Covid And The Rest of Us

[TLSnell1981]

The whole thing is crazy - yesterday it was announced that people need to make reservations at these gulags before returning to Canada. I don’t get what happens to people who land without the reservations or who simply don’t have the $2,000+ (they have to pay for their own testing too). Constitutionally, Canadians cannot be prevented from returning to the country.

We also await information about how these facilities were rolled out so quickly and how the contracts were awarded. This particular federal government is notorious for cronyism and preferential dealings with insiders. The exact name and locations of the facilities have not been released, let alone the terms of the deals.

We’ve also just in the past week or so finally had some information emerge shedding light on our vaccine supply issues. Turns out the contracts negotiated by the feds with the pharmaceutical companies only guaranteed supply on a quarterly basis, not at a steady pace or when our demand required them. Meaning that there is no recourse for us, as long as the doses are delivered by the end of March. We shall see.

Provincial Premiers have tried to right-the-ship by entering into individual purchase contracts directly with the manufacturers so that vaccination programs could continue at some sort of steady pace, which is totally permissible under the Canada Health Act as healthcare is a provincial jurisdiction. The shocking revelation came when it was discovered the feds wrote clauses into their own agreements prohibiting Pfizer and Moderna from selling directly to the provinces. This has sparked a good deal of outrage and again left us at the mercy of a plan that has clearly gone awry. Provinces are now rushing to sign up with AstraZenaca which seems to have resulted in the slowing of the approval process for their product, which could have happened already. It’s hard to know exactly what’s being played at here. The AZ product is the one the feds are trying to license for domestic production at our pie-in-the-sky facility that may or may not be ready to roll by 2022.

You aren't the only ones.

 

[ronandannette]

OK, so what do we think of this? I actually have not heard of it in our news; I picked this up just now lurking on one of the other Covid threads:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...85a80c-7106-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html

 

[godisney14]

OK, so what do we think of this? I actually have not heard of it in our news; I picked this up just now lurking on one of the other Covid threads:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...85a80c-7106-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html

Very interesting.
But, I don’t know how much value there is at the moment studying just a very small cohort of 90 healthy people between 18 and 30 years old. It’s such a narrow window of the public population.

 

[Pyotr]

This model has Canada having Covid armageddon in the upcoming weeks.



Canada chief public-health officer Theresa Tam says this is "the current reality. ... If you want to look at it as the baseline scenario, you can."

 

[amylevan]

This model has Canada having Covid armageddon in the upcoming weeks.

View attachment 557781

Canada chief public-health officer Theresa Tam says this is "the current reality. ... If you want to look at it as the baseline scenario, you can."

Color me confused, but even in the countries where the variants of concern took over, their COVID case graphs didn't look like the orange line.

 

[Pyotr]

Color me confused, but even in the countries where the variants of concern took over, their COVID case graphs didn't look like the orange line.

I find it rather absurd.

It is hard to take any model seriously at this point.

 

[ronandannette]

This model has Canada having Covid armageddon in the upcoming weeks.

View attachment 557781

Canada chief public-health officer Theresa Tam says this is "the current reality. ... If you want to look at it as the baseline scenario, you can."

Well, I guess we'll find out because there are lots of places very cautiously easing some restrictions. It's hard not to with hospitalization and ICU occupancies dropping significantly. It's hardly a reckless throwing off of all restraint though; here it's the re-opening of in-person dining and hair salons/personal care services under very strict safety protocols.

And reading the labels on the chart I'm trying to fathom what "enhanced combined public health measures and individual precautions" could possibly entail, given what we've already been doing. I suppose we could go back to the conditions imposed last March with all businesses (except grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations), work-places and schools closed, imprisoning the elderly in their care facilities without any outside contact and shutting down all but emergency medical care. "Enhanced" could mean the grounding of all non-essential domestic air travel and prohibiting inter-provincial traffic and implementing local curfews. Beyond that it could only be full in-house quarantine for everyone with the streets patrolled by the military, you know, all Wuhan-style, but of course that's just silly to contemplate.

Currently the curve looks like this nationally, which is a very similar shape to every other nation practically world-wide:

 

[White Cat]

This model has Canada having Covid armageddon in the upcoming weeks.

View attachment 557781

Canada chief public-health officer Theresa Tam says this is "the current reality. ... If you want to look at it as the baseline scenario, you can."

