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

[T3G]

17 minutes ago, Wayside Observer said:

So what prompted looking all of a sudden?  I stopped at Tim Hortons while I was doing errands today and the first employee I saw was wearing regular glasses. 

That would make slightly more sense, if the assumption you're starting from is that loose fitting goggles are supposed to somehow block an extremely contagious airborne virus. We have to wear them even if we have glasses though. It's twice as useless.

I'm told it also has to do with contact tracing. Apparently, if you wear the glasses and interact with someone who ends up testing positive, you need to just self-monitor for symptoms, but if you don't, you're considered a close contact and have to quarantine for 14 days. Imagine having the stones to tell someone sick in bed with COVID, or worse, hospitalized with it, that they'd have been safer if they'd just worn a pair of loose fitted goggles. The very idea should be shocking to anyone with a conscience.

[Wayside Observer]

14 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

That would make slightly more sense, if the assumption you're starting from is that loose fitting goggles are supposed to somehow block an extremely contagious airborne virus. We have to wear them even if we have glasses though. It's twice as useless.

I'm told it also has to do with contact tracing. Apparently, if you wear the glasses and interact with someone who ends up testing positive, you need to just self-monitor for symptoms, but if you don't, you're considered a close contact and have to quarantine for 14 days. Imagine having the stones to tell someone sick in bed with COVID, or worse, hospitalized with it, that they'd have been safer if they'd just worn a pair of loose fitted goggles. The very idea should be shocking to anyone with a conscience.

That’s insane.

At the rate we’re going, they’ll be mandating a minimum of five layers of bubble wrap on top of a full hazmat suit right around the same time the population of Canada reaches full vaccination because yeah, right?

Theres no sign of that yet here though.  We have safety glasses and goggles for actual honest to goodness work where there are safety hazards but there hasn’t been anything said about expanding that to everything, everywhere, all the time.

It got to the point where I was tweaking people doing screening if they got snotty about it just to poke fun at how absurd everything has gotten.

”Any travel?”

Yes, I just drove all the way back from work.

”Any exposure?”

Yes, lead, mercury, cadmium, other heavy metal neurotoxins, PCBs and other endocrine system disrupting carcinogens.  But we don’t care about that stuff.  Sniffles?  No sniffles.  But I can do a trifecta of cleaning circuit boards, causing cancer, and punching a hole in the ozone layer all at the same time.  How cool is that!  Shucks, I hope I’m not tracking too much of that bad stuff in here on my boots and clothes Hahahaha.

I think the best one was last summer at a farmer’s market out in the country and they were going off on everybody about respiratory problems while the lawn next to the parking lot and store was being cut by someone on a ride around lawnmower.  Yes.  Of course.  With that going on over there, everyone in line’s going to be wheezing and sneezing!

[Wayside Observer]

(1)  The guy I've been paired up with for the duration of the pandemic who works at the bench next to me has been MIA since Monday afternoon.

(2)  The guy alternated between his bench, next to mine, and the meeting room while we were on shift on Monday.

(3)  The co-ordinator has been very cagey about why he can't assign the guy any work and hasn't acknowledged that he isn't here, as if I'm not supposed to notice the guy next to me that I'm paired up with, is missing.

(4)  I got stuck working late yesterday so I was around after hours plus the afternoon shift guy was here.  A cleaner with a full head to toe, tank strapped to his back, long tube sprayer in hand total "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" outfit shows up asking about various room numbers on a you know what disinfection work order.  The afternoon shift guy and I have to vacate because one of those room numbers is the main room and the other was the meeting room.

I've have heard nothing from anybody so I've been left alone in essential services worker limbo-land to form my own conclusions while I carry the workload by myself.

That's it.  There it is, essential services worker ca. 2020-2021.  Go to work.  Risk your own health keeping the part of the civilized world you're tasked with running for the benefit of stay at home laptop warriors and retirees.  Don't see your family.  Don't see your friends.  Don't get your hair cut.  Don't do any of your activities.  Get in line last for a vaccine.  But keep going to work.  Hope whatever happened to the guy next to you doesn't take you out too.

