Covid And The Rest of Us

[BadPinkTink]

The Irish Prime Minister just gave a press conference detailing whats next for Ireland

Level 5 restrictions are to remain until April 5th

The only change between the last 6 weeks of lockdown and the next 6 weeks of lockdown is a phased return to in person schools.

March 1:
Final year of high /school secondary school / 17 and 18 year olds
Kindergarten and year one and two in primary school / children from 4 years old to 8 years old

March 15:
Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 in primary school / children from 8 years old to 12 years old
Second last year of high school / secondary school / 16 and 17 year olds

April 12:
All remaining high school / secondary school years.

After April 5th, depending on how low case numbers and deaths are, there will be a consideration on removing the 5km travel limit and the easing of restrictions on outdoor activities and mixing of households, as well as construction and sport.

Any further easing of restrictions after 5 April will need a further three to four week period to allow for assessment of the impact of changes.

There is no timeframe given for the reopening of hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure and tourism, or services such as hairdressers, beauty therapists etc.

 

[Karin1984]

We also just had a press conference for NL. Last few weeks have been rough. The snow and the ice gave us a break from the boredom and now the weather is beautiful and we want to go out. Especially because surrounding countries are getting more relaxed. Support for the government's decisions goes down. So some measures will be eased.

Our measures:
- Curfew extended to 15 March
- March elections will be spread over 3 days, instead of 1. Only elderly people get to vote by mail (young vulnerable people are not happy with this)
- Highschools will partially reopen with a minimum of 1 day in person.
Masks, keep distance, walking routes, not all classes will have breaks/lunches at the same time
- Universities & colleges stay with online teaching. Not sure what the translation is, but for those students for practical professions (think mechanics etc.) will go back also 1 day a week.
- After school care will stay closed for now.
- Contact professions (hair stylists, driving instructions, beauticians etc) will start as of 3rd of March, except sex workers.
- Team sports allowed for people till 27 years old.
- For all, outside sports is allowed, if you can keep your distance. Golf, tennis etc.
- In person shopping at non-essential stores, with an appointment.
- 1 visitor per household.
- Only travel when necessary
- Masks in public indoor areas.
- Museums, theaters, etc. stay closed for now.

To report on the tests we are doing in theaters and festivals. For the first theater event, no one got infected. The only thing was one of the workers got infected, but didn't infect anyone else at the event. He probably got infected after getting tested negative (the test had to be less than 48 hours old). For the football match, they couldn't find enough people to go, while for the festival 1500 people can attend per event, over 80K people applied.

Astra is not very steady in their deliveries, again they had to skip a week. meaning 200K vaccines will be delayed by a week.

Over 1 million people got their shot, about 75% got a first shot, 25% got both shots.
65 people died after getting the vaccination, all were over 80 and all had underlying conditions.

R-figure a little under 1. Infections and deaths go up and down, but overall still going down, very slowly. What is going down is the amount of infections in care homes. At the top of the crisis over 800 homes had at least 1 infections. This is now down to 400 homes who had an infection in the past two weeks.
Infection rate went down from 11,5% to 9,8%

 

[NFLDERS]

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)

Here's what I think, and my husband concurs. We DUO with my two brothers and sisters-in-law weekly; four of us are Ontarians and the other two are in B. C. On Vancouver Island. The flippant attitude alluded sometimes is fast becoming contentious. I'm not sure if our DUO's may continue, at the very least a breather may ensue. It saddens us that they can find, much less poke fun in this situation.

 

[ronandannette]

The Irish Prime Minister just gave a press conference detailing whats next for Ireland

Level 5 restrictions are to remain until April 5th

The only change between the last 6 weeks of lockdown and the next 6 weeks of lockdown is a phased return to in person schools.

March 1:
Final year of high /school secondary school / 17 and 18 year olds
Kindergarten and year one and two in primary school / children from 4 years old to 8 years old

March 15:
Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 in primary school / children from 8 years old to 12 years old
Second last year of high school / secondary school / 16 and 17 year olds

April 12:
All remaining high school / secondary school years.

After April 5th, depending on how low case numbers and deaths are, there will be a consideration on removing the 5km travel limit and the easing of restrictions on outdoor activities and mixing of households, as well as construction and sport.

