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

[GTAmissions1]

Saw on the Ontario Ministry of Health's website on Facebook (attached the tweet for easier access).

Especially since the original plan was people over 18 was next week and then people over 12 the week after. Hopefully they have enough supply considering the constraints in the beginning and unknown risks if they have enough supply to handle the inflow of new people getting first doses. I know I will be booking ahead for my two doses at first point if I can get an appointment. 

 

[T3G]

If you book at a traditional brick and mortar clinic they slot you in for a 2nd dose automatically. I don't believe that's the case for the pop up clinics, from what I've heard they take your info down and contact you once you're eligible.

[GTAmissions1]

Just booked my appointment which is three weeks away from today being the earliest time slot. Better than nothing especially of course the demand outstripping supply and having to schedule second dose appointments with the first. Got the email and text confirmation to verify my appointment is booked. Bringing the confirmation to the appointment along with health card. 

[tomsbuspage]

National Post: Canadians can drive to U.S. for COVID-19 vax and avoid quarantine, Ottawa confirms

Quote

Canadian residents are allowed to head to the United States for a COVID-19 vaccine and avoid quarantine on return if they meet some straightforward conditions, the Public Health Agency of Canada confirms.

Those conditions include having a note from a licensed health-care provider in Canada that the inoculation is medically necessary, and written proof from the licensed U.S. vaccine provider.

Quarantine regulations passed by the federal government contain an exemption for essential medical services obtained abroad. A coronavirus shot, the agency says, falls under that definition.

While this sounds to me like an clarification of an existing exemption rather than an actual change in policy, it appears to be a big shift in the Canadian government's message about vaccines and crossing the Canada-US border.  Previously, Prime Minister Trudeau had explicitly stated that no reductions in COVID restrictions would be made for vaccinated individuals, and the PHAC had also stated that they were not counting those who had received a COVID vaccine abroad in their statistics.  Now I understand that this exemption is only for individuals who must receive a vaccine ASAP because of medical conditions, and they must have a doctor's note advising that the shot is medically necessary, and that the patient and support person must not make any other stops in the US during the trip, but at least it is a small opening allowing Canadians to access American vaccines.

My wife, mother, and I are scheduled to receive our first vaccines in Ottawa on 10 June, with the second on 30 September.  If we were to drive to Gouverneur, NY, less than a two-hour drive from Ottawa, we could get our vaccines on 24 May, two and a half weeks earlier, and I'd imagine that we could get our second shot at the recommended three-week interval.  I doubt my wife or I would qualify because we're just too dang healthy, but my Mum has some medical conditions which might allow her to get such a note.

Food for thought...

[T3G]

Speaking of the border, and speaking of Wayside Observer's linked article about how they're beginning work on reopening the border:

Canada will need 75% vaccination before U.S. border reopens, Trudeau suggests

I expect this same guideline will apply to restoring flights to Europe, so all of this poses some questions:

1. What happens if we don't reach 75%?

2. What happens if the other places don't reach 75%? The US right now is at 47.35% for first doses (source) and appears to be slowing down somewhat. I'll eat my hat if they reach 75%.

3. Is there a point at which vaccinated people are going to be allowed to have their lives back, be goddamned to overall societal levels of vaccine uptake? Or are we going to have to live this nightmarish half life, watching our futures erode before our eyes because of insufficient vaccine up take forever?

[Wayside Observer]

19 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

National Post: Canadians can drive to U.S. for COVID-19 vax and avoid quarantine, Ottawa confirms

While this sounds to me like an clarification of an existing exemption rather than an actual change in policy, it appears to be a big shift in the Canadian government's message about vaccines and crossing the Canada-US border.  Previously, Prime Minister Trudeau had explicitly stated that no reductions in COVID restrictions would be made for vaccinated individuals, and the PHAC had also stated that they were not counting those who had received a COVID vaccine abroad in their statistics.  Now I understand that this exemption is only for individuals who must receive a vaccine ASAP because of medical conditions, and they must have a doctor's note advising that the shot is medically necessary, and that the patient and support person must not make any other stops in the US during the trip, but at least it is a small opening allowing Canadians to access American vaccines.

