Covid And The Rest of Us

[lisaviolet]

View attachment 536295 This bugger took out our internet the past 5+ hours.
Been rainy all day. The sound of the waves is the loudest I have heard while living here.
US Embassy has put out a warning for our department and 3 others to evacuate, but like how and to where? Crazy talk with no way to accomplish it. Anyway, stocked up extra food and supplies today and it "wasn't my day" but no one even asked.
Official weather report is catagory 3 but some are already calling it a 4 before landfall late tonight/early tomorrow. It's moving very slowly and just getting stronger.
Then after traveling over land suppose to hit the water again and reenergize and hit again Friday night/Saturday morning as it heads north.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Hope everything is okay.

Yup, one union signed as well, and now we are waiting for the pilots. Apparently the atmosphere on board is not great, as in there are anonymous notes left in the cockpit addressed to the pilots 'thanks for ruining the company, see you at the unemployment office'. Also in newspapers and social media the pilots are not put in a very favourable light. KLM's pilots are among the best paid in Europe, better pay, less hours. It is probably a small group that is in denial about how bad the situation is, they seem to think we are still in the 90s when business was booming.

Wow how incredibly daft; and frustrating for all involved.

 

[NFLDERS]

New cases for what time period? Per day? All last week? Your total active cases? I guess I haven't been reading your posts closely enough but that seems like a HUGE number for your population. Currently Canada is holding steady at a very high rate - about 2,500 new cases daily nationwide.

Airlines here are in big trouble too. We've only got two national airlines and although they have not yet breathed the words "bankruptcy" out loud, they have certainly been decimated. Between the two there have been 26,000 lay-offs and I just read yesterday NavCanada (the government bureau responsible for air-traffic control) has or will cut staff by 40%. Multiply it all exponentially for all the support and peripheral services staff that have lost their jobs since March.

Yesterday in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario Westjet Turnaround employees said good-bye to one another in the latest cuts in the Industry.
My niece a former turnaround and her husband a pilot met 18 years ago in Hamilton. They made a move to Ottawa about 10 years ago.

She is a stay at home raising their three daughters, he still a pilot (not sure if he flies with Westjet) out of Montreal. In conversation with them yesterday they expressed sadness and concern for their Westjet family and their own situation going forward.

They did express appreciation for the flying public, but also for our Governments financial aid and support for all Canadians. They said while no one is suppose to like the monies being allocated to keep the country mentally sound and healthy; that being parents in a part of Canada where Covid is an enormous adversary at the moment they hazzard to guess where we would be as a country if the steps taken had/have not been for all Canadians.

I admire and I'm proud of them, but foremost appreciated and respected their opinion.

Stay safe all.

 

[Karin1984]

It's going to be interesting what is going to happen tonight in NL at the press conference. In the last few days, the amount of new infections went down from 11K to 9K to 8.3K to 7.7K today.
Will we get new measures or not!

 

[ronandannette]

It's going to be interesting what is going to happen tonight in NL at the press conference. In the last few days, the amount of new infections went down from 11K to 9K to 8.3K to 7.7K today.
Will we get new measures or not!

Do keep us posted here on the thread. The US election will dominate our news for a while and unless we know where to look we will hear very little about the world beyond.

 

[Karin1984]

Do keep us posted here on the thread. The US election will dominate our news for a while and unless we know where to look we will hear very little about the world beyond.

Sure, will do.
What is dominating the news here is the attack in Vienna last night, after the attacks in Nice, it's not going well in Europe. I'm not sure what is the more urgent topic to discuss: Covid-19 or terrorist attacks.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Sure, will do.
What is dominating the news here is the attack in Vienna last night, after the attacks in Nice, it's not going well in Europe. I'm not sure what is the more urgent topic to discuss: Covid-19 or terrorist attacks.

Heartbreaking! Our original plan was to arrive in Vienna in a couple of weeks. So so sad to hear about the terrorist attack plus the lockdown.

Thoughts and prayers for VIenna!

 

[Karin1984]

So, update from NL from the latest press conference:
It's not going as bad as before, but it's not going great. The last few days numbers of infections went down but hospitalizations & ICU is more peopple in than out.

