COVID-19 (Coronavirus) - How are you coping with this?

[2044]

17 minutes ago, tomsbuspage said:

Canada has any vaccine making capacity (Hello?  Who developed the Ebola vaccine?).

The thing about capacity is more to do with what the facilities can handle. They can’t really just stop producing non-COVID vaccines. And if they don’t have any excess capacity, they can start producing COVID vaccines.

The government has funded facilities in Montreal, Saskatoon, and Vancouver. Unfortunately, like a lot of things, the approval and construction takes a lot of time. The Montreal facility is scheduled to open in September.

Honestly, I think our vaccine situation is pretty middle ground. We’re not the best and we’re not the worst. The US and UK are pretty much outliers with lots of production capacity and influence. With no production domestically we’ve been able to catch up with parts of Europe. 
 

People bring up countries like the UAE doing better as well. They have been using a Chinese vaccine. Other countries use the Russian vaccine. For better or for worse those have been blacklisted by most of the Western world.

5 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

My neighbourhood where everyone goes to work at work in some kind of a plant or commercial environment is not a priority neighbourhood.

They went by postal code, which might be a bit of a clumsy way of doing it. L1V in Pickering, for example, is a hotspot, but L1V encompasses almost all of urban Pickering. If you look at the Durham Health Neighbourhood level, you can see there is a lot of variation between neighbourhoods.

[Benton Harper]

Got jabbed with moderna yesterday, arm a bit sore but still attached...

Didn't really notice anything else, maybe a bit warm, so far so good.

As Alberta gets supplies from/via Ottawa (who has to approve them)  there are more options.

Calgary is bad due to its international airport.  Shame we can't just shut down the flights and borders at the provincial levels though...

[2044]

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1 or go to your nearest hospital. If you need emotional support, help is available.
 

For non-emergencies, please consult with the mental health resources available in your Province or Territory.

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[Nick B]

4 hours ago, Benton Harper said:

Calgary is bad due to its international airport.  Shame we can't just shut down the flights and borders at the provincial levels though...

The vast majority of Calgary's cases are community transmission largely due to guideline non-compliance, much like everywhere else in the province. The current spread has virtually nothing to do with flights/the international airport and hasn't for almost a full year now.

[Wayside Observer]

9 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

Again with the curfews! In what possible way do they expect that this is going to change anything at all? I want off this insane ride.

 

I don't know what they're going to announce tomorrow.  The headline on the Toronto Star's website changed sometime this evening to say a curfew's unlikely.  I don't know what else they can restrict other than making it an around the clock curfew except we already have that in theory with the stay at home order.

A curfew would be cruel now that the days are getting longer and the weather's getting nicer and it's starting to become possible to enjoy being outdoors again.  8:00 PM and you'd better be back home or else you'd better damn well be able to prove that you have an infallible essential purpose for being out where you are, when you are, doing what you are when it's still broad daylight on a beautiful evening is going to be unbelievably vindictive.  If this is what's coming tomorrow, I honestly feel for everyone that lives in an apartment or a condo.  No back yard, no common amenities that have been closed since at least the fall, adding a curfew on top of that just as it's starting to get nice out is going to be really miserable for an awful lot of people.

I'm sure whatever they do announce tomorrow, it's going to be nasty, draconian, backed up with heavy handed enforcement measures, have all kinds of nasty side effects on people, and somehow still manage to miss the mark and be ineffective.  June 2, 2022 cannot, cannot come soon enough.

[anyfong]

15 hours ago, 2044 said:

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 9-1-1 or go to your nearest hospital. If you need emotional support, help is available.
 

For non-emergencies, please consult with the mental health resources available in your Province or Territory.

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario

Quebec  (Français)

New Brunswick 

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland and Labrador

Yukon

Northwest Territories

Nunavut

Thank you.

13 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

 

I don't know what they're going to announce tomorrow.  The headline on the Toronto Star's website changed sometime this evening to say a curfew's unlikely.  I don't know what else they can restrict other than making it an around the clock curfew except we already have that in theory with the stay at home order.

A curfew would be cruel now that the days are getting longer and the weather's getting nicer and it's starting to become possible to enjoy being outdoors again.  8:00 PM and you'd better be back home or else you'd better damn well be able to prove that you have an infallible essential purpose for being out where you are, when you are, doing what you are when it's still broad daylight on a beautiful evening is going to be unbelievably vindictive.  If this is what's coming tomorrow, I honestly feel for everyone that lives in an apartment or a condo.  No back yard, no common amenities that have been closed since at least the fall, adding a curfew on top of that just as it's starting to get nice out is going to be really miserable for an awful lot of people.