[tomsbuspage]

National Post: Trudeau tests negative for COVID, exits hotel quarantine in Ottawa after 12 hours

I'm just going to leave the link here and allow folks to draw their own conclusions.

[9924]

2 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

National Post: Trudeau tests negative for COVID, exits hotel quarantine in Ottawa after 12 hours

I'm just going to leave the link here and allow folks to draw their own conclusions.

The conclusion is simple:  The rule is that you must remain in an approved quarantine hotel until you receive a negative Covid test upon your arrival, once you're negative, you're free to spend the remainder of your isolation at home.  He's not the only one who's ever gotten a speedy test result.

[Wayside Observer]

13 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

National Post: Trudeau tests negative for COVID, exits hotel quarantine in Ottawa after 12 hours

I'm just going to leave the link here and allow folks to draw their own conclusions.

The conclusion I've drawn is this:  Trudeau should not have been in any quarantine hotel because if "now is not the time to travel", as he is fond of saying, he should not have gone in person and teleconferenced it.

Dump the virtue signalling.  Dump the hypocrisy.  Dump the cheap electioneering politics.  Lead by example.  If he wants to jet around the world and hobnob at public expense, come up with that plan we've all been waiting for, for a way out for all of us, and execute it.

[GTAmissions1]

Three more districts in Ontario accelerated due to the Delta variant which is the Indian strain. Bringing the total public health unit hotspots to 10. June 23rd is the earliest date for the three new areas (Hamilton, Simcoe Muskoka and Durham Regions) if the first shot was administered by May 30th.

My case which my first shot was administered a day later, I can book an earlier appointment on June 28th.

I look more forward to when we don't have to physical distance or wear masks. I think some people literally like to repeat themselves over it. 

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-expands-eligibility-for-second-doses-promises-new-rules-coming-very-shortly-for-vaccinated-people-1.5474147

 

[81-717]

20 hours ago, 9924 said:

The conclusion is simple:  The rule is that you must remain in an approved quarantine hotel until you receive a negative Covid test upon your arrival, once you're negative, you're free to spend the remainder of your isolation at home.  He's not the only one who's ever gotten a speedy test result.

If one gets a negative test result while in the hotel jail, they should immediately be set free without having to isolate at home. Only if one tests positive while at the hotel jail does it make any kind of sense for them to have to isolate at home upon their release from the hotel jail (and being locked up in there can very well be the reason for it – who the hell thought locking up people in isolation together is safer than letting them isolate in the comfort of their own home !?). Here's a better idea: scrap the hotel bs, have unvaccinated travelers isolate at home until they get a negative test result (no more, no less), then set them free. And let fully vaccinated travelers travel freely with no restrictions.

[tomsbuspage]

55 minutes ago, 81-717 said:

Here's a better idea: scrap the hotel bs, have unvaccinated travelers isolate at home until they get a negative test result (no more, no less), then set them free.

I totally agree with scrapping the traveller jails mandatory hotel stays as they are completely ineffective at stopping the spread of this disease.  The federal government began imposing the hotel quarantines in February 2021, well before the Delta variant began ravaging India in April.  Guess what?  The Delta variant is here and is expected to become the dominant strain in Peel Region within a month, and it has been detected here in Ottawa as well.

However, I don't agree with setting travellers free after their first test, because there have been documented cases of people being paroled leaving the hotels after receiving their first test, only to test positive a week later after their families have spread the disease after resuming their normal lives.  I would still have the travellers get tested twice at home, and if they get two negative tests several days apart, then they should be allowed to end their quarantines.  Of course, fully-vaccinated travellers should be allowed to enter the country without any restrictions aside from getting tested on arrival and self-monitoring for symptoms.

