Cinemacon 2021

[Frank Cox]

Vaccination certificates don't have to be completely foolproof to have a positive effect.

Consider the current system of ask kids for an id when they go to the bar. Does it keep every last kid out of the bar? No. Some kids have a fake id and some are just good at lying and/or looking older than they are. But even though doesn't work in every single instance, that system does keep most of the underage kids out of the bar.

A vaccine certificate could be used in the same way. There might be a few folks that forge one. If 10% of unvaccinated people attend an event where they have to show a card that's still less than 100% of unvaccinated people attending an event where nobody has to show a card.

The provincial government here has said that there will be no "vaccine passports" required in Saskatchewan. I think that's a mistake since if nothing else a vaccine passport is an incentive to people to go and get vaccinated. Though I still genuinely don't understand why not dying from the virus isn't enough of an incentive on its own.

[Leo Enticknap]

Here is mine (with my DOB scrubbed out in Snipping Tool after scanning, for obvious reasons):

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No security measures on it whatsoever: it's printed on plain white cardstock of the sort that you can buy on Amazon at $15 for 200 sheets (I use it to print safety placard PDFs onto for laser projector installs), with a simple design, and completed in handwriting. I guess SBC stands for San Bernardino County, and Hook is the Hook Community Center in Victorville. Creating a phony one of these would be very easy. The only way you could check its authenticity would be to ask the county if the information on it matches their records or not, and HIPAA would likely prevent them from answering that question anyways.

I'm in two minds on vaccine passports. Agreed largely with Frank, added to which, requiring proof of vaccination for international travel (i.e. entry to a given nation as a visitor or immigrant) has been widespread and uncontroversial for about a century. When I immigrated to the USA, I had to have four or five vaccinations as part of the green card application formalities (tetanus and smallpox were two - can't remember the others). I've had to have other shots when visiting other countries (yellow fever for Namibia about 15 years ago sticks in my mind).

But requiring vaccinations for intranational (as distinct from international) travel or business would be a significant step in terms of civil liberty restrictions. Broadly, I'm OK with private businesses being allowed to require that of their customers (e.g. sports stadia), as long as there are legal protections for people who have not been vaccinated because of legitimate medical counterindications (e.g. a history of Guillain-Barré Syndrome following vaccination - I'm not talking about David Icke / Kate Shemirani-type objections).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Leo, I have the same CDC card except Vanderbilt puts their own sticker they generate when you are there in tje upper left quadrant. Thats also where they place the bar code.

[Mike Blakesley]

Montana's cards are just plain white, easily replicated cards too. They're useless for being a reliable indicator. I've already heard of people faking them.

I'm all for the federal government keeping their hands out of state issues as much as possible, but THIS thing, since it is a nationwide problem, there should have some some kind of nationwide form used for those cards.

Those cards were probably created by somebody with a unicorns-and-rainbows vision of humanity who can't imagine that some people would ever be dishonest.

[Steve Guttag]

They were not created as proof of vaccination so much as like your dentist's "time for a checkup" sort of card. It tells the person receiving the shot what they got and when...on the "other side" it tells them when to return and it tells the person giving the second shot what flavor your 1st shot was. In the event of a bad batch (let's say there was a situation where the storage temp was allowed to go out of range), the batch number would allow for tracing that way.

Look how long it took for Driver's licenses to become more difficult to fake. They didn't use to have pictures on them. Then, slowly...pictures started showing up...profile shots for under-age came MUCH MUCH later after pictures...then laminations and holographic stuff...to make it harder and harder to fake it or alter the birthdate. The latest round of updates have been for the TSA. There is no way a mechanism to guard against that level of forgery (and it would have to be at that level since those that are going to fake it will fake it, convincingly enough. What would have been nice is if upon getting one's second shot, one could have an "endorsement" applied to one's driver's license that would indicate vaccination status so one running your DL number would get a yea/nay. Which would leave those that don't have a DL to have a means of proving vaccination like they have to do for banking and such.

The realities are, there wasn't and isn't a mechanism for state, nation or international verification. This was rushed out due to the nature of it. The people that are scared about the lack of CDC approval will point out that it is just a stage-3 clinical trial vaccine with an emergency use exception. You aren't going to get IDs moving faster than getting all of those "i" and "t" paperwork.

[Leo Enticknap]

Which would leave those that don't have a DL to have a means of proving vaccination like they have to do for banking and such.

If, for whatever reason, you don't want to learn to drive (or have had your license revoked), the CA DMV will issue you an identity card that looks very similar to a driver's license, but doesn't allow you to drive: it's simply a means of proving your identity. I'm guessing that other states' DMVs do something similar.

Returning to topic, a co-worker just told me that apparently, QSC has pulled out of Cinemacon.

[Steve Guttag]

Leo, if you are in a city, like NYC, there can be a significantly greater burden to drive than to not, particularly if you responsible as to where the car will be stored. But much of an appeal to living in a city is that things are closer and there is a means to get to them via walking/mass transit.