Any further easing of restrictions after 5 April will need a further three to four week period to allow for assessment of the impact of changes.

There is no timeframe given for the reopening of hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure and tourism, or services such as hairdressers, beauty therapists etc.

Your curve looks very good; what exactly are the results/benchmarks Ireland is going for?

 

[Mcmd11]

Your curve looks very good; what exactly are the results/benchmarks Ireland is going for?
View attachment 558604

They have not defined what the tolerance levels are.

 

[White Cat]

Again? We haven’t been out of lockdown since the end of November.

We are no longer fully closed.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We also just had a press conference for NL. Last few weeks have been rough. The snow and the ice gave us a break from the boredom and now the weather is beautiful and we want to go out. Especially because surrounding countries are getting more relaxed. Support for the government's decisions goes down. So some measures will be eased.

Our measures:
- Curfew extended to 15 March
- March elections will be spread over 3 days, instead of 1. Only elderly people get to vote by mail (young vulnerable people are not happy with this)
- Highschools will partially reopen with a minimum of 1 day in person.
Masks, keep distance, walking routes, not all classes will have breaks/lunches at the same time
- Universities & colleges stay with online teaching. Not sure what the translation is, but for those students for practical professions (think mechanics etc.) will go back also 1 day a week.
- After school care will stay closed for now.
- Contact professions (hair stylists, driving instructions, beauticians etc) will start as of 3rd of March, except sex workers.
- Team sports allowed for people till 27 years old.
- For all, outside sports is allowed, if you can keep your distance. Golf, tennis etc.
- In person shopping at non-essential stores, with an appointment.
- 1 visitor per household.
- Only travel when necessary
- Masks in public indoor areas.
- Museums, theaters, etc. stay closed for now.

To report on the tests we are doing in theaters and festivals. For the first theater event, no one got infected. The only thing was one of the workers got infected, but didn't infect anyone else at the event. He probably got infected after getting tested negative (the test had to be less than 48 hours old). For the football match, they couldn't find enough people to go, while for the festival 1500 people can attend per event, over 80K people applied.

Astra is not very steady in their deliveries, again they had to skip a week. meaning 200K vaccines will be delayed by a week.

Over 1 million people got their shot, about 75% got a first shot, 25% got both shots.
65 people died after getting the vaccination, all were over 80 and all had underlying conditions.

R-figure a little under 1. Infections and deaths go up and down, but overall still going down, very slowly. What is going down is the amount of infections in care homes. At the top of the crisis over 800 homes had at least 1 infections. This is now down to 400 homes who had an infection in the past two weeks.
Infection rate went down from 11,5% to 9,8%

Yeah R0 below one...encouraging news!

 

[fab1976]

We are no longer fully closed.

I was referring to the area around Pearson. I’m in Peel. We locked down on November 23rd and it hasn’t changed since then. Hard to threaten us with a lockdown again when we haven’t left it yet.

 

[ronandannette]

They have not defined what the tolerance levels are.

That would not be accepted here. For the most part, Albertans have been jaw-clinchingly compliant (which has resulted in our cases dropping significantly) but always with the provision that achievable goals were stated and adhered to. Some of our restrictions were lifted three weeks ago (in-house dining and salons/personal services) when our target hospitalization and ICU rates were reached.

 

[ronandannette]

Some travellers walking out of Pearson airport instead of paying for quarantine hotel (msn.com)
Wow, what a gong-show this is turning out to be. And meanwhile, back in Calgary, where we have finally received a quantity of vaccine and announced availability for anyone 75 and over, people have completely crashed our 9-1-1 system all day by mistakenly dialing it instead of the 8-1-1 Provincial Health Line that they should be calling to book their appointments. {{facepalm}}

 

[TLSnell1981]

Y'all just hurry up and open things! Serious...not serious! I have my moments and this is one of them. . I am ready to roam. I have serious Wanderlust! I feel we are soooo close to returning to a somewhat normal world. I'm already booked for the end of this year. I am on ready, set and GO!

 

[CJK]

It was announced today that the Toronto CNE is planning to proceed this coming August. For those outside of Canada, it's an annual carnival/festival with outdoor rides and indoor exhibits. It gave me a glimmer of hope. I then read some of the comments on this news story and in general, people were horrified and thought that it's irresponsible. They thought it should be cancelled until 2022. In all seriousness, I just sat there and cried! I was really, really hoping that things would be improved by late summer, making it not irresponsible for some 'normal' activities to return by August. It's 6 months away, and people are already saying we should cancel. I'm just wondering if this will ever be over.

