Covid And The Rest of Us

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And in other BC news...we ran out of Covid vaccines yesterday.

Great that we have been using up every available dose but bad that we ran out! (We are scheduled to get more today, tomorrow, and Thursday)

A local news story said that my county was due to run out today thru the next few days. Not sure when the next shipment is due but it comes from the state and the state is getting it from the Federal government but it's like a good and bad thing. Good that they are getting the vaccine out but bad that they basically don't have a rolling amount to use which from what you're mentioning is basically the same where you're at.

ETA: Just saw my county used the last of their doses yesterday and they received a small amount then, another amount today and the rest of the expected shipment later this week totaling 5,900 doses.

 

[NFLDERS]

That was pretty much the case everywhere. But 'best numbers' is just part of the puzzle. If all anyone wants is to look good that's the way to do it but there's a lot more to it than just that as we've seen.

It was not nor has it ever been about numbers.. sigh. Just a lament about where we once were!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/427372700613036/permalink/4406184779398455/

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It was not nor has it ever been about numbers.. sigh. Just a lament about where we once were!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/427372700613036/permalink/4406184779398455/

If it's not about the numbers and more just where you were in the past wishing that's where you were now you're more talking IMO that compliance was higher, that people treated COVID in a different way than they do now and that I do understand. I didn't get that from your response of your best numbers were when non-essential businesses were closed to a poster who was explicitly talking about lockdowns not working. Either way I do understand wanting people to take it more seriously.

 

[ronandannette]

Doug Ford? I'm pretty sure that BC's Premier has had the highest approval rating in the nation along with Quebec's.

Edited to add:

http://angusreid.org/premier-approval-december2020/

I clicked on an older one (all the way back to August apparently) when he was at 69% right behind Legault. And really, what sense does Legault's numbers make if all we're going on is Covid? Honestly, who would envy any of them? What more or different could'a/would'a/should'a been done and what the outcome might have been is anybody's guess. There is really no perfect model for this anywhere.

 

[NFLDERS]

If it's not about the numbers and more just where you were in the past wishing that's where you were now you're more talking IMO that compliance was higher, that people treated COVID in a different way than they do now and that I do understand. I didn't get that from your response of your best numbers were when non-essential businesses were closed to a poster who was explicitly talking about lockdowns not working. Either way I do understand wanting people to take it more seriously.

It's been one of those days, and confusion reigns number 1.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's been one of those days, and confusion reigns number 1.

 

[Karin1984]

Today there is a discussion about a curfew in NL. It's mainly to keep the young adults off the streets. However, the police says they don't have enough people to really maintain this measure. To constantly drive around neighbourhoods, parks etc to see if young adults are gathering. Stopping all the illegal parties already gives enough problems.

Other thing our committee says that what might help is to bring down the amount of visitors at home, from 2 to 1 (or from 3 to 2, I am not sure where we are now). But that still does not stop the issue of checking if people at home really do it or not.
35% of the current cases are linked to at home gatherings.

 

[ford family]

Interesting development here in the UK.
No matter how quickly the vaccines are rolled out there will still be many people who catch the virus and need treatments.

Covid: Large trial of new treatment begins in UK - BBC News

ford family

 

[ronandannette]

Interesting development here in the UK.
No matter how quickly the vaccines are rolled out there will still be many people who catch the virus and need treatments.

Covid: Large trial of new treatment begins in UK - BBC News

ford family

Very happy to hear this. In the fray of vaccine development, there seems to have been precious little said or done about developing treatments for symptoms. Other than incidental discoveries like proning, I wonder what else is being done?

 

[ronandannette]

Today there is a discussion about a curfew in NL. It's mainly to keep the young adults off the streets. However, the police says they don't have enough people to really maintain this measure. To constantly drive around neighbourhoods, parks etc to see if young adults are gathering. Stopping all the illegal parties already gives enough problems.

Other thing our committee says that what might help is to bring down the amount of visitors at home, from 2 to 1 (or from 3 to 2, I am not sure where we are now). But that still does not stop the issue of checking if people at home really do it or not.
35% of the current cases are linked to at home gatherings.

It's a conundrum indeed - placing restrictions that are then not enforceable in a practical way. AFAIK every jurisdiction in Canada has stiff fines in place for non-compliance with regulations, which is fair enough, but now the issue becomes how much resources do we pour into compliance monitoring? My city deployed 200 new by-law enforcement officers to roam around doing random compliance checks and respond to calls to the Snitch Line. This is rather disproportionate to the number of LEO's on the street dealing with actual criminal activity. It just all feels so dystopian somehow...