[Wayside Observer]

On 6/13/2021 at 5:43 PM, PCC Guy said:

I'm told it also has to do with contact tracing. Apparently, if you wear the glasses and interact with someone who ends up testing positive, you need to just self-monitor for symptoms, but if you don't, you're considered a close contact and have to quarantine for 14 days. Imagine having the stones to tell someone sick in bed with COVID, or worse, hospitalized with it, that they'd have been safer if they'd just worn a pair of loose fitted goggles. The very idea should be shocking to anyone with a conscience.

It's Friday.  Right now that's very important because I'm a burned out wreck and I want to go home and sleep without having to set the alarm clock.

Anyways, I can assure you, at no point during the last week since the Tuesday afternoon thing have I ever thought I'd have been better off if I'd been wearing a pair of frigging goggles on Monday while that co-worker next to me was here.

He's still MIA and still nothing has been said to any of us.  Every day at shift change the afternoon guy comes in and asks me if there's any update.  Every day I tell him no, nothing, I haven't heard anything.  At least I live alone so there's no risks at home.  He's got a wife and kids at home, and he takes care of his mother and he's worried about them.  In the meantime, if either of us did get exposed and are dangerous, we've been all over the building in the normal course of duties since then so I don't know.

For the record, physically, I feel fine and if that continues for a few more days, I'm probably out of the woods.  Mentally, I'm exhausted past the point of fatigue.  It's been a long, wearing year and a half.  I've never minded living alone but living alone and being cut off from absolutely everything I enjoy and care about for a year and a half and counting with no end in sight has worn me out and I've been a wreck since Tuesday.  Wednesday, when I got home, I discovered that I pushed the front door most of the way closed about a quarter or half an inch left and forgot to lock it.  The side door was fully closed but not locked.  At least when I left through the back door, I closed and locked that one before jumping in the truck and headed to work.  This morning I got to work, didn't have my building passcards, went back to the parking lot, turned the truck inside out, went back in and got signed in at security and then discovered that I left them on my bench absentmindedly when I left last night.

My plan for the weekend is to relax, take it easy, not do much of anything and just rest.  I need it.

[Bus_Medic]

Ironically, the pharmacy that administered my first dose contacted me out of the blue with an appointment for a second.

Monday, 3:30 for a shot of moderna. I’ll be mixing n matching after all.

[TTC103]

Entire family is now fully vaccinated. Had to spend a few hours refreshing the provincial booking page to get good appointments, but it was worth it.

Still have to quarantine for at least 5 days when I move to the Netherlands this summer. Vaccination progress is slower there.

[captaintrolley]

1 hour ago, TTC103 said:

Entire family is now fully vaccinated. Had to spend a few hours refreshing the provincial booking page to get good appointments, but it was worth it.

Still have to quarantine for at least 5 days when I move to the Netherlands this summer. Vaccination progress is slower there.

The Netherlands is beautiful, some great architecture there !!!  My parents are from there Enjoy your stay.

[T3G]

Speaking of vaccination progress, Slovakia's has just sputtered to a halt at 35% and they've all but promised that there's going to be another lockdown this fall. Already, someone from Canada, despite being fully vaccinated, isn't allowed to enter without quarantine unless they have a work permit, and they're threatening to tighten up travel restrictions even more.

This was supposed to be the end of it. I don't know how much more of this I can take. If they can't force enough of the population to get vaccinated, am I just never going to have the chance to get out of here ever again? Is Slovakia going to lockdown like clockwork, every September - May, from now until the end of time?

[TTC103]

26 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

Speaking of vaccination progress, Slovakia's has just sputtered to a halt at 35% and they've all but promised that there's going to be another lockdown this fall. Already, someone from Canada, despite being fully vaccinated, isn't allowed to enter without quarantine unless they have a work permit, and they're threatening to tighten up travel restrictions even more.

This was supposed to be the end of it. I don't know how much more of this I can take. If they can't force enough of the population to get vaccinated, am I just never going to have the chance to get out of here ever again? Is Slovakia going to lockdown like clockwork, every September - May, from now until the end of time?

Do you have Slovakian (or other EU) citizenship? If so, you would be entitled to enter with that. I’m able to enter the Netherlands because I have EU citizenship. Non-EU citizens are still not allowed to enter without a permit.