My wife, mother, and I are scheduled to receive our first vaccines in Ottawa on 10 June, with the second on 30 September.  If we were to drive to Gouverneur, NY, less than a two-hour drive from Ottawa, we could get our vaccines on 24 May, two and a half weeks earlier, and I'd imagine that we could get our second shot at the recommended three-week interval.  I doubt my wife or I would qualify because we're just too dang healthy, but my Mum has some medical conditions which might allow her to get such a note.

Food for thought...

It is food for thought indeed on several points.

It's interesting because all you need to do is get a doctor's note saying a COVID-19 shot's "medically necessary" before you get into your car and head south and make sure to get it documented properly while down there.  What doctor is going to say that getting vaccinated is not medically necessary during a global pandemic?

One, it's the first pandemic travel guidance that actually sets the bar at a reasonable level instead of being over the top punitive.

Two, it's a rare tacit admission out of our government that the vaccines actually work in a meaningful way.  If it was so unsafe, there'd be more restrictions upon return beyond get a doctor's note before you go and make sure your shot's properly documented at an approved clinic when you get it before you come back.  So it's an admission that vaccine protection's actually substantial which is a bit of a reversal from the long stated position that if you get vaccinated and a lot of people get vaccinated, absolutely nothing changes (that's also a position the government here should never have taken because out front saying there's no carrot is only going to encourage vaccine hesitancy which we do not want).

Three, if you consider this in the context of the reports from the last 10 days or so that Trudeau and company are starting work on reopening the US border, this makes sense as a sort of softpedalling normalizing some cross border travel and talk down the hysteria they've whipped up about the border for over a year now.  If it's OK to cross to get vaccinated and come back, it'll be the buildup to becoming OK for people who already are vaccinated to come and go.  Frankly, Trudeau and Ford turning up the freakout over the United States knowing that most people here don't know people there closely enough to hear regularly about the reality of day to day goings on, on the ground there beyond news headline soundbites to prop up their own political approvals here was completely irresponsible.  Now that the damage has been done, Trudeau has a problem on his hands where he has to backpedal that BS that was politically expedient 10 months ago in a way that doesn't knock his own popularity back down when he could be hitting the campaign trail any time.  This may well be the start of that kind of an attempt at a draw down.  They're clearly heeding the advice of the political science table.

Four, back to the political science table vs. the actual, real science table, it would have made sense to do this months ago when COVID-19 vaccines were scarce here.  Suddenly it's ok to go across the border to get vaccinated now that COVID-19 vaccine scarcity has eased a lot here after they start talking about reopening the border?  But it wasn't ok three, four, five months ago when you could get vaccinated in the US but it was all but impossible here?  As usual, our government's been ass backwards about it.  That screams political science advisory table to me, not the actual, real, hard, STEM science.

It's just more evidence of half baked garbage out of Trudeau & Co. in my books, frankly.

[Wayside Observer]

6 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

Speaking of the border, and speaking of Wayside Observer's linked article about how they're beginning work on reopening the border:

Canada will need 75% vaccination before U.S. border reopens, Trudeau suggests

I expect this same guideline will apply to restoring flights to Europe, so all of this poses some questions:

1. What happens if we don't reach 75%?

2. What happens if the other places don't reach 75%? The US right now is at 47.35% for first doses (source) and appears to be slowing down somewhat. I'll eat my hat if they reach 75%.

3. Is there a point at which vaccinated people are going to be allowed to have their lives back, be goddamned to overall societal levels of vaccine uptake? Or are we going to have to live this nightmarish half life, watching our futures erode before our eyes because of insufficient vaccine up take forever?

No kidding.  And this 75%, are we talking 75% fully vaccinated or 75% first shots?

It's still movement though, by putting a figure on it, there's more information out there than this indefinite "it's too soon to even start talking about making a plan" never mind actually implementing one garbage we've been hearing for months and months and months.

