Los Angeles-At approximately 9pm, a nurse in one of the country's largest vaccination sites ran out of vaccine.
In the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, cars waiting for hours await more. All the runners (workers running between idling Honda and Chevrolet lanes, filling empty coolers with coronavirus vaccine) are busy running.
"Do you need more vaccines?" a 49-year-old male trimmer wearing a mask asked the nurse. "I will get it."
He grabbed the blue picnic refrigerator and rushed out, leaving safety details.
The impromptu runner is Los Angeles Mayor Eric Gasetti.
By the end of the night, 7,730 vaccinations were provided free of charge in nearly 75 hours, all of which were carried out in a baseball stadium parking lot. He said that since the opening on January 15th, Gasetti has been working on the front line of the stadium to better understand and resolve logistical issues, and to get involved. One day last week, he has been working on site from 7 am to today. 11pm
He wore a yellow vest to direct traffic. He distributed vaccination cards. He asked whether his constituent patients had ever had anaphylactic shock. He sorted out some dating arrangements, provided the son of a confused son with his mobile phone number, and used Spanish as frequently as his English ("Awesome").
And this is far from enough. The waiting time for the first few days ranged from 15 minutes to over an hour. That night, some people waited four hours to shoot them, others waited five, and then let the mayor know.
"Sorry again tonight," Gasetti told them. "That's why I work on the production line. We will do better."
In the past few weeks, the mayor and other local and state officials' handling of the virus and vaccination efforts have been under strict scrutiny.
The mixed news caused widespread confusion. The state opens eligibility to people over 65 years of age, but county officials said they will continue to vaccinate only healthcare workers, a move supported by Garcetti. But the county suddenly changed its course under pressure, allowing people 65 years of age or older to be vaccinated, making the mayor seem powerless and faltering.
However, despite all the misfortunes, Los Angeles has a higher vaccination rate than other major cities and counties-the city has been vaccinated 83%, compared with 74% in New York City, and 52% in Bixa County in San Antonio. Maricopa County in Phoenix ordered 58% of the dose.
One day, at the Dodger Stadium, the huge challenges faced by Gasetti and local officials were demonstrated, as well as the dizzying logistics: in a vast space where there was never a public health crisis, thousands of people distributed perishable Pills, and the city’s bureaucracy does not even have its own health department.
Gasetti said: "Suddenly nothing happened-and the decision to build it was made less than two weeks ago." "We drive cars at 60 miles per hour when we make cars."
After a brief report before the gate opened at 8 am, Garcetti walked along the rolling hills paved by the parking lot. Even if the parking lot at Dodger Stadium is empty, it feels full: the kingdom of traffic cones.
The mayor said: "Thirty thousand cones." "We have to get every cone owned by the city in each department (water, electricity, transportation), and then buy more. We bought it for only 60 euros. cone."
The car culture of Los Angeles circulates in the parking lot: people scheduled to arrange the Moderna vaccine will never have to leave the car or even open the door. This is like a large car theater without a screen. The vehicle waiting to be shot ran out of gasoline or malfunctioned.
January 20th is the first day for all residents of Los Angeles, 65 years and older, to be vaccinated throughout the day. Together with city employees, police and health care workers who are allowed to vaccinate, they are expected to fill the lot of Dodger Stadium.
When the mayor arrived at the entrance of the gymnasium, things in the shop were already faintly visible. Before Garcetti, there were several lanes waiting for vehicles sticking out – they became backups before the gates were opened.
Gasetti tapped his iPad. Then he clicked on it again and again. Nothing happened.
He is now a "recorder" and is responsible for checking people into the online system before they receive them. But he needs an internet connection.
He said: "I use iPads in my kingdom." "Isn't that what Shakespeare said?"
The sluggish internet is one of the many problems that cause the long wait.
A word about Los Angeles has always attracted the mayor.