[T3G]

7 minutes ago, TTC103 said:

Do you have Slovakian (or other EU) citizenship? If so, you would be entitled to enter with that. I’m able to enter the Netherlands because I have EU citizenship. Non-EU citizens are still not allowed to enter without a permit.

I do have a citizenship, but it doesn't entitle me to enter without skipping the quarantine, even if I was to be fully vaccinated. I thought I misread the terms so I asked my parents, who have been speaking the language for 45+ years, to confirm, and they sadly said that my interpretation is correct. Some random Canadian who is fully vaccinated who gets a work permit there gets to sail right by.

[TTC103]

15 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

I do have a citizenship, but it doesn't entitle me to enter without skipping the quarantine, even if I was to be fully vaccinated. I thought I misread the terms so I asked my parents, who have been speaking the language for 45+ years, to confirm, and they sadly said that my interpretation is correct. Some random Canadian who is fully vaccinated who gets a work permit there gets to sail right by.

Guess you’ll have to wait for Canada to be designated as a safe region.

[Wayside Observer]

Remember how Trudeau et. al. said that 75% of Canadians needed to be given their first shots and 20% fully vaccinated before travel could begin resuming?  This is a Canadian Press article that was carried in the National Post yesterday:

Twenty per cent of eligible Canadians fully vaccinated, meeting federal target: data  (alternate link)

There's no way, with all the people working on it, the federal government didn't know we were about to tick over that threshold on Saturday.  No wonder they rushed out the announcement that the Canada-US border was going to stay closed another month on Friday before the restriction would have lapsed on Monday and while those criteria were still unmet in this CBC article:

Restrictions at U.S. border to remain in place until end of July, Blair says

That press conference tomorrow is going to be interesting.  They can't say that everything has to stay closed because we're not at the 75+20% partial and full vaccination thershold yet when that was cleared yesterday and every vaccine administered since Saturday only increases the safety margin.  My bet is that the goal posts are going to be moved again tomorrow because it's already being softpedalled - look at these excerpts from the two articles:

Here's the last paragraph of the CBC's article:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that 75 per cent of Canadians would have to be vaccinated before restrictions could be lifted. To that condition, Trudeau also added the caveat that the outbreak needs to be at a stage where minor flare-ups can be handled without the risk of wider spread.

Now Trudeau's adding caveats, now that the 75% threshold became attainable and then got met a day later?  And how do you quantify that one anyways?  There's no way to know when you've gotten "there" when "there" is unspecified.  That new caveat is totally undefined and open ended.

From the CP story that the National Post carried:

But chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said those models didn’t include the highly contagious Delta variant, which she said surged by 66 per cent over the past week.

So now you tell us that once the 75+20% threshold's been met?  Not in the weeks leading up to it while the D variants been in heavy discussion, but only right at the moment Canadians get across what they've been saying is the vaccine goal line?  Since she brought up the models not taking into account that variant, they did re-run them with the D variant factored in sometime since it emerged as a problem to get a better understanding of the situation since it changed, right?  What were the results and what do the results imply?  Nothing was said about that, so once again, it's undefined and open ended.

That's why I'm really suspicious we're about to see the goalposts get moved again tomorrow at that travel press conference they've got scheduled.  I really hope our media stops lobbing softballs at these clowns and starts asking some seriously tough questions because this garbage has gone on for far too long with no accountability.  To move the goalposts on Monday, two days after Canadians get across the vaccination goal line, would be disgusting.  I really don't want to hear someone from the government come out and say that's not a touchdown, we moved the goalposts during the last play, that's not a touchdown, look over there, we moved the end zone over there, you thought you got a touchdown but you didn't get a touchdown, better get back in the huddle and line it up and try again.

Honestly, if you promise the kids ice cream cone if they mow the lawn and they go out and cut the grass, then you give a cheap excuse when the come back in about why they're not getting ice cream cones even though they cut the grass and then pull the same stunt next weekend when the lawn needs to be mowed again and do that once or twice more, they're not going to believe you anymore.  This is something the politicians need to remember a year and a half in when people are seriously sick and tired of this.