- The lockdown as it is now will at least last till mid December. There is no need to go much stricter now.
- Stern advice: Do not travel abroad for the coming weeks, also not during Christmas break (because a lot of people go skiing and that was the issue in Feb/March when everyone went to Italy/Austria).
- Whenever you go out you have to ask yourself if you really have to. No fun-shopping. (This is till mid January)
- Libraries, museums, theaters, themeparks, zoos etc. will close for 2 weeks.
- No classes at gyms. Only individual exercise. Gyms will not close due to the effect on mental health.
- Possible to have a regional approach for a curfew and closing of schools or non-essential stores.
- Meeting other people from other households, max. 2 people
- At home no more than 2 people from different householdsvisiting.
- Weddings max 20 people
- Funerals max 30 people


Two weeks from now they will look at what to do with Christmas & NY's Eve. Hot topic is fireworks. Being able to set off your own fireworks is a huge thing here. For years people try to go to only commercial fireworks, without much success. It's an industry where in the course of 1 night, together we set off for almost 80 million euro. It's a social thing, people come together. And coming together... not a good idea with covid.


Oh, and the pilots have finally reached an agreement. So our national airline will get their billions of money from the government.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So, update from NL from the latest press conference:
It's not going as bad as before, but it's not going great. The last few days numbers of infections went down but hospitalizations & ICU is more peopple in than out.

- The lockdown as it is now will at least last till mid December. There is no need to go much stricter now.
- Stern advice: Do not travel abroad for the coming weeks, also not during Christmas break (because a lot of people go skiing and that was the issue in Feb/March when everyone went to Italy/Austria).
- Whenever you go out you have to ask yourself if you really have to. No fun-shopping. (This is till mid January)
- Libraries, museums, theaters, themeparks, zoos etc. will close for 2 weeks.
- No classes at gyms. Only individual exercise. Gyms will not close due to the effect on mental health.
- Possible to have a regional approach for a curfew and closing of schools or non-essential stores.
- Meeting other people from other households, max. 2 people
- At home no more than 2 people from different householdsvisiting.
- Weddings max 20 people
- Funerals max 30 people


Two weeks from now they will look at what to do with Christmas & NY's Eve. Hot topic is fireworks. Being able to set off your own fireworks is a huge thing here. For years people try to go to only commercial fireworks, without much success. It's an industry where in the course of 1 night, together we set off for almost 80 million euro. It's a social thing, people come together. And coming together... not a good idea with covid.


Oh, and the pilots have finally reached an agreement. So our national airline will get their billions of money from the government.

Sounds like a mixture there. The gyms thing is interesting because that was a really big thing for the reopening plans in the U.S. as in most places deemed them too risky to open for quite a long time. I like that they use the reasoning of mental health in your area, at least they are considering that.

How are things funded in the Netherlands regarding libraries, museums, theaters and zoos? Theme parks seem like it would be people paying for tickets and food.

Yowza I've only really started to dig down thinking about Thanksgiving what choices we'll be making as I'm running out of time to figure out what to do (which I have a feeling may impact what we do for Christmas) but I hadn't even considered NYE yet. That's a lot of money spent for fireworks sure sounds like it's a big celebration there.

 

[elphaba91]

Thank you. What is the national mood? If cases start emerging will people easily go back into the previous restrictions?

You mentioned the economy and a feeling that lock down was being ridden out successfully due to government intervention. I don’t know near enough about the Australian economy to understand but I do know we also have countless Covid relief programs currently in effect; mostly out of federal coffers. Although it is a lifeline for some, for others it is a mere fraction of their previous incomes and their personal finances are destroyed. While some of us never left or have now returned to work, millions remain unemployed even with the resumption of business. Our government is deficit-spending at an unimaginable rate; they say it will take 20 years to rebalance our federal budget and national debt is approaching a trillion dollars.

Oh, our economy has definitely taken a hit! We were forecast to have a surplus budget, for the first time in over a decade, and instead had a deficit of over $200 billion and are in a recession for the first time since 1991. However, it's apparently not as bad as it was forecast; it has probably helped that most states have largely been able to get back to 'normal'.