I have not heard that QSC has pulled out. But, if that is true or if there is a growing trend, it could affect my plans too. Going to meet with manufacturers and clients are a primary reason for me to be at the shows. QSC had the biggest booth, I think, this year, on the upper floor.

[Ed Gordon]

Before two passengers flew from the U.S. to Toronto last month, they submitted required copies of their vaccination cards and negative coronavirus test results to a portal reviewed by Canadian authorities.

But it wasn’t until they arrived in Canada the week of July 18 that officials discovered the documents the pair presented were fraudulent, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a news release Friday.

Now, each passenger must pay fines totaling nearly $20,000 for submitting unlawful documentation and failing to comply with quarantine and testing requirements.

“The Government of Canada will continue to investigate incidents reported and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where it is warranted to protect the health of Canadians from the further spread of covid-19 and its variants of concern,” the agency said in a statement.

Full story at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...uments-canada/

[Steve Guttag]

There ya go...that's a way! At first thought I thought it was a little stiff then...no, with the way things spread, the $40K for the pair probably is on the light side of the damage/harm they could cause, without even realizing they've done it.

[Martin McCaffery]

'You never want to lose to Canada':
CNN

[Frank Cox]

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[Frank Cox]

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[Jim Cassedy]

My vaccination card looks like Leo's, except that my health care provider (The SF VA Hospital) attached a couple of small stickers with text & a bar code to indicate the vaccine maker and lot number. But even so, a 9 year old kid could probably produce a passable fake in about 5min. The State Of CA has set up a website, where if you enter certain info, they will send a 'state verified' QR-Code to your phone, which is (in theory) supposed to be accepted as 'official proof" of vaccination. I've tried several times and it I always get a message back saying that the state "has no record" of my vaccination. Several friends have reported the same thing when they tried.

> EDIT: I just did some online checking and discovered that the reason I can't get a "Verified Vaccination" QR code from the State Of CA, is that the VA Medical System, being a Federal entity, doesn't participate in the CAIR (California Immunization Registry) program. This also means that veterans and active duty military personnel in CA are not eligible to 'win' any of the big cash prizes in the vaccination lotteries The State has been promoting in an effort to encourage (via bribery) vaccinations, since a CAIR record is required for that. Some private physicians and health care providers also do not report to CAIR, which might explain why some of my friends couldn't get their QR code either.

[Jim Cassedy]

I don't know what will happen with CInemacon, The New York Auto Show announced cancellation two days ago, (and I lived in NY for many years and went to that show, and can tell you that's a major cancellation)- - another major, large trade show event, just announcing cancellation is the National Association Of Food Equipment Manufacturers, originally scheduled to be in Orlando, FL later this month. This morning I read a news story in which they said that 21 major trade shows have decided to cancel their upcoming events due to a resurgence of the Coronacrap, although so far I've been unable to find a complete list of those cancelled events.

Here in San Francisco, where they've just re-instituted mask mandates, the convention center, where I sometimes pick up some Union AV & projection work, is still closed (except as a mass vaccination location) and I wasn't able to find ANY events (or work!) scheduled on their calendars for the next couple of months. In fact, tourism here, in general is still dead, with many of the downtown hotels and businesses still closed and boarded up

I Took This Picture The Other Day At The Famous Cable Car Turn-Around At
Powell & Market Street. Normally There Would Be 50 or 60 (or more) Tourists
Lined Up Here Waiting To Ride. But This Cable Car Crew Could Barely Draw
Flies. (Partly because most of the flies hang around a nearby homeless camp)
CableCar3a.jpg

While I Eventually Managed To Spot About ½-a Dozen Tourists,
Most Of The Cable Cars Were Heading Back Up The Hill Empty
CableCar1.jpg

This Was The Westfield Mall On Market St, At Around 11:30am on a Tuesday.
Normally, At That Hour, This Place Would Be PACKED With Shoppers And
Downtown Workers Heading To Lunch At One Of The Food Courts. But As You
Can See, You Could Fire A Shotgun In Here & Not Worry About Hitting Anyone.
WestfieldMall_MT2_E.jpg

[Bobby Henderson]

Not directly related to Cinemacon 2021, but on a similar topic: if not for the recent developments with the pandemic I would have been having a fun time right now at Downstream Casino Resort Hotel near Joplin, MO for the Tri-State Sign Association annual convention. Didn't get to go last year; the entire conference was cancelled. This time it is taking place, but many are choosing not to attend. Most of my co-workers and myself are fully vaccinated. Unfortunately we have a few colleagues who are anti-vax hold-outs. My boss figured it wasn't worth the risk traveling up to the Joplin area and possibly bringing back one or more breakthrough infections. I understand the decision, but am still pretty disappointed. With the latest numbers just in our immediate local area, we're getting just as ate up with Delta as any place. Well, maybe not as bad as Southern Louisiana, but Lawton is now every bit as risky a place to visit as Joplin. So what difference does it make visiting Joplin or not? Maybe a better reason for calling off the trip: a decent number of vendors have decided not to attend. TSSA 2021 will probably have a pretty light crowd. Hopefully it will be a lot better this time in 2022.