 

[NFLDERS]

It's a conundrum indeed - placing restrictions that are then not enforceable in a practical way. AFAIK every jurisdiction in Canada has stiff fines in place for non-compliance with regulations, which is fair enough, but now the issue becomes how much resources do we pour into compliance monitoring? My city deployed 200 new by-law enforcement officers to roam around doing random compliance checks and respond to calls to the Snitch Line. This is rather disproportionate to the number of LEO's on the street dealing with actual criminal activity. It just all feels so dystopian somehow...

All we can do is keep layering protection, and maybe then like an onion when things truly improve our eyes will no longer feel the sting of our tears.

 

[Karin1984]

All we can do is keep layering protection, and maybe then like an onion when things truly improve our eyes will no longer feel the sting of our tears.

I want to say something about Shrek and onions, but I cannot come up with a good joke

The result of the debate was that our politicians do not want to have a curfew till we are in the same spot as London is now.
What we do get is that everyone who wants to go to NL via boat or plane from the UK and South Africa has to get a quick test before boarding. In addition to the negative test results they have to arrange themselves.

 

[elphaba91]

A few updates from Australia:

- Victoria has now gone 8 days with no community transmission, so it appears that our potential third wave has been successfully quashed through excellent contact tracing and testing.

- NSW has continued to have very low levels of cases (low single digits most days with the occasional zero) and all states still have restrictions on travel at least from Sydney.

- Brisbane's 3 day lockdown has ended with only the partner of the cleaner infected with the UK strain testing positive. However, it has been found in 4 people in the hotel where she worked: 2 travellers from the UK and then another 2 from Lebanon, who were not in adjacent rooms (I'm not sure if the UK couple are the original cases or not). They are unsure how it has spread and examining CCTV of the cleaner's interactions does not give any clues, so they are concerned whether it is through the air conditioning or toilets. As a result, they have evacuated the hotel entirely and all guests must recommence their 2 week quarantine...even if they were on their final day!

- There has been a lot of debate the last couple of days about our vaccination program, in particular that the vast majority of people will be vaccinated with the Astra Zeneca vaccine, which may not be as effective. We only have 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine on order, enough for 20% of the population and no Moderna, but will have essentially an unlimited supply of the AZ (as we are manufacturing it here in Melbourne). Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer is also the co-chair of the vaccine committee has said that we are much better vaccinating those who need it the most with the more effective vaccine and then using the one we can easily get hold of and administer on everyone else rather than waiting around for more mRNA vaccines, especially when we don't know whether they actually prevent transmission. He's also pointed out that vaccine manufacturers really should be prioritising other countries with thousands of deaths a day rather than Australia with only a few cases. There also may be a possibility to have those injected with the AZ vaccine given a booster of the Pfizer later down the track, although we still don't know. Personally, as someone who will be well down the priority list for vaccination, I'm more than happy to get what I'm given - 64% protection is much, much better than none as far as I'm concerned!

Today there is a discussion about a curfew in NL. It's mainly to keep the young adults off the streets. However, the police says they don't have enough people to really maintain this measure. To constantly drive around neighbourhoods, parks etc to see if young adults are gathering. Stopping all the illegal parties already gives enough problems.

Interestingly, one of the arguments in favour of the lockdown in Melbourne was that it would actually be EASIER for the police as it required less man power to enforce the curfew than the other restrictions (distance from home, gathering numbers, masks, etc.) and so gave them a few hours reprieve each night.

 

[ronandannette]

A few updates from Australia:

- Victoria has now gone 8 days with no community transmission, so it appears that our potential third wave has been successfully quashed through excellent contact tracing and testing.

- NSW has continued to have very low levels of cases (low single digits most days with the occasional zero) and all states still have restrictions on travel at least from Sydney.

- Brisbane's 3 day lockdown has ended with only the partner of the cleaner infected with the UK strain testing positive. However, it has been found in 4 people in the hotel where she worked: 2 travellers from the UK and then another 2 from Lebanon, who were not in adjacent rooms (I'm not sure if the UK couple are the original cases or not). They are unsure how it has spread and examining CCTV of the cleaner's interactions does not give any clues, so they are concerned whether it is through the air conditioning or toilets. As a result, they have evacuated the hotel entirely and all guests must recommence their 2 week quarantine...even if they were on their final day!