It really does look like Trudeau's trying to have it both ways though.  I was talking with one of my American friends who filled me in on the significance of Chuck Schumer sending that letter to Biden demanding action on getting the Canadian border opened up.  Apparently the way things shook out after the election and with how congress functions down in the US, Biden needs Schumer to get anything done so there is some very serious political clout backing up Schumer's demand to get moving on getting the border reopened.  It was after that happened that word leaked out of Ottawa that they're starting to get to work on it on our end.

Reality must have started to settle in that the whole "point south, look how bad it is, aren't you glad we don't have Trump here" game is over.  Point south and look down that way now, the situation is objectively, measurably better than it is here.  Trump's gone, they kicked him out months ago, that hasn't been applicable for montsh now.  And the closed border's undeniably becoming a political problem at least in the US, maybe here if retirees start looking at another winter of expensive loopholes or stay here and let the arthritis scream for months on end again.  The fact that Trudeau's holding off what should be good news again really, really makes me think he's hording it and dragging the pandemic out until an election campaign begins.  Why waste good news now if you can drag the pandemic out a little longer, hoard the good news, then once the election campaign starts, start dropping good news after good news after good news on the campaign trail and totally bury the opposition candidates in it?  It's almost totally blatant about how he's keeping the powder dry waiting for when it's most politically opportune to fire.  What sucks is that if this theory's true, we all suffer with our lives in suspension in the meantime until an election is called because it's politically convenient.  What sucks even more is that if no election is called - because Trudeau's just going to keep dragging it out anyways since, in theory, with the minority government, an election could happen at any time - and it looks like he's prepared to keep the pandemic going sideways no matter how many things like rapid tests, vaccines, large scale vaccine rollout, no matter what, it isn't good enough to let us have our lives back, keep going sideways as long as it takes until an election campaign starts.

And by god it looks like he's ok with doing that to all of us right until the bitter end with the next scheduled voting day on October 16, 2023 if he doesn't go to the governor general and ask for an election to be called or nobody pulls the plug in a confidence vote sooner.  That's a grim thought isn't it, two and a bit more years of this if nobody pulls the plug sooner, just to hold off making improvements until a campaign's under way?

[tomsbuspage]

22 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

National Post: Canadians can drive to U.S. for COVID-19 vax and avoid quarantine, Ottawa confirms

National Post: U.S. border agency says COVID vax not essential; Canadians could be denied entry

Quote

Canadians attempting to drive across the American border solely for a COVID-19 vaccination, even with a doctor’s referral, would be denied entry, the U.S. border agency said on Wednesday.

...and it was nice while it lasted.

[Wayside Observer]

26 minutes ago, tomsbuspage said:

National Post: U.S. border agency says COVID vax not essential; Canadians could be denied entry

...and it was nice while it lasted.

Eff me.

I saw the same thing too after I already started looking at my existing vacation bookings to see where I could drop a second one to space the two shots correctly with the idea of a pair of vaccine + friends + trolley museum + visit some industrial surplus stores trips all rolled together would be a great way of getting vaccinated after all this.

Granted, rolling everything together into a pair of loophole trips is a piss poor substitute for a proper border reopening plan backed up by execution but after almost 15 months and counting I was prepared to take what I can get after all this time.  Really, what the disagreement on either side of the border about crossing to get vaccinated being essential or not by itself shows is the need for a real plan to reopen it.

Remember, stay safe, stay six feet apart!  How far is six feet apart?  About the distance Trudeau can walk before he trips over his own feet and lands in another scandal.

[Wayside Observer]

Canadians who cross border for vaccine must quarantine on return, Ottawa says

Less than 24 hours and it changes again because they can't keep their stories straight.

I was just thinking about everything to do with the pandemic and Doug Ford and Trudeau between themselves can pull off a Three Stooges show with only two people.

[GTAmissions1]

The new reopening plan in Ontario. Considering that it is based on how many people are vaccinated with one and two doses. 

Never forget the several different setups of reopening. Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 to colour coded system by region and how it didn't work out or stuck to plan. 

First step starts on June 14th. Hopefully it works out, but I wouldn't have faith in Ford considering his track record over the last few months. 