Without a doubt, a lot of people have definitely struggled financially. With government assistance, kind landlords reducing rental and clever ‘pivoting’ (finding alternative ways to run their businesses), many have scraped through, but it has definitely been tough and some businesses haven't survived. Many have mentioned airlines and Virgin Australia was one of the first companies to enter administration, although they were able to find a buyer. My aunt runs a travel agency and her income has been severely affected, but they are limping along. The NSW Premier announced today that the border is re-opening in less than 3 weeks so hopefully she will now have some people booking trips to Sydney.

Probably the biggest measure that helped keep businesses open and people in jobs is the JobKeeper scheme, where the government basically pays/contributes to people's wages for businesses with a big enough reduction in turnover (15% for charities, 30% for businesses with turnover under $1 billion p.a. and 50% for business with turnover over $1 billion p.a.). For employees to be eligible they have to be over 18 (or financially independent), an Australian resident and have worked for the business for over a year (but that requirement has now been removed). Originally businesses were paid $1,500 a fortnight per employee, regardless of the hours that the employee worked/would have worked; that has now been reduced to $1,200 for full time employees and $750 for part time. The scheme isn't perfect; while some part time workers actually earned more than they would have otherwise, other people missed out (particularly those on temporary visas, people in the arts industry without a set steady employer, people in new jobs). But it has definitely helped a lot of people and businesses stay afloat.

There have also been cash injections for businesses, a temporary increase to the JobSeeker (unemployment) payment, subsidies for businesses to hire new people, etc.

 

[Karin1984]

Sounds like a mixture there. The gyms thing is interesting because that was a really big thing for the reopening plans in the U.S. as in most places deemed them too risky to open for quite a long time. I like that they use the reasoning of mental health in your area, at least they are considering that.

How are things funded in the Netherlands regarding libraries, museums, theaters and zoos? Theme parks seem like it would be people paying for tickets and food.

Yowza I've only really started to dig down thinking about Thanksgiving what choices we'll be making as I'm running out of time to figure out what to do (which I have a feeling may impact what we do for Christmas) but I hadn't even considered NYE yet. That's a lot of money spent for fireworks sure sounds like it's a big celebration there.

Libraries are funded by the city, museums and zoos are getting national funds. I'm not entirely sure about theaters, the cultural funds go to theater companies, not to the actual theater. One of our oldest theaters had a big renovation coming up and they raised the prices of all their tickets with 1 euro for a few years to pay for it. Themeparks do not get funds.

New Year's eve is big here, but as something you celebrate with friends/family. Most people stay at home. The selling of traditional new year's snacks (think: huge donut holes) already starts early October, and on 31 December you can queue for a long time for the good bakeries.
Where I grew up, the tradition for NYE was that at 12:10-12:15 you go outside and start firing off your fireworks or just watch. And then you go by all the houses to wish all your neighbours a happy new year. Then at one of your neighbour's homes you stay for a few more hours, where the adults drink, and the kids play cards in the kitchen.
In big cities they have commercial fireworks and people celebrating outside, Rotterdam has the biggest fireworks usually. But as the weather is usually cold and it can be rainy or misty in December the majority of the people stay at home.

 

[ronandannette]

Well, that’s not good. Canada reached a milestone number of 250,000 cases diagnosed since March with 10,381 deaths recorded now. Troubling and shocking when broken down - that’s a 4.1% fatality rate compared to the 2.5% average based on world-wide statistics.

Watching the bellwether numbers for hospitalizations here in our province, we currently have 164 people in hospital and 30 of those in ICU. A small fraction of our capacity but still higher numbers than we’ve ever had. There have been outbreaks again in hospitals, senior’s homes and penitentiaries. The sick and aged are dying again at tragic rates and the average age of those who have died from Covid is 83.

 

[White Cat]

Well, that’s not good. Canada reached a milestone number of 250,000 cases diagnosed since March with 10,381 deaths recorded now. Troubling and shocking when broken down - that’s a 4.1% fatality rate compared to the 2.5% average based on world-wide statistics.

Watching the bellwether numbers for hospitalizations here in our province, we currently have 164 people in hospital and 30 of those in ICU. A small fraction of our capacity but still higher numbers than we’ve ever had. There have been outbreaks again in hospitals, senior’s homes and penitentiaries. The sick and aged are dying again at tragic rates and the average age of those who have died from Covid is 83.

That’s the life expectancy in Canada.