I'm sure whatever they do announce tomorrow, it's going to be nasty, draconian, backed up with heavy handed enforcement measures, have all kinds of nasty side effects on people, and somehow still manage to miss the mark and be ineffective.  June 2, 2022 cannot, cannot come soon enough.

Scientific research on viruses has consistently proven that viruses do not have timekeeping mechanisms that make them significantly more transmissible during a certain period of time. Viruses are essentially dead until they enter a host organism. Governments need to stop looking towards pseudoscientific methods of controlling the virus for political gain.

Also, Ford would be someone who would fail a grade 3 science class, let alone a grade 12 biology class.

[anyfong]

14 hours ago, Nick B said:

The vast majority of Calgary's cases are community transmission largely due to guideline non-compliance, much like everywhere else in the province. The current spread has virtually nothing to do with flights/the international airport and hasn't for almost a full year now.

This applies for pretty much the rest of the country too. Canada is one of the few industrialized countries not to have paid sick leave, like the US. It is morally corrupt to not pay workers who are on sick leave, instead having them come to work while infected. Close indoor quarters is one of the most dangerous ways for viruses to spread.

[GTAmissions1]

A critical breaking point. Ontario is asking other provinces for assistance to handle overloaded ICUs. You would think that Ford could handle it better, but instead he has handled it worse every time. Considering that the cases is still over 4,000 daily.

In other news, some municipalities are waiving late fees for property taxes until a certain date. Each one is different of course understanding the financial challenges. 

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-turns-to-other-provinces-for-urgently-needed-help-with-overloaded-icus-1.5390044

[Wayside Observer]

Either CBC's having problems getting the live stream out or Doug Ford's running late for his own press conference as usual.

Who knows, they could be down to the wire deciding whether or not they're going to ban eat-in dining in your own kitchen?  You can cook in there but as soon as that food's ready, you'd better take it out in the back yard to eat otherwise you're getting a thousand dollar ticket?  Or last minute debate about whether or not to grant shoot-on-sight authorization for the police during curfew hours?  I have no idea. 

I just wish they'd get it over with. 

What is it?  How bad?  How long?

Edited 40 minutes later to add:  This is really straining their credibility.  If it was really important, they'd have been on time, right?

[T3G]

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

[Wayside Observer]

4 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

This is like listening to a greatest hits compilation album:  The Worst Of 2020

As soon as this disgusting spectacle is over, I'm going for a long walk.

[2044]

5 hours ago, anyfong said:

This applies for pretty much the rest of the country too. Canada is one of the few industrialized countries not to have paid sick leave, like the US. It is morally corrupt to not pay workers who are on sick leave, instead having them come to work while infected. Close indoor quarters is one of the most dangerous ways for viruses to spread.

And of course Ontario still refuses to give more paid sick days. 

[tomsbuspage]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:21 PM, captaintrolley said:

Happy Birthday from another April baby ♥ Enjoy the nature walk. Maybe bring a magnifying glass and / or binoculars and a note pad. Jot down the details of various bugs, birds, plants, flowers etc and then come home and then look them up on the computer at home and try to identify them. Just a suggestion to add a bit of fun learning to the walk.

Thanks Cap'n!   It turns out that my daughter got the Frozen II DVD so we spent the afternoon watching that instead.  She had a great time and is looking forward to a post-lockdown shopping spree.

[Wayside Observer]

6 hours ago, 2044 said:

And of course Ontario still refuses to give more paid sick days. 

I'm disappointed nobody in the media calling questions asked about this, granted there was a lot of new stuff to ask about, but what on earth is it going to take to mandate the paid sick days?  For crying out loud, Jeff Bezos can afford to stump a couple of weeks of wages whenever someone in one of those Charles Dickens-ian nightmare fulfilment centres of his gets laid out sick.  So can Galen Weston.  So can the Walton family.  So can the rest of the lot of them.

 

On 4/15/2021 at 9:58 PM, Wayside Observer said:

I'm sure whatever they do announce tomorrow, it's going to be nasty, draconian, backed up with heavy handed enforcement measures, have all kinds of nasty side effects on people, and somehow still manage to miss the mark and be ineffective.

I did not think it would be this nasty, this draconian, this extensively backed up with heavy handed enforcement measures, completely obliterate people with bad side effects, and completely couldn't hit the side of a barn with a baseball miss the mark when I wrote that yesterday.