- There has been a lot of debate the last couple of days about our vaccination program, in particular that the vast majority of people will be vaccinated with the Astra Zeneca vaccine, which may not be as effective. We only have 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine on order, enough for 20% of the population and no Moderna, but will have essentially an unlimited supply of the AZ (as we are manufacturing it here in Melbourne). Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer is also the co-chair of the vaccine committee has said that we are much better vaccinating those who need it the most with the more effective vaccine and then using the one we can easily get hold of and administer on everyone else rather than waiting around for more mRNA vaccines, especially when we don't know whether they actually prevent transmission. He's also pointed out that vaccine manufacturers really should be prioritising other countries with thousands of deaths a day rather than Australia with only a few cases. There also may be a possibility to have those injected with the AZ vaccine given a booster of the Pfizer later down the track, although we still don't know. Personally, as someone who will be well down the priority list for vaccination, I'm more than happy to get what I'm given - 64% protection is much, much better than none as far as I'm concerned!



Interestingly, one of the arguments in favour of the lockdown in Melbourne was that it would actually be EASIER for the police as it required less man power to enforce the curfew than the other restrictions (distance from home, gathering numbers, masks, etc.) and so gave them a few hours reprieve each night.

Thanks for your update. Remind us again what, if any, restrictions you're still under.

 

[lisaviolet]

So far, the limited availability of product hasn't necessitated a 24 hour program;

Stop using your brain and common sense on me!

Taxi drivers can now be fined for failing to ensure passengers wear a face covering in their vehicle.

Is this a big problem? I guess it is. Poor drivers.

Retail workers and managers can also be fined for failing to wear a mask while working.

What the heck? I am simply surprised that is even necessary.

- Lots of communication between NL, Germany and Austria to discuss what works and what we can do.

Wonderful to hear.

is actually happening in Ontario? Why do the numbers keep going up when your measures have already been quite stringent? Ford's press conference is all over the news here. Is there any theory at all to what is happening? I have a very, very hard time believing there has been widespread disregard for the restrictions, at least not to the degree that would render all the measures virtually ineffective.

Simple. People don't follow the rules. And since I speak to many family and friends - all over the province, it is not where they all shout about.

Great that we have been using up every available dose but bad that we ran out! (We are scheduled to get more today, tomorrow, and Thursday)

Wonderful to hear that someone's organized.

Because for whatever reason the lockdowns don’t work along with crushing the economy

They worked in the early spring, when people followed them. They are not working now because of non-compliance.

At least those that drink can go to the lcbo. That and the pot stores will be open

So funny! I regularly think of you when I ride by our long neighbourhood LCBO line. And I smile.

And of course when I do curbside pick-up for my pot.

There also may be a possibility to have those injected with the AZ vaccine given a booster of the Pfizer later down the track, although we still don't know.

How interesting.

 

[elphaba91]

Thanks for your update. Remind us again what, if any, restrictions you're still under.

- Currently we have to wear a mask while in any public indoor space. That will change on Monday to only be required in indoor shopping centres, large stores like supermarkets and in taxis and on public transport (we were at that level before New Year’s but increased mask use with our small outbreak). You also have to carry a mask anytime you leave home.

- Limit of 15 visitors to a home per day. This was 30 prior to New Year’s Eve and I don’t think there’s been an announcement to increase it ahain

- 100 people can gather in a public place.

- No limits on weddings and funerals.

- All retail, hairdressers, etc. are open with density limits.

- If restaurants have over 25 patrons they must have 2 square metres per person. No limits on numbers.

- Seated entertainment can have 75% of seats, with a cap of 1,000. I am a big musical theatre nerd and am so, so happy that theatre is returning this month! Funnily, the first show to re-open (Come From Away) is the first one (of many) that I had my tickets cancelled. It does prevent the biggest theatres from re-opening for now though.

- We are also able to host events in large outdoor stadiums: there were 30,000 people a day at the cricket after Christmas and there will be crowds at the Australian Open which starts next month.

- Offices can currently have 25% of staff (or 10 people for small businesses) on site and this will increase to 50% (20 people for small businesses) on Monday.

- There is now a permit system to enter the state, with an accompanying traffic light system for every other area of the country. You cannot enter from a red zone without an exemption and if you enter from an orange zone you must test and quarantine until you get a negative result. Brisbane and Sydney are currently red zones and the rest of NSW is an orange zone.

- We can enter any other state without any quarantine except WA (who, as our friend Jimmy Rees has told us, would sooner be it’s own country!) where we would have to test and quarantine for 14 days.