[Wayside Observer]

4 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

The new reopening plan in Ontario. Considering that it is based on how many people are vaccinated with one and two doses. 

Never forget the several different setups of reopening. Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 to colour coded system by region and how it didn't work out or stuck to plan. 

First step starts on June 14th. Hopefully it works out, but I wouldn't have faith in Ford considering his track record over the last few months. 

June 14 + 21 days or more + another 21 days or more = not a whole lot of summer left for having that supposedly great summer.

Ok, so even if we get there on the minimum timeframe given, the CNE isn't going to be reinstated on three weeks notice.  The Labour Day parade isn't going to be reinstated with three weeks notice, same for everything else that's been cancelled.  In theory, the last part of the summer could be great if there's anything that can be put back on.  If everything goes to plan.  If anything can be put together in a hurry.  If, if, those are some very big ifs there.  So the summer's de facto toast.

Personally, for me, football got cancelled back in April.  There was some talk of doing a compressed season in the last part of the summer but that idea got thrown out for a bunch of reasons, mostly due to conflicting with possible university sports and that organization, teams getting enough players, getting practiced to be able to play safely wouldn't be possible.  The idea of doing a couple of exhibition games got bounced around and that might be possible if there are no surprises and the timeline given doesn't start slipping, but the odds are slim.  The same problems exist with respect to getting organized, getting enough players, getting practiced enough to play safely in the time available as with the partial season idea.  None of that is a small problem given the whole thing's been shut down since the end of the 2019 season.

For me, trolley museum stuff has a big one word problem in the way: border.  Nothing's in sight regarding that.  Many of my American friends are planning their annual trip to San Francisco and the Rio Vista museum in August that they do every year apart from 2020 because they're allowed to have their lives back.  We aren't.

That's it.  The two big summer things for me are in the dumpster again pretty much no matter what.  I hope the rest of you have better luck with it.

 

[Benton Harper]

You're forgetting the pair out west in BC and Alberta, though with Ottawa in charge of our open borders, national defence and approving/acquiring vaccines, not sure how much the provinces could do (besides being Justin's fall guys), or do differently.  Of course, taking our marching orders from China/WHO via comrade doctor Tam limits our options 

[pccstreetcar4549]

23 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

June 14 + 21 days or more + another 21 days or more = not a whole lot of summer left for having that supposedly great summer.

Ok, so even if we get there on the minimum timeframe given, the CNE isn't going to be reinstated on three weeks notice.  The Labour Day parade isn't going to be reinstated with three weeks notice, same for everything else that's been cancelled.  In theory, the last part of the summer could be great if there's anything that can be put back on.  If everything goes to plan.  If anything can be put together in a hurry.  If, if, those are some very big ifs there.  So the summer's de facto toast.

Personally, for me, football got cancelled back in April.  There was some talk of doing a compressed season in the last part of the summer but that idea got thrown out for a bunch of reasons, mostly due to conflicting with possible university sports and that organization, teams getting enough players, getting practiced to be able to play safely wouldn't be possible.  The idea of doing a couple of exhibition games got bounced around and that might be possible if there are no surprises and the timeline given doesn't start slipping, but the odds are slim.  The same problems exist with respect to getting organized, getting enough players, getting practiced enough to play safely in the time available as with the partial season idea.  None of that is a small problem given the whole thing's been shut down since the end of the 2019 season.

For me, trolley museum stuff has a big one word problem in the way: border.  Nothing's in sight regarding that.  Many of my American friends are planning their annual trip to San Francisco and the Rio Vista museum in August that they do every year apart from 2020 because they're allowed to have their lives back.  We aren't.

That's it.  The two big summer things for me are in the dumpster again pretty much no matter what.  I hope the rest of you have better luck with it.