Antonia Hernández, the former chairman of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Foundation, called the city an "imperfect paradise." The site of the Dodger Stadium is an appropriate wording: A flawed, hopeful work is in progress, and the top of the mountain is full of palm trees under the shining sun in January. More vaccines are put into people's arms.
In the first nine days of operation of the stadium parking lot, there were nearly 56,000 non-punch vaccines, an average of 6,203 vehicles per day. A team of firefighters, medical staff, nurses, pharmacy students, non-profit sex workers, city employees, and celebrities created this "city on the parking lot", divided into three departments: Alpha, Bravo and Charlie . The Los Angeles Fire Department leads the city’s operations, assisted by community-organized relief efforts or CORE, a non-profit organization co-founded by actor Sean Penn.
Near the site’s tents and RV trailers, key strategies are scattered on folding chairs or beside plastic jersey obstacles. The walkie-talkie is cracking endlessly and it is required to speak Chinese. There is Krispy Kreme at breakfast and Subway at lunch (the fruit on the table is poked with a syringe during the training course). On the trailer labeled "Vaccine Draw," the runner bends past Penn, slides the empty cooler inside, and waits for a new batch of syringes.
"Who needs 10?" A worker holding a syringe was at the trailer door.
A runner replied: "We need to be 25 years old." "But we want ten."
After lunch, Garcetti withdrew from the game. When she stopped in the traffic cone lane, a woman's face glowed.
"You're Gavin Newsom, aren't you?" She asked him, just like everyone else that day, mistook him for the governor of California.
Some people don't know who is getting the vaccine, but others recognize the mayor. They waved, thanked loudly or asked for a photo with him.
"Thank your mayor for letting me check in, but I need to give the police a refund!" a motorist shouted.
The Democrat Garcetti has been fighting a surge in coronavirus cases, which have only recently stabilized and infected his 9-year-old daughter. He is also facing a corruption scandal in the city hall, which led to the US federal government prosecuting one of his former deputy mayors, and the public also believes that his political star is eclipsed. He rejected an offer to join the Biden administration to focus on the pandemic, and he will step down in 2022 due to term restrictions.
Garcetti, the co-chair of the President Joe Biden’s inauguration committee, commemorates the inauguration all day. In the morning, he sat on the side of the road and watched part of Biden's speech. In the evening, he appeared at the virtual inaugural ball through the laptop next to the potty. He gave a short speech.
Then he returned to the car in the Bravo field.
One of the strangest things about mass vaccination sites is silence: even if they become impatient and frustrated with the long wait, there is no sound of a horn after hours.
The empty rows of cars are portraits of the city.
People on motorcycles. The driver leaned out the window with his dog. Hispanic healthcare workers. Ethiopian family. Bengali businessman. Retired record company executive. Workers at Los Angeles International Airport. A 100-year-old woman worried that her arm muscles were not strong enough to shoot. An early boarding customer of the mayor wore a mask, sat on the passenger side of Cadillac Escalade Avenue, and waited like everyone else: the movie star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jimmie Guzman, 42 years old, worked in a homeless shelter and entered the stadium line at 1:10 pm. He waited to climb forward, waited to climb forward. He took the photo at approximately 5:30 pm after more than four hours
"I don't mind at all," Guzman said. "Getting it is a blessing. I have to wait much longer."
The vaccination is scheduled to end at 8pm. But over time, hundreds of cars are still lining up, backing up to Interstate 5. The mayor decided to continue working. Others do the same.
Ellsworth S. Fortman, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Fire Department's field commander, supported Garcetti to complete his plan: to merge everything into the Bravo Division. And reduce the monitoring time of allergic reactions to five minutes.
By 10:45 in the evening, the gate was closed and the last car drove out. In the coming days, officials will reduce waiting time and eliminate more entanglements.
In the evening, when his assistant rushed to his side, Gasetti was pushing the cart from the window to the window. The mayor took out the phone. The law needs to be signed.
"My daily work," he said.
