back to article Super Cali COVID count is somewhat out of focus, server crash and expired cert makes numbers quite atrocious

A system crash and subsequent bungling of a digital certificate caused California to fall behind in reporting the results of around 300,000 COVID-19 coronavirus tests last week. Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that after a weekend-long slog, officials had managed to get through hundreds of thousands tests that, thanks to …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Upgrade your masks

    I notice that masks are becoming trendy designs, getting the 3 ply disposables mask is getting harder, not because they're in short supply, but because they're not what sells, so shops don't stock them. They sell the trendy designs instead.

    But the 3 ply are better. That outer water repellent layer to repel droplets, the inner layer to absorb droplets, the middle filter layer. That is a better functional product, even if its less stylish.

    Perhaps a simply star marking would help, 1 star, 2 start or 3 star for the level of protection on fashion masks to encourage better functional mask design.

    Also a water repellent only type for water parks, pool parties and the like. I was at a water park/pool party thing a few days ago and got a cough and wheeze the next day I did not like. Cold and flu virus are so easy to transmit, it reminds you how easily Coronavirus rips through groups like that. I would like to have a mask while Covid is around, even at a water park. But that needs to be water repellent only and made so it does not disintegrate in water.

    Also this, *does* work:

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30954271/

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Upgrade your masks

      Perhaps a simply star marking would help

      https://xkcd.com/927/

      I was at a water park/pool party thing a few days ago

      Why?

      it reminds you how easily Coronavirus rips through groups like that

      Not sufficiently, it would seem.

  2. joesomeone
    Trollface

    Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

    The old IT adage, the problem is always DNS. Seems like certificates are gunning for the top place of crappy IT problems.

    And as to be expected... nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

      nothing more permanent profitable than a temporary solution

      FIFY. Don't forget which country and administration you're dealing with..

      1. RM Myers
        FAIL

        Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

        Ah, California is not a separate country (yet*), and Gavin Newsom is hardly a Trump supporter. Also, I seriously doubt the state of California is now turning a profit** since the last I heard they were looking at a $50 billion (sic) deficit. This is strictly a state cock-up - they didn't need the federal government's help to screw this one up.

        * Yes, there are people proposing that California secede from the United States.

        ** Government bodies can have a surplus, but I've never heard it referred to as a profit.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

          Also not just the US or "government".

          There has not been a problem developed that consultants could not make money from by making it worse. Or lawyers. Some evolutionary branch, some levels below rats.

        2. Jaybus

          Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

          " * Yes, there are people proposing that California secede from the United States. "

          And many of those people live in other states.

          1. RM Myers

            Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

            Very true. I didn't mean to imply these were only California residents, although the one guy from Uber in the San Francisco area seemed to be particularly hot on the idea.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

      The problem really starts when you try to use the Web for everything.

    3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Certificates are becoming the new DNS?

      "nothing more permanent than a temporary solution."

      And nothing more temporary than a permanent temporary solution.

  3. NetBlackOps

    Yep!

    That's my perfect model of a major government failure. I love my state. I really do. The government? Nope.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Send in the Didos ?

    no comment

  5. m0th3r

    Mary Poppins?

    Was the title of the article meant to be sang to the famous Mary Poppins tune? If so, nicely done! It's stuck in my head now...

    1. KittenHuffer Silver badge

      Re: Mary Poppins?

      You must be new around here! They used to do 'Super Cali' headlines quite often, but there has been quite a gap since the last one I saw.

      Click the magnifying glass and do a search for 'Super Cali' to get a good sprinkling of some of the previous examples.

      1. Steve K

        Re: Mary Poppins?

        If you are a left-Pondian (or were born after the 1980’s) then you may not be aware that the original was a Sun newspaper headline referring to a Scottish footballing defeat (itself inspired by an earlier 1960s original one)

        El Reg has since refined this headline to an art-form, emerging Brigadoon-like at infrequent intervals.

        1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          a Sun newspaper headline

          AIUI the Sun in 2000 nicked it from / paid homage to the Liverpool Echo, which in the 1970s, decades earlier, ran the original:

          SUPER CALLY GOES BALLISTIC, QPR ATROCIOUS

          C.

  6. Potemkine! Silver badge

    who can break them down by race, age, and occupation to map out virus hotspots

    By race, you mean cats, dogs and humans? Because for humanity there's only one race, the human race. We are one species.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      here's only one race, the human race. We are one species.

      "species" is a taxonomic rank. It is divided into subspecies, below which you find races.

    2. stiine Silver badge

      Only since the mid 1990's. Before that taxonimy meant something.

    3. keith_w

      it probably have been more accurate to use "tribe" instead of "race"

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Why everything in US is broken down by "race"? Does it really matters what color your skin is when your are positive to COVID??

      Keep on changing words while keeping the same mindset. As an Italian writer wrote in his masterpiece "Il Gattopardo", "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change".

      1. Nunyabiznes

        Because there is money/power to be made by keeping a level of tension between different groups.

        MLK believed a color-blind society was the only way forward to less racism. I think he was right, but there are many factions whose self-interest insists on keeping racism alive by separating and classifying us.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Does it really matters what color your skin is when your are positive to COVID?

        No, but if certain racial characteristics make you more susceptible to catching it (which appears to be the case) then classifying people by those characteristics in order to get the best preventative care before you catch it does not seem unreasonable.

        1. Nunyabiznes

          From my reading it appears to be less of a race issue and more of an economic issue. Poor communities with overcrowding in housing situations and with little access to preventative care are being hard hit.

          However, we are still learning about this disease and time will give us more insight.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "but if certain racial characteristics make you more susceptible to catching it"

          Maybe some genetic characteristic may make you more or less susceptible - but you would then need to match it to a DNA analysis, not simply "race" which may mean absolutely nothing - and just look to be a relic of the past.

  7. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Do I hear a faint echo of someone saying "How much? It's working now. You don't need it."?

    But how refreshing to see someone resigning after a departmental cock-up.

  8. Don Casey
    FAIL

    Never, ever, attempt to hide a screwup that is inevitably going to become obvious

    I don't know for sure what happened, but people below Newsom KNEW for days, maybe weeks, there were problems with the data, and they let him make public statements about how good the numbers were.

    They deserved to be fired. You don't set your boss up like that. Never.

    1. Clunking Fist

      Re: Never, ever, attempt to hide a screwup that is inevitably going to become obvious

      Donald? 'That you?

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