 

[mrs. magoo]

A few updates from Australia:
- As a result, they have evacuated the hotel entirely and all guests must recommence their 2 week quarantine...even if they were on their final day!

I am just wondering if this extension is at their own cost. I know that Australia has charged a fee for the quarantine and it is not inexpensive so I was wondering if these people will have to pay for the extension. I would think that would be quite unfair and for the people who were on their last day they must be so disappointed. Thanks for your updates. They often make me jealous since we are nowhere near your levels.

 

[ronandannette]

- Currently we have to wear a mask while in any public indoor space. That will change on Monday to only be required in indoor shopping centres, large stores like supermarkets and in taxis and on public transport (we were at that level before New Year’s but increased mask use with our small outbreak). You also have to carry a mask anytime you leave home.

- Limit of 15 visitors to a home per day. This was 30 prior to New Year’s Eve and I don’t think there’s been an announcement to increase it ahain

- 100 people can gather in a public place.

- No limits on weddings and funerals.

- All retail, hairdressers, etc. are open with density limits.

- If restaurants have over 25 patrons they must have 2 square metres per person. No limits on numbers.

- Seated entertainment can have 75% of seats, with a cap of 1,000. I am a big musical theatre nerd and am so, so happy that theatre is returning this month! Funnily, the first show to re-open (Come From Away) is the first one (of many) that I had my tickets cancelled. It does prevent the biggest theatres from re-opening for now though.

- We are also able to host events in large outdoor stadiums: there were 30,000 people a day at the cricket after Christmas and there will be crowds at the Australian Open which starts next month.

- Offices can currently have 25% of staff (or 10 people for small businesses) on site and this will increase to 50% (20 people for small businesses) on Monday.

- There is now a permit system to enter the state, with an accompanying traffic light system for every other area of the country. You cannot enter from a red zone without an exemption and if you enter from an orange zone you must test and quarantine until you get a negative result. Brisbane and Sydney are currently red zones and the rest of NSW is an orange zone.

- We can enter any other state without any quarantine except WA (who, as our friend Jimmy Rees has told us, would sooner be it’s own country!) where we would have to test and quarantine for 14 days.

I hope you love Come from Away. That story is a great point of national pride for Canadians. I also hope the world turns back to a place where you might come to see us yourself some day and experience our hospitality in person.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Funnily, the first show to re-open (Come From Away) is the first one (of many) that I had my tickets cancelled.

I hope you love Come from Away.

My husband's uncle works on that show on Broadway...at this point it will be a year and 3 months with him out of a job Working in musicals has been his career for decades. While he toured in the past he's been in the NYC area for a long time now. We know he misses working so very much.

 

[NFLDERS]

I hope you love Come from Away. That story is a great point of national pride for Canadians. I also hope the world turns back to a place where you might come to see us yourself some day and experience our hospitality in person.

- Currently we have to wear a mask while in any public indoor space. That will change on Monday to only be required in indoor shopping centres, large stores like supermarkets and in taxis and on public transport (we were at that level before New Year’s but increased mask use with our small outbreak). You also have to carry a mask anytime you leave home.

- Limit of 15 visitors to a home per day. This was 30 prior to New Year’s Eve and I don’t think there’s been an announcement to increase it ahain

- 100 people can gather in a public place.

- No limits on weddings and funerals.

- All retail, hairdressers, etc. are open with density limits.

- If restaurants have over 25 patrons they must have 2 square metres per person. No limits on numbers.

- Seated entertainment can have 75% of seats, with a cap of 1,000. I am a big musical theatre nerd and am so, so happy that theatre is returning this month! Funnily, the first show to re-open (Come From Away) is the first one (of many) that I had my tickets cancelled. It does prevent the biggest theatres from re-opening for now though.

- We are also able to host events in large outdoor stadiums: there were 30,000 people a day at the cricket after Christmas and there will be crowds at the Australian Open which starts next month.

- Offices can currently have 25% of staff (or 10 people for small businesses) on site and this will increase to 50% (20 people for small businesses) on Monday.

- There is now a permit system to enter the state, with an accompanying traffic light system for every other area of the country. You cannot enter from a red zone without an exemption and if you enter from an orange zone you must test and quarantine until you get a negative result. Brisbane and Sydney are currently red zones and the rest of NSW is an orange zone.

- We can enter any other state without any quarantine except WA (who, as our friend Jimmy Rees has told us, would sooner be it’s own country!) where we would have to test and quarantine for 14 days.

Not to steal Annette's thunder but I hope one day maybe NFLD (Newfoundland/old school) is on your travel plans too.