 

amongst other things, i enjoy going to see shows in stratford,  they had annouced they are planning to  do productions in a tent this year  (which ironically is how they got their start) but they just annouced a delay in  selling tickets, my guess is they dont want to sell tickets untill they know for sure,IF they can open

[Wayside Observer]

Rupa Subramanya: B.C. cruise ship debacle reveals the abject failure of the Canadian government to plan  (alternate link)

The headline's a bit of a mouthful there but the article itself is quite good and covers a lot of territory about how our government being shortsighted and completely unreasonable and playing cheap politics with the pandemic is causing undesirable results in many different ways.  This comes as no surprise to anybody, of course, except for the idiot politicians responsible for creating these messes in the first place.

Then there's the collection of:

CBC:    Midweek podcast: Canadians' trust in political institutions is dwindling, says survey

BNN Bloomberg:  Public trust in politicians, big business fell amid COVID-19: Survey

And others along similar lines.  Pretty much every media outlet out there reported on that regardless of position on the political spectrum and the survey itself looks pretty solid if not outright stating the obvious.  I mean, given how badly things have been handled, nobody can be surprised at the findings, right?

Two things.  There are two things I want right now.  By 5:00 PM today at the latest.  But ideally right now:

1)  I want my life back.

2)  I want the people who are, regrettably, in charge to stop fucking up in every way possible.

That's it.  Just a small request.  Thank you.

[GTAmissions1]

Just received my first dose of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine at a public health vaccination site. Receiving a copy of the vaccination in both print and email. Better to get both digital and hard copies in case you lose one, you still have the other one available if proof of the first dose administered to receive the second dose is required.

Barley felt the needle and no side effects currently. They do give a special info sheet with contact info if a reaction occurs. 

I decided to get it right now than wait down the road since it takes time to build full effectiveness with the two doses. Especially if proof of vaccination is required for special events or circumstances like travelling. On top of how loosening restrictions is tied to vaccinations with the first and second doses. 

[T3G]

In the on-going, never ending saga of piss poor communication...

Yesterday I came into work and I found that the managers were clearing up the spaces we used to stage customer orders during lockdown. I asked what was going on and I was told that apparently there was some kind of media thing sent out teasing that we could be allowed to reopen as of Monday if cases keep going down. I have no idea where this was said, I saw no such article in the news at any point and according to this one: Ontario step closer to reopening plan as COVID-19 stay-at-home order set to end

Quote

“There are a variety of factors that need to be considered, but we are certainly looking at June 14 as being the date when we can move into stage one,” Elliott told reporters on May 31, reiterating a previously issued timeframe.

I really don't know what's going on here at this point. Is our store management being issued internal information that us average joes are not important enough to know about despite it heavily affecting our work? Or is this them "planning" like when I try to plan for a trip overseas that will never come?

Of course, while I was trying to find any information, I did find the regularly scheduled weekly feature about how despite us having one of the most widespread vaccine rollouts of any country, meaningful life experiences continue to be every bit as unattainable as they were in March of 2020. What is the point of announcing this every week?

[Wayside Observer]

20 hours ago, GTAmissions1 said:

Just received my first dose of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine at a public health vaccination site. Receiving a copy of the vaccination in both print and email. Better to get both digital and hard copies in case you lose one, you still have the other one available if proof of the first dose administered to receive the second dose is required.

Barley felt the needle and no side effects currently. They do give a special info sheet with contact info if a reaction occurs. 

I decided to get it right now than wait down the road since it takes time to build full effectiveness with the two doses. Especially if proof of vaccination is required for special events or circumstances like travelling. On top of how loosening restrictions is tied to vaccinations with the first and second doses. 

It's an interesting situation.  Getting vaccinated is "voluntary" but if not enough people step up, reopening stops dead in its tracks according to this plan.  I was going to ask what the contingency plan is if vaccine hesitancy + unable to get vaccinated means the total percentage of people getting shot up tops out a couple points shy of where they've decided the water mark is?  Except after 15 months of watching the various governments here lurch around like a newbie driving a manual transmission, I know not to bother asking what the contingency plan is because there is none.  There have never been any so why would they start now?

