attack on our Capitol and prior to that the fair-election denials, the safety of our lawmakers, the future of this country, the escalating threat of the disease—the opportunity to gain some form of personal safety is hiking up my anxiety quotient.
I want to be pricked!
What is happening in your country or state vis a vis the vaccine?
SPANISH WORDS OF THE DAY:
ANSIEDAD - anxiety
La VACUNA - vaccine
La VACUNACIÓN - vaccination