I know I'm so sick and tired of this bullshit.  I've had enough.  I have no idea what Bill Blair is going to be dropping on us on behalf of Trudeau tomorrow but it better be fucking good, like a fully fleshed out plan with projected dates and specifically defined metrics.  In other words, the absolute bare minimum.

[81-717]

To be fair, it's important to keep in mind that Canada's population is now at 38 million rather than 30 million, so 20% would have to be 7.6 million people, whereas we are currently at about 6.8 million, so technically we haven't yet reached the 75% and 20% milestone (unless the percentages were with respect to only a segment of the population above a certain age (the minimum age currently eligible for vaccines), rather than the whole population?). I am by no means supporting or defending the endless moving of goalposts, I am every bit as sick & tired of it as everyone else is, I'm just saying that it just might be a bit too soon to say the goalposts are being shifted yet again (one can only hope they won't be). I got my first dose of Pfizer on Thursday, and currently have my second scheduled for the beginning of October. In the near future I will see if I can reschedule to get my second sooner, in 2–3 weeks like it's supposed to be (after the 28th, probably).

[Nick B]

1 hour ago, 81-717 said:

(unless the percentages were with respect to only a segment of the population above a certain age (the minimum age currently eligible for vaccines), rather than the whole population?)

Correct.

[T3G]

2 hours ago, TTC103 said:

Guess you’ll have to wait for Canada to be designated as a safe region.

I think at our rate of going we should be considered a safe nation for travel by the end of summer, or, right in time for Slovakia to plunge into another lockdown.

It's real rough. It would be one thing if progress was held up by a lack of supply, but at this point anyone who wants the vaccine can get one, it's the conspiracy theorists and covid truthers who are holding everyone back. 

[Wayside Observer]

1 hour ago, 81-717 said:

To be fair, it's important to keep in mind that Canada's population is now at 38 million rather than 30 million, so 20% would have to be 7.6 million people, whereas we are currently at about 6.8 million, so technically we haven't yet reached the 75% and 20% milestone (unless the percentages were with respect to only a segment of the population above a certain age (the minimum age currently eligible for vaccines), rather than the whole population?). I am by no means supporting or defending the endless moving of goalposts, I am every bit as sick & tired of it as everyone else is, I'm just saying that it just might be a bit too soon to say the goalposts are being shifted yet again (one can only hope they won't be). I got my first dose of Pfizer on Thursday, and currently have my second scheduled for the beginning of October. In the near future I will see if I can reschedule to get my second sooner, in 2–3 weeks like it's supposed to be (after the 28th, probably).

You raise a good point.  The Canadian Press article specifically says that we've now passed 75+20% partial and full vaccination of the eligible population.  It would be less than that for total population but it won't be that far away since we're not talking a huge number of people under the age of 12 so that milestone's coming up in a few weeks.

Either way, it raises the issue of how vague the government's been the whole time.  It's never been clear to me from everything I've read whether it's 75+20% of the overall population or 75+20% of the eligible population.  If it's the eligible population, we're there.  If there's a small discrepency in the numbers and it wasn't yesterday, it'll be today or tomorrow, definitely by mid-week.  If it's changed from eligible to whole population, then the goalposts got moved and everyone's being punished for people who can't be vaccinated not being vaccinated.  If it's changed from 75+20% of whatever to a different set of percentages, not only have the goalposts been completely changed, they haven't even told us yet.  Who knows, maybe those are goodies waiting for us tomorrow?  We'll know in 24 hours.