Hopefully you don't have any side effects.  That's actually what's holding me up right now are the possibility of side effects plus I'm in the middle of a shift rotation.  I've had two baby boomer nag phone calls in the last 10 days asking me if I've gotten vaccinated yet.  I have to keep reminding them that as an essential services worker at the lower end of the age spectrum, vaccine was off limits until fairly recently and that I don't want to get vaccinated while I'm on shift because if I end up feeling crappy a day or two after, calling out of work is a major problem because we only roster one person after hours.  There's no one to cover for it without making someone work a double shift or dragging someone in from home on their day off.  It's something we all try to avoid at work if possible.  So I'm waiting to spin around to Monday-Friday dayshift first when being down a person isn't painful if it happens.

7 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

In the on-going, never ending saga of piss poor communication...

Yesterday I came into work and I found that the managers were clearing up the spaces we used to stage customer orders during lockdown. I asked what was going on and I was told that apparently there was some kind of media thing sent out teasing that we could be allowed to reopen as of Monday if cases keep going down. I have no idea where this was said, I saw no such article in the news at any point and according to this one: Ontario step closer to reopening plan as COVID-19 stay-at-home order set to end

I really don't know what's going on here at this point. Is our store management being issued internal information that us average joes are not important enough to know about despite it heavily affecting our work? Or is this them "planning" like when I try to plan for a trip overseas that will never come?

Piss poor communication.  One of my friends is a radio/TV/mass communications professor down at Niagara College.  We were foolishly making plans back in March of this year to get together at my place at the end of the stay at home order for a barbecue and to do some audio stuff since I've got the big bad workshop in my basement except it's been kicked down the road constantly by the shifting end dates on that.  I really want to hear his thoughts on how the governments' communication strategy over the last 15 months.

I have a bizarre space reallocation at work story too.  My place has blocked off some unused space on the ground floor not too far from one of the doors to rapid test employees assigned to a couple of other departments.  They're hoping to scale that up to everyone by the end of the summer.  I have not been able to find anything about whether this is mandatory or not for the people in the departments affected or if it's going to be mandatory for everyone if/when it gets scaled up.

But why even bother now?  A lot of people have been vaccinated now and it'll be pretty much everyone by the end of the summer when they hope to scale that up to all employees.  It isn't really needed anymore.  It was needed a year ago when nobody was vaccinated.  Except a year ago, all we heard about rapid tests out of the government was that they weren't good enough compared to the full blown test because apparently if you can't open both eyes, it's better to wander around completely blind than see with only one eye open.

 

Quote

Of course, while I was trying to find any information, I did find the regularly scheduled weekly feature about how despite us having one of the most widespread vaccine rollouts of any country, meaningful life experiences continue to be every bit as unattainable as they were in March of 2020. What is the point of announcing this every week?

Yes, the moving goalposts.  PCR tests.  Rapid tests.  Vaccines.  Tons of vaccines.  Tons of vaccines that have incredibly high efficacy rates.  No matter what tools come along that could make life better and more normal again, the first thing out of the people in charge is how none of it's good enough so we have to continue over restricting everything.

Travel?  Now's not the time to travel.

Unless you're involved with championship NHL hockey teams.

Unless you're Trudeau, Christia Freeland and their entourage.  They're going to Cornwall.  No, they're not cruising down the 416 from Ottawa and along the 401 to the town on the side of the St. Lawrence River, they're going to the real Cornwall.  The one in England.  Penzance.  Land's End.  That Cornwall.  I've been reading articles about this upcoming junket for the last few days.  Honestly, the only good thing I can see coming out of these hypocritical jerks going in person is that Boris Johnson's pushing for some kind of vaccine passport + orderly restart of travel within the G7 block.  Plus, Biden's going to be there so I'm sure the issue of the Canada-US border specifically within the G7 block is going to be raised with Trudeau and between the two, I really hope the in person pressure causes Trudeau to start moving on real issues instead of playing cheap domestic politics at home.  Of course, Trudeau, Freeland and the rest of the entourage could insist on continuing with that which means Canada's going to continue to be in junior partner status at the kid's table in the G7 bloc while the rest of the adults get on with things.