 

[ronandannette]

That’s the life expectancy in Canada.

Shhh...any reasoned discussion of Covid deaths v.s. excess deaths is likely to get you labeled a dangerous Covid-denier around here. There is actually a very rational and informative video link in a post upthread about a month ago that explains that very thing in relation to western Europe. (But you didn't hear it from me. )

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Libraries are funded by the city, museums and zoos are getting national funds. I'm not entirely sure about theaters, the cultural funds go to theater companies, not to the actual theater. One of our oldest theaters had a big renovation coming up and they raised the prices of all their tickets with 1 euro for a few years to pay for it. Themeparks do not get funds.

So seems like there may be at least a little bit of help for some of the places shut down (albeit temporarily at the moment). My husband's uncle works on Broadway and presently speaking he'll be out of work for more than a year. I know for DLR in CA that's why they've been pushing so much to reopen because they just are floundering there without help.

New Year's eve is big here, but as something you celebrate with friends/family. Most people stay at home. The selling of traditional new year's snacks (think: huge donut holes) already starts early October, and on 31 December you can queue for a long time for the good bakeries.
Where I grew up, the tradition for NYE was that at 12:10-12:15 you go outside and start firing off your fireworks or just watch. And then you go by all the houses to wish all your neighbours a happy new year. Then at one of your neighbour's homes you stay for a few more hours, where the adults drink, and the kids play cards in the kitchen.
In big cities they have commercial fireworks and people celebrating outside, Rotterdam has the biggest fireworks usually. But as the weather is usually cold and it can be rainy or misty in December the majority of the people stay at home.

That's a great tradition to have to go to each other's homes like that good sense of community there but yeah not exactly what you'd want in a pandemic. Of course I suppose you could still social distance but wish the neighbors a happy new year.

These days we hardly last past midnight and we're young enough (32 and 31) but we were never big partiers to begin with.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I was reading an interesting scientific review where they have been genome sequencing (which has been used before for other reasons) in absence of being able to find Patient Zero where the jump from animals to humans occurred.

There's a lot of jargon (that I quite frankly don't understand) but I could at least grasp some things. Some good review of specific genome sequences found in certain areas (like North America vs Europe & Middle East vs China specifically vs Asia), timing of the pandemic, the suggestion that it was merely a matter of time (my paraphrasing) as it held all the tools needed to spread and spread easily around the world, etc.

Anyways thought I'd share it here

https://scitechdaily.com/covid-19-p...ntifies-the-mother-of-all-sars-cov-2-genomes/

 

[ronandannette]

OK, so I just heard on the news that British Columbia's Chief Medical Officer has banned all in-home socializing (regardless of size) for two weeks in that province. Gyms and spas are also being closed for the same period. @bcwife76 - can you tell us more?

 

[Jrb1979]

OK, so I just heard on the news that British Columbia's Chief Medical Officer has banned all in-home socializing (regardless of size) for two weeks in that province. Gyms and spas are also being closed for the same period. @bcwife76 - can you tell us more?

https://globalnews.ca/news/7449130/b-c-health-saturday-covid-19-briefing/amp/
All social gatherings will be banned for 2 weeks.

 

[ronandannette]

https://globalnews.ca/news/7449130/b-c-health-saturday-covid-19-briefing/amp/
All social gatherings will be banned for 2 weeks.

So where exactly is that, then? Just basically the coast? Not the island or the interior? I assume northern BC doesn't have very many cases, similar to northern Alberta.

 

[bcwife76]

OK, so I just heard on the news that British Columbia's Chief Medical Officer has banned all in-home socializing (regardless of size) for two weeks in that province. Gyms and spas are also being closed for the same period. @bcwife76 - can you tell us more?

Yes as Jrb posted above, gyms, spin and yoga studios, kids sports (not in a school setting), all those must shut down til at least Nov 23. We are discouraged from travelling outside the lower mainland, no one in our house who is not in our immediate family, work from home if you can.

 

[bcwife76]

So where exactly is that, then? Just basically the coast? Not the island or the interior? I assume northern BC doesn't have very many cases, similar to northern Alberta.

Just the lower mainland, out to Chilliwack/Hope. I believe Whistler would also be included as they are part of Coastal Health I think...so not the island, not the interior.