That woman has done a very good job at scaring the Canadian people to death with her very sad looking demeanour on the evening news keeping so many there hiding in the house and suppressing the economy there. She needs to go.

 

[elphaba91]

Australia has officially started its vaccinations! A small group of 2 aged care residents, some front line staff, the Chief Medical Officer and the Prime Minister were all vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine this morning. The program will start in earnest tomorrow (Monday).

 

[ronandannette]

Australia has officially started its vaccinations! A small group of 2 aged care residents, some front line staff, the Chief Medical Officer and the Prime Minister were all vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine this morning. The program will start in earnest tomorrow (Monday).

Godspeed - I hope your program goes smoothly and has the intended effect. Interesting note about the bolded - I don't remember hearing anything about where our political leaders fall in the priority sequence. I'm quite sure there has been no public announcements about any of them from the PM on down being vaccinated yet.

 

[Karin1984]

Australia has officially started its vaccinations! A small group of 2 aged care residents, some front line staff, the Chief Medical Officer and the Prime Minister were all vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine this morning. The program will start in earnest tomorrow (Monday).

We got some news articles about protests against the vaccines in Australia. How serious are these, in your opinion?

 

[ronandannette]

I'm not even sure what to think about this? What are your thoughts?
‘Insulting to everybody’: B.C. government’s ‘self-care bingo’ card goes viral in the wrong way (msn.com)

 

[Karin1984]

I'm not even sure what to think about this? What are your thoughts?
‘Insulting to everybody’: B.C. government’s ‘self-care bingo’ card goes viral in the wrong way (msn.com)

I so would not be offended by the bingo card. If an influencer had posted this, it wouldn't have been as much of a problem. Yes, people are dying and suffering, but I personally think it is good that a government shows that it tries to think about the mental health of their people. This was not aimed at the entire population, but those who do not have severe mental problems where a professional is needed, but those who experience feelings of angst, anxiety in a milder form.
Each government is in a hard position, chosing between health and economy. There is not much wiggle room. For mental health there is not a lot they can do. They can help professionals with making them more accessible, or campaign for finding help if you need it. But probably the professionals already have their platforms, and most likely (if it's the same as in NL) professionals cannot take anymore patients.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm not even sure what to think about this? What are your thoughts?
‘Insulting to everybody’: B.C. government’s ‘self-care bingo’ card goes viral in the wrong way (msn.com)

I think the message is there and not all that different from what local officials have mentioned (maybe not build a blanket fort but I think that was meant to make someone smile).

I think the delivery may be more the issue or at least I could see it that way. It sorta makes it seem like a game and for those who may be in such distress it may make them feel like it's being trivialized. On the other hand for those who are just lost in the hum drum of blurring of the days this may speak to them to remember to stop and decompress.

So I get how it could be perceived as insensitive but on the other hand I can see what they were going for. I agree with Karin in who the target audience was.

 

[bcwife76]

I'm not even sure what to think about this? What are your thoughts?
‘Insulting to everybody’: B.C. government’s ‘self-care bingo’ card goes viral in the wrong way (msn.com)

I follow the govt of BC on FB and saw this post soon after they put it up. I thought it was a bit.....odd. But did it 'offend' me? No. In fact I did play the Bingo I just thought it was a lighthearted post in between all the doom and gloom, but am I surprised there was a backlash? No. It's BC, after all .....

 

[kyton]

We got some news articles about protests against the vaccines in Australia. How serious are these, in your opinion?

Apparently around 15% of our population is stating they won’t be vaccinated. In reality it’s because we have done such a great job in minimising Covid here that these covidiots are able to spout rubbish like they do - “it’s just a cold”, “Bill Gates is injecting people with microchips”, “Covid won’t kill you”.

Mainstream - the vast majority of Australians are happy to have the jab. Realistically Australia will not open their borders for outgoing or incoming travellers until we have a herd immunity situation occurring. As a remote island, we love travelling so most are thinking that this is the quickest way for us to get out there again. However our Chief Medical Officer is rightly stating after we get our country sorted we then need to assist in getting smaller countries vaccinated as well since these are struggling to get vaccines to their citizens.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Apparently around 15% of our population is stating they won’t be vaccinated. In reality it’s because we have done such a great job in minimising Covid here that these covidiots are able to spout rubbish like they do - “it’s just a cold”, “Bill Gates is injecting people with microchips”, “Covid won’t kill you”.