Personally, I think it's several months late for Trudeau to be going to the UK.  He should've been locked up in a shitty bed and breakfast in Skegness in the middle of February and left there.

Meaningful life experiences.  All my American friends are having them.  They think Canada's insane.  One of my football teammates packed up and left Canada a few months ago, practiced with a team in the Netherlands and is playing, actually playing, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.  The Americans think what's going on here is insane.  The dutch think what's going on here is insane.  The Ukranians he's playing with think what's going on here is insane after hearing about the situation we're being forced to endure here.

I'm going to have to edit this post to add a picture I took last night on my phone.  It was a beautiful evening, I finished putting out about half a dozen fires at work and things quietened down, and I took a long walk over an extended lunch break to pound some stress off and ended up near the Canada Post sorting plant/Air Canada Centre/Scotiabank Arena and decided to head down there just to see what was going on outside which wasn't a whole lot.  The total police presence was roughly the same headcount as the total made up of media covering the game outside and a handful of people that were there.  Some of them brought a couple of signs and one of them really made the point well so I took a picture which I'll edit to attach in a few minutes:

It had to be said.  There's a lot of food for thought about how select high dollar professional circuses and political junkets and fat wallet exemptions and loopholes that the wealthy are financially privileged to be able to afford to exploit meanwhile you're ordinary, average everyday person has been shafted left right and centre for almost a year and a half with no end in sign with the constant whatever it is, it's never good enough to let us have our lives back routine out of the government.  And kids have gotten completely creamed every way you look at it.  The least Trudeau can do after this debacle is get out his chequebook and pay all of the children and youth sports league fees for the next two years so parents can put their kids back in sports without taking a bath on the costs once it's possible again.  If it's ever allowed again.

[Wayside Observer]

Things have been looking up lately.  Things have maybe been looking up a little too much lately.

Luckily, the Toronto Star has poured some cold water on that this morning:

Another wave of COVID-19 for Ontario? A concerning new variant is threatening to take hold, data shows  (alternate link)

Oh brother.  Here we go, softpedalling a fourth wave projected to take place right on time after our 'great summer' of lots of vaccinations that amounts to a hill of beans because the summer got cancelled back in the spring and none of it's being reinstated.

Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, said it’s not a question of if, but rather when the new variant takes over. But to find out when exactly — whether it will become dominant by the end of the summer, or earlier — the province needs better data, he said.

“My belief is that B.1.617 is going to be the story for the fall. And the question is, where are we with vaccinations? Because a fourth wave, if we have one, will be B.1.617 among people not yet vaccinated,” Furness said, adding he is particularly concerned about what will happen with a return to in-person learning in September if children aren’t yet vaccinated.

“Vaccinations are great, but the fact of the matter is, if you get a really high viral dose, that’s what puts you at risk,” he said. “Being up close to your kids is going to be risky for parents, grandparents and teachers for that matter. I think the sooner we can start vaccinating kids under 12, it won’t be a moment too soon.”

Here we go.  Right there.  There's the preamble leading up to it and then the prizewinner in that part I've excerpted above:  "Vaccines are great but the fact of the matter is..."  That's it.  The goalposts just got moved again.  If that's the thinking in the government and advisory bodies, everything we've been hearing about getting back to normal based on passing various vaccination milestones is now in the process of being thrown out the window.

He might as well have said, "Bubble wrap is great but the fact of the matter is" after saying we can resume driving once 75% of pedestrians are bundled up in their first 10 layers and waiting to get their next 10 before announcing that we still have to restrict car use.

[tomsbuspage]

Ottawa Citizen: COVID-19: Ontario schools to remain closed for in-person learning until fall; Ottawa reports 42 new cases

Great.  Just great.

Our spineless premier caved to his scared-sh*tless advisors and is keeping schools across the province closed despite pediatricians screaming that children need in-class learning to resume immediately for their mental well-being.  Because eleven Canadian children have died of COVID since the pandemic began, 2 1/2 million kids in the province and their parents have to suffer through online learning until September.  According to the e-mail I got from our school board, that includes school-age before- and after-school child care as well.  They're basically saying, our kids' minds are f*cked anyway, why not go all-in and crush the rest of the school year?