I strongly disagree with the way the government's been handling communications.  A year ago or more, when there was far more uncertainty, not having a plan or a range of tentative plans framed for differing scenarios might have been more excusable but the continued reluctance to lay out specifics (Is that 75+20% of the eligible population or the whole population?) or more than one step of a plan at a time (...and then?  ...and then?  ...and then?  ...and then? as we've done ad-nauseum) or even being willing to make a plan (How can we even start talking about making a plan to eventually do something about the border some day?) has become less and less acceptable the more and more vaccines have rolled out.  Unlike the United States, our government still hasn't given out any guidance for what fully vaccinated Canadians can do.  That, according to Canadian Press, is now 20% of the population who can be vaccinated so we're not talking about a trivial number of a handful of people.  Our government's communication is either absent or purposefully vague, and seriously lags behind progress being made.

As I said earlier, whatever they drop tomorrow had better be fucking good.  I consider the bare minimum to be a detailed plan with each step outlined, with criteria specified, with projected dates attached, and a couple of the more likely contingencies outlined.  If some parliament hill staffer has to spend the weekend flogging Microsoft Project and PowerPoint on a work from home laptop to put together tomorrow's presentation, so be it.

20 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

It's real rough. It would be one thing if progress was held up by a lack of supply, but at this point anyone who wants the vaccine can get one, it's the conspiracy theorists and covid truthers who are holding everyone back. 

It reminds me of the old joke about consultants:  If there isn't good money to be made solving a problem, there's good money to be made prolonging it.

At this point, with the undeniable numbers of vaccines administered and the undeniable firm delivery schedule for more doses and the undeniable reduction in case counts and undeniable reduction in emergency medical accommodation, it's pretty clear we're getting into prolonging it territory.  Trudeau keeps saying better times are around the corner.  Based on all that, better times should be here now or be pretty damn handful-of-weeks-away imminent.  The problem is when ever Trudeau says that, there's always some gotcha obstacle thrown in the way that stops the better times from being immediate, and I honest to peter wonder what he's going to trot out now to drag it out to line up with the campaign period ahead of that fall election that's being rumoured.  I am so done with the way COVID-19's been played.  I am so done with the way we've been played along with it.

[tomsbuspage]

CNN: US extends Covid-19 travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico

Quote

The United States has extended Covid-19 restrictions on non-essential travel at land and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico until July 21, according to a tweet from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sunday.

Addressing media after the announcement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the extension of the travel restrictions may be "frustrating" for many people but that his goal is to keep Canadians safe.

"We're not out of this pandemic yet. We have to hit our targets of 75% vaccinated with the first dose, at least 20% vaccinated with the second dose before we can start loosening things up because even a fully vaccinated individual can pass on Covid-19 to someone who is not vaccinated," Trudeau said.

CTV News: Canada lifting restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers in early July

Quote

Effective July 5 at 11:59 p.m. EDT travellers who are currently able to enter Canada under the existing rules will be able to do so without having to self-isolate for 14 days, taking a test on day eight, or having to stay in a quarantine hotel upon arrival, if they are fully immunized against COVID-19.

The change does not apply to fully vaccinated non-citizens who are looking to visit for non-essential reasons, and for any Canadian traveller who is not fully-vaccinated, the existing suite of travel restrictions will remain in effect.

In situations where unvaccinated children are travelling with fully vaccinated parents, they will not have to stay in a hotel, but will have to follow the testing requirements, if applicable depending on their age, and isolate for 14 days after coming into Canada.

In this situation, federal officials said the parents will be able to leave the house during their children’s isolation, despite the oft-repeated concern that fully vaccinated people could still transmit the virus.

[T3G]

This would be huge if they dumped the testing requirement, or at the very least foot the bill for it themselves. As it is, this is going to cause more problems than it solves. The expense, the logistics of trying to find a testing site in a foreign city, the potential of them not having your test result ready before your flight departs. Alas, the agonizing waiting game continues.

[81-717]

2 hours ago, tomsbuspage said:

CNN: US extends Covid-19 travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico

Unbelievable. Wasn't it the Americans who were absolutely livid about Canada refusing to reopen the border, not even like a week ago? And now when Canada is finally planning to start resuming travel, the US decided to do the complete opposite, the very thing they were (rightfully) complaining against? There goes my hope of doing a little getaway trip to New York someday after getting my second dose, I guess...