 

[elphaba91]

I read an article today that Spain's coronavirus incidence has fallen below 250 cases per 100,000 people - thereby being below their health department's threshold for "extreme risk" of contagion - for the first time in 2 months. This excellent news and a recent reference by another poster to the R0 got me thinking, what are the 'important' numbers in your area and how are they communicated to the public?

In Victoria it's changed over time. Initially we didn't know who, when and where the numbers would be announced - one day it would be the Premier on a radio station at 8am, the next it would be the Health Minister on TV at 9am. During our second wave they were announced daily at the Premier's press conference - again we didn't know what time. Eventually they listened to the public and we now we get a tweet each morning from the Department of Health Twitter account that looks like this:

We mainly care about the number of locally acquired cases. When we've had any we then also get information about whether they are epidemiologically or genomically linked to another case. During the height of our second wave the R0, number of deaths and numbers in hospital and ICU were also important.

What are your numbers that your governments use to show how the situation is going in your area?

 

[bcwife76]

I'm not sure what the plans are here for the PNE in Vancouver (the last two weeks of summer, ending Labour day weekend). It was, of course, cancelled last year, but they did manage to reopen Playland (the amusement park portion), though with lots of Covid measures in place and not all rides were open. I'm assuming they will reopen Playland again this year (and their website indicates that is the plan) but nothing for the actual PNE fair has been announced yet.

 

[La Stilla]

Well, the numbers are pretty high at the moment. Only 8000 vaccines donated from Serbia, and that is it.

 

[NFLDERS]

I just found this. It brings up a good point about snowbirds needing to return to their home provinces within the timeframe required in order to maintain their tax status and health coverage. I'm not sure if there are also visa requirements to stay in the US longer than 6 months.
(1) From insurance to hotel quarantine, new travel rules leave snowbirds in a conundrum - National | Globalnews.ca

I also saw over the weekend that the locations of the Covid hotels have been announced and some of them are saying the price won't necessarily be as high as expected. There was one in Calgary that was quoting $600'ish per person and one in Vancouver quoting $1,800'ish per person. There are a number of them in each gateway city (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal). Presumably, people will be able to choose where they want to stay, provided they can get a reservation. I wish I could find the article again but no luck right now.

Just heard on CBC this morning some Canadians are refusing the hotel quarantine. Just read your ^post, I missed it in my first catch up. Have you heard how Customs Canada is going to be responding going forward?

 

[quandrea]

Just heard on CBC this morning some Canadians are refusing the hotel quarantine. Just read your ^post, I missed it in my first catch up. Have you heard how Customs Canada is going to be responding going forward?

I heard with tickets. Nothing very dramatic.

 

[NFLDERS]

I heard with tickets. Nothing very dramatic.

I'd think a locked exit situation with only compliance exits. A holding area would get pretty uncomfortable, pretty fast!

 

[ronandannette]

Just heard on CBC this morning some Canadians are refusing the hotel quarantine. Just read your ^post, I missed it in my first catch up. Have you heard how Customs Canada is going to be responding going forward?

I heard with tickets. Nothing very dramatic.

If they impose any penalty at all, which is where this gets crazy for me. According to this article, the RCMP are not issuing tickets on-site (haven't been in Toronto) and say it's the responsibility of the Health Authorities to follow up. It's still early days and I've seen nothing of whether it will actually happen. Like them or lump them, if the restrictions are not enforced or are unenforceable, they should be dropped.
YVR arrivals may be walking, opting for fines over hotel quarantine | Vancouver Sun

 

[quandrea]

If they impose any penalty at all, which is where this gets crazy for me. According to this article, the RCMP are not issuing tickets on-site (haven't been in Toronto) and say it's the responsibility of the Health Authorities to follow up. It's still early days and I've seen nothing of whether it will actually happen. Like them or lump them, if the restrictions are not enforced or are unenforceable, they should be dropped.
YVR arrivals may be walking, opting for fines over hotel quarantine | Vancouver Sun

Completely agree.