My nine-year-old daughter is doing relatively well with online learning, but my seven-year-old daughter is completely disengaged most of the time and not doing her assignments, and I'm really concerned about her learning.  I'm glad my two-year-old son isn't in school yet but even he's suffering from a lack of socialisation because all the playgroups are closed or online.  IMHO, remote learning is a complete failure for young children and I hope that the premier turns things around soon or else there's going to be hell to pay from angry parents across the province.

[T3G]

Not to worry, there's a possibility we've traded the well being of children off for the chance for old men who haven't brushed their teeth since 1986 to return their broken lawn mowers and screws to hardware stores.

https://www.680news.com/2021/06/02/ford-cabinet-to-discuss-potential-faster-economic-reopening/

These people should not be trusted with a game of the Sims.

 

[Enviro_1203]

Recent comments have been hidden. There is to be no “conspiracy” type discussions. Any further issues will be dealt with promptly, without mercy.

[T3G]

[TechSpotlight]

On 6/2/2021 at 12:00 PM, tomsbuspage said:

My nine-year-old daughter is doing relatively well with online learning, but my seven-year-old daughter is completely disengaged most of the time and not doing her assignments, and I'm really concerned about her learning.  I'm glad my two-year-old son isn't in school yet but even he's suffering from a lack of socialisation because all the playgroups are closed or online.  IMHO, remote learning is a complete failure for young children and I hope that the premier turns things around soon or else there's going to be hell to pay from angry parents across the province.

As a high school student myself, I have mixed emotions about online learning.  In Alberta, we were online for a bit of November/December of last year, as well as most of April and May of this year.  

Mind you, doing online tests and stuff is relatively easy since *technically* you can just have your notes open and/or use online resources while you do the test.  Honestly, though, besides that it is really difficult to learn online.  Not sure why, but I believe it's because of the lack of teacher support/help/motivation.

In general, many students believe that online school is just a free pass to just do whatever you want (and at times, I am guilty of this exact same thing).  But as you go on, and are behind on your courses, you soon realize that you fucked up and should have kept up.  It's too bad, because some students who need that sort of motivation from their teachers and classmates, well, dont have it during this time.  Online school definetely isnt for everyone, that's for sure.  I am glad my University next year is in person!

But let's be real, I do agree that online learning for elementary schoolers is more of a pain in the ass than anything else.  Again, bringing up the whole ideology that "I can do whatever I want during online school" is likely multiplied in younger children.  When they're not engaged while learning fundamental principles, I can see how that might be scary as that could affect them in the future.

[green_line_26]

42 minutes ago, TechSpotlight said:

As a high school student myself, I have mixed emotions about online learning.  In Alberta, we were online for a bit of November/December of last year, as well as most of April and May of this year.  

Mind you, doing online tests and stuff is relatively easy since *technically* you can just have your notes open and/or use online resources while you do the test.  Honestly, though, besides that it is really difficult to learn online.  Not sure why, but I believe it's because of the lack of teacher support/help/motivation.

In general, many students believe that online school is just a free pass to just do whatever you want (and at times, I am guilty of this exact same thing).  But as you go on, and are behind on your courses, you soon realize that you fucked up and should have kept up.  It's too bad, because some students who need that sort of motivation from their teachers and classmates, well, dont have it during this time.  Online school definetely isnt for everyone, that's for sure.  I am glad my University next year is in person!

But let's be real, I do agree that online learning for elementary schoolers is more of a pain in the ass than anything else.  Again, bringing up the whole ideology that "I can do whatever I want during online school" is likely multiplied in younger children.  When they're not engaged while learning fundamental principles, I can see how that might be scary as that could affect them in the future.

100% agree. Switching back and forth to online has been really hard on me, why do my coursework when CPTDB is right there? but at school I've got much more motivation to get my work done. I feel more bad for my younger sister though, elementary schoolers love to run around and yell at other kids and sitting at home staring into a laptop is not engaging for them at all.