Greatest hits compilation of the worst of 2020?  I can't believe we're going back to roping off godforsaken playgrounds in the park again.  It didn't take long to figure out last year that the skeptics were right about this one and it did SFA to prevent COVID-19 spread and yet this is getting trotted out again?  I honestly feel so bad for children and youth.  Their educations have been completely upended, they're back to being schooled at home and the idea of go outside and play with your friends is out the window on multiple grounds between the keep it to members of your household only and all the outdoor amenities being closed again, all sports are cancelled, Boy/Girl Scouts are cancelled as are all other clubs and after school activities.  It's been over a year now.  Kids are resilient up to a point but from all the news articles out there about what's turning up in children's hospitals, we're past that point and the mental health damage being done to an entire generation is going to last the rest of their lives for people who have the whole rest of their lives ahead of them still.  The problems being caused here are going to outlast the people it's intended to protect, who this time around are vaccinated no less.

Yeah, some construction's getting shut down.  For now.  That'll get put back quietly over the next little while the way it did last time as stuff that's being delayed becomes essential for one reason or another.

Yeah, the border.  We don't want to let any of those vaccinated Americans in.  Yeah, the border.  Thanks for protecting me from that avalanche of Manitobans that keep showing up in Toronto.  Yeah, the border.  We don't want any of that St. Hubert sneaking in from Quebec.  Nice deflection.  Nice way to kick it upstairs to Trudeau and deflect from the Made In Ontario mess going on.  Yeah, Doug Ford said that it only takes four or five people coming in.  That's what, less than half a dozen essential truck drivers?  One or two essential cargo airplane crews even if you completely abolish passenger aviation?  Part, maybe a quarter or less, of an essential freighter crew bringing a cargo ship across one of the great lakes or up the St. Lawrence Seaway?  Nice try.  Not buying.

Yeah, inspecting workplaces.  Oh yeah.  Been around that block before.  Oh yeah.  Worked in one place that would always get tipped off the ministry of labour was going to show up and they'd make everyone put on their steel toe boots and shape up in time for the inspection then back to business as usual as soon as the inspector leaves.  Even if there's no tip off, worked in plenty of these places too, as soon as the ministry of labour shows up in the parking lot, watch lines slow down, every one works safer the way they're supposed to be, and production quotas get ignored that day.  Fair enough, I'll grant that getting accounting firms etc. that were recalling staff back into the office so they could go back to micromanaging everyone in person to send everyone back home with their laptops and backing it up with inspections to make sure it happens is a good move.

No social anything anywhere with anyone else even outdoors now that the weather's getting nice?  That's insane.  Outside of what that's going to do to everyone's mental health that's already taken a battering from the last year plus, this is going to make people go that much further underground in ways that actually are dangerous, so counterproductive on multiple fronts.  People who live alone got completely thrown under the wheels yet again.  People who live alone can associate with one other household?  No, they can't.  It's impossible.  It's impossible because no other household wants to be that household because the hysteria's been turned up to 11 and been kept at 11 for over a year now.  My experiene has been that whenever I ask any of my friends to be that other household, everything's fine until the friend's wife/husband/partner/significant other finds out about it and freaks.  Nice idea in theory.  Doesn't work in practice.

I'm not even going to start on the whole issue I have with the massive contradiction in how they've decided it's perfectly acceptable risk to march out a broad swath of the working age population every day and they're A-OK with getting you sick on the job, and it's so not a problem they're not even going to require paid sick days if you do get infected, but there's going to be hell to pay if you get caught doing anything enjoyable during your off hours.

And the draconian part, the expanded police powers?  No.  Just no.  Unless they're handed orders and a quota they have to meet, most good police officers are not going to want to touch this with a ten foot pole and start banging on doors, pulling over cars, cornering pedestrians and walk into unnecessary confrontations.  The bad ones, those 'bad apples' we keep hearing about, the ones who live to throw their weight around, they now have a carte blanche to go and do exactly that, and that's going to go badly.  If people are angry and blasting the government now, just wait until actual first hand reports start coming in from people that have been interrogated to determine if the reason for them being outside of their house is satisfactory.

The only two things I agreed with out of the whole embarrasment on TV was mandating recalled office workers go back to working from home and the statement that we need more vaccines which, truthfully, isn't just an Ontario problem but one that's affecting all of Canada right now.

Everything else gets a big, red F-- in every respect possible.

To paraphrase the old car commercials on TV, "Ford:  Quality is job none."

[GTAmissions1]

On 4/16/2021 at 5:04 PM, 2044 said:

And of course Ontario still refuses to give more paid sick days. 