Mainstream - the vast majority of Australians are happy to have the jab. Realistically Australia will not open their borders for outgoing or incoming travellers until we have a herd immunity situation occurring. As a remote island, we love travelling so most are thinking that this is the quickest way for us to get out there again. However our Chief Medical Officer is rightly stating after we get our country sorted we then need to assist in getting smaller countries vaccinated as well since these are struggling to get vaccines to their citizens.

Have they spoken about any requirements for incoming travelers needing to be vaccinated once borders are open?

 

[elphaba91]

Godspeed - I hope your program goes smoothly and has the intended effect. Interesting note about the bolded - I don't remember hearing anything about where our political leaders fall in the priority sequence. I'm quite sure there has been no public announcements about any of them from the PM on down being vaccinated yet.

It is really just to try give reassurances about safety; I guess they figure that some people will be less wary of getting the vaccine if ScoMo (as our PM is known) gets it first. I believe the leader of the opposition, the leader of the Greens and some other politicans will be getting it next week. The state Premiers, the federal health minister and the secretary of the federal health department (who was our chief medical officer at the start of the pandemic) will all be getting the Astra Zeneca, again I think to give confidence that both vaccines are good and that those of us getting AZ aren't receiving the "dud" vaccine.

Australia is also in a very lucky position where we don't have the same prevalence of COVID around, so the PM getting the vaccine early isn't likely to mean that someone else will die or get sick as a result.

We got some news articles about protests against the vaccines in Australia. How serious are these, in your opinion?

The protests on Saturday were laughable; they were apparently protesting against the vaccines, in particular the Pfizer, being made made mandatory. There are currently no plans for the vaccines to be mandatory, apart from those working in quarantine and potentially aged care and health care, and most of those protesting will be so far down the list that they won’t even be eligible for Pfizer.

Generally, Australians are good about vaccinations. We have over 95% compliance with early childhood vaccinations. Of course, there are still anti-vaxxers around, as @kyton has stated and unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation being spread (not helped by Facebook last week banning any legitimate news being posted!).

Have they spoken about any requirements for incoming travelers needing to be vaccinated once borders are open?

There has definitely been talk of vaccination passports being required and the Qantas CEO has also raised that they will require international travelers on their flights to be vaccinated.

 

[ronandannette]

It is really just to try give reassurances about safety; I guess they figure that some people will be less wary of getting the vaccine if ScoMo (as our PM is known) gets it first. I believe the leader of the opposition, the leader of the Greens and some other politicans will be getting it next week. The state Premiers, the federal health minister and the secretary of the federal health department (who was our chief medical officer at the start of the pandemic) will all be getting the Astra Zeneca, again I think to give confidence that both vaccines are good and that those of us getting AZ aren't receiving the "dud" vaccine.

Australia is also in a very lucky position where we don't have the same prevalence of COVID around, so the PM getting the vaccine early isn't likely to mean that someone else will die or get sick as a result.



The protests on Saturday were laughable; they were apparently protesting against the vaccines, in particular the Pfizer, being made made mandatory. There are currently no plans for the vaccines to be mandatory, apart from those working in quarantine and potentially aged care and health care, and most of those protesting will be so far down the list that they won’t even be eligible for Pfizer.

Generally, Australians are good about vaccinations. We have over 95% compliance with early childhood vaccinations. Of course, there are still anti-vaxxers around, as @kyton has stated and unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation being spread (not helped by Facebook last week banning any legitimate news being posted!).



There has definitely been talk of vaccination passports being required and the Qantas CEO has also raised that they will require international travelers on their flights to be vaccinated.

Ah, OK - that didn't occur to me. Here, they'd probably just be accused of jumping the queue. If they have been vaccinated already, it's been done very quietly and I personally couldn't care less either way.

 

[elphaba91]

Ah, OK - that didn't occur to me. Here, they'd probably just be accused of jumping the queue. If they have been vaccinated already, it's been done very quietly and I personally couldn't care less either way.

Oh, there definitely people accusing him of queue jumping! Also those who say the leader of the opposition and/or the state Premiers and Chief Health Officers should have been done at the same time, etc. etc. You will never make everyone happy, especially when it comes to politics!