Especially since Ford is trying to shift it to employers/federal government. Not all employers will give paid time off if you have to self-isolate after testing positive. If having to self-isolate due to a close contact, it may be more difficult to get paid depending on the employer and contract.

Noting the Canadian Recovery benefit takes time which requires an application and doesn't pay that much. $450/week (the $50 is withheld to taxes). I know it is meant to replace the Canadian Emergency Recovery Benefit (CERB) which is $2,000/month in a one-time payment and a quick turnaround time. 

Ford really doesn't want to do what is necessary. Only the minimum

Edited April 19, 2021 by Flalex72

[captaintrolley]

An item in the news today where they are saying that 'inactivity' can result in 'worse outcomes' for Covid. And yet, it is because of Covid that things are shut and many of are inactive. I have never been so inactive in all my life, and yes, I feel terribly out of shape and not as healthy as I could be.

[T3G]

1 hour ago, captaintrolley said:

An item in the news today where they are saying that 'inactivity' can result in 'worse outcomes' for Covid. And yet, it is because of Covid that things are shut and many of are inactive. I have never been so inactive in all my life, and yes, I feel terribly out of shape and not as healthy as I could be.

I'm sure the biblical amounts of stress so many people are facing right now aren't going to make things worse at all, either.

[Doppelkupplung]

9 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

And the draconian part, the expanded police powers?  No.  Just no.  Unless they're handed orders and a quota they have to meet, most good police officers are not going to want to touch this with a ten foot pole and start banging on doors, pulling over cars, cornering pedestrians and walk into unnecessary confrontations.  The bad ones, those 'bad apples' we keep hearing about, the ones who live to throw their weight around, they now have a carte blanche to go and do exactly that, and that's going to go badly.  If people are angry and blasting the government now, just wait until actual first hand reports start coming in from people that have been interrogated to determine if the reason for them being outside of their house is satisfactory.

And now that they have these powers, who knows what kind of racial profiling will happen. Things were bad to begin with. 

[Wayside Observer]

40 minutes ago, Doppelkupplung said:

And now that they have these powers, who knows what kind of racial profiling will happen. Things were bad to begin with. 

I don’t think it’s going to be just racial profiling.  The bad old days of policing in Ontario was a lot more than just racial profiling.  They went after LGBT2Q etc, they’d beat the shit out of anyone that didn’t give them “the proper respect”, there’s been plenty of books written about the Toronto department from the 1989s back.

You guys have seen me joke around in the sightings thread whenever I see one of the Events Support buses about how it’s on the Cherry Beach Express route. I think most of the people here are to young to have gotten the joke but go YouTube and play the song.  Listen to the lyrics.  It’s a pretty factual accounting of how the Toronto police used to deal with anyone they came across that they took a dislike to.  That’s the sort of bad old days I’m referring to.

[Bus_Medic]

https://youtu.be/P9IrLsG2jyU

https://youtu.be/fEk5EEtaNcA

[Doppelkupplung]

33 minutes ago, Wayside Observer said:

they’d beat the shit out of anyone that didn’t give them “the proper respect”,

I got pulled over a couple years back for raising my hand at a cop in front of me. He didn't like that. 

[Wayside Observer]

9 minutes ago, Doppelkupplung said:

I got pulled over a couple years back for raising my hand at a cop in front of me. He didn't like that. 

Found it for you.  A lot of truth in that song. 

 

[Doppelkupplung]

Just found this:

 

Also, Bruce Arthur speaking the truth here, especially when referring to idiots. 

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2021/04/16/our-health-care-system-is-going-to-totally-collapse-these-doctors-listened-to-doug-fords-new-plan-and-heard-defeat-and-death.html

 

[Bus_Medic]

Paywall.

[GTAmissions1]

50 minutes ago, Doppelkupplung said:

Just found this:

 

Also, Bruce Arthur speaking the truth here, especially when referring to idiots. 

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2021/04/16/our-health-care-system-is-going-to-totally-collapse-these-doctors-listened-to-doug-fords-new-plan-and-heard-defeat-and-death.html

 

My local police force confirmed they won't be pulling over or doing random spot checks (this isn't 1987 with Operation Hammer in Los Angeles or broken windows theory in New York back in the 1990s). Especially if they did do that (similar to carding), they would get a lot of scrutiny. 

Not only that, the officer would have to attend court to justify the ticket. If they don't show up, then it either gets waived or reduced. Times that by the amount issued and the defendant using his options listed on the back, I don't think it would stand up in court.

14 minutes ago, Bus_Medic said:

Paywall.

Try this link:

https://outline.com/qVhNWC

I always use Outline for Toronto Star and some other websites. Very handy.