Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #2

[LadyL]

Canada to squeeze extra vaccine dose from Pfizer vials. It’s not as easy as it seems

Risk of death 3.5 times higher for COVID-19 than influenza: CMAJ study

 

[dotr]

Scammers asking for COVID-19 vaccination money, Niagara Region health unit warns
Feb 10 2021
''ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Health authorities in Niagara Region are warning about a COVID-19 vaccination scam.

It appears someone is calling residents to schedule a vaccination appointment.

The caller also asks for payment.

Health officials say they aren't calling about appointments and never ask for money for COVID-19 immunizations.

They also warn against providing personal information, such as health or credit card numbers.

They advise hanging up if you get such a call, and to call police if you lose money.''

 

[LadyL]

Coronavirus: Indoor dining allowed for NHL teams while Ontario still under lockdown

 

[deugirtni]

Why returning travellers will pay $2000 per person for quarantine:

"Many people have questioned how a three-day stay in a hotel could total $2,000. The government says the amount would also cover related expenses, such as the cost of the test, transportation, hotel security and added health protections for hotel staff. Presumably, meals would be included as well

"It's not just simply the cost of a hotel room," Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said on Jan. 29.

He said travellers shouldn't balk at the price tag.

"We think that if they're going to make that choice [to travel], that they should bear the full cost and responsibility of all the measures that are necessary to keep Canadians safe."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hotel-quarantine-travel-questions-1.5904275

This information on what the $2000+ charge includes, suggests the government may have put it into a neat little package to include services from various suppliers, ie hotel stay, transportation provider, Covid test, security, whatever, etc. I'm assuming the patrons would be billed one charge (could be wrong?).. and if all of that is true, then it would be the government securing and paying for the services, and then billing the combined fee back to each patron. (Otherwise, it would be the hotels and service providers who would be providing these mandatory services with the risk of not being paid.)

One of the Australian members posted in the main Covid thread that their government had been doing this same sort of thing for awhile, and they would tack it on to the residents' tax accounts. I don't believe Australia has been allowing foreigners to fly into their country, as Canada has, and so it would be fairly simple for the government to ensure they get paid by its own residents. Smart idea, because I was thinking some people may balk and refuse to pay it.

So in Canada's case, because we are talking about not only our own residents returning into Canada (ie snowbirds and people returning from visiting their sick relatives in other countries), but also foreigners arriving from other countries into Canada for whatever reasons.. how does our government get reimbursed? ie a family arrives from India.. what if they're whisked away to the mandated hotel stay and Covid test, but they say they don't have the cash, and they don't have a credit card, or it's maxed out or whatever? It's not like our government can access other countries' residents' tax accounts. So how do they ensure reimbursement?

I remember when Highway#407 in Ontario was created as a toll route, and people were sent bills in the mail whenever they accessed the highway, based on cameras recording their license plate numbers when they entered and exited the highway, and how far was traveled in between. Sometimes of course, there were people driving on the highway from USA or others who lived outside of Canada. I remember it being said at the time that there was no real way for the government to actually ensure receipt of the outstanding billed amounts. Will it be the same with this mandatory hotel-stay thing? For our own residents, we have things in place whereby the government can make people pay outstanding fines and whatever, else they will be denied their license renewals. We don't have that option with foreigners. I would be interested to know how all of this is working from a financial perspective.

 

[tarabull]

Sask. estimates it has nearly 19,000 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 | The Star Phoenix

 

[otto]

This information on what the $2000+ charge includes, suggests the government may have put it into a neat little package to include services from various suppliers, ie hotel stay, transportation provider, Covid test, security, whatever, etc. I'm assuming the patrons would be billed one charge (could be wrong?).. and if all of that is true, then it would be the government securing and paying for the services, and then billing the combined fee back to each patron. (Otherwise, it would be the hotels and service providers who would be providing these mandatory services with the risk of not being paid.)

One of the Australian members posted in the main Covid thread that their government had been doing this same sort of thing for awhile, and they would tack it on to the residents' tax accounts. I don't believe Australia has been allowing foreigners to fly into their country, as Canada has, and so it would be fairly simple for the government to ensure they get paid by its own residents. Smart idea, because I was thinking some people may balk and refuse to pay it.

So in Canada's case, because we are talking about not only our own residents returning into Canada (ie snowbirds and people returning from visiting their sick relatives in other countries), but also foreigners arriving from other countries into Canada for whatever reasons.. how does our government get reimbursed? ie a family arrives from India.. what if they're whisked away to the mandated hotel stay and Covid test, but they say they don't have the cash, and they don't have a credit card, or it's maxed out or whatever? It's not like our government can access other countries' residents' tax accounts. So how do they ensure reimbursement?

I remember when Highway#407 in Ontario was created as a toll route, and people were sent bills in the mail whenever they accessed the highway, based on cameras recording their license plate numbers when they entered and exited the highway, and how far was traveled in between. Sometimes of course, there were people driving on the highway from USA or others who lived outside of Canada. I remember it being said at the time that there was no real way for the government to actually ensure receipt of the outstanding billed amounts. Will it be the same with this mandatory hotel-stay thing? For our own residents, we have things in place whereby the government can make people pay outstanding fines and whatever, else they will be denied their license renewals. We don't have that option with foreigners. I would be interested to know how all of this is working from a financial perspective.

The way the Dutch government handled unpaid fines a few years ago was that the fine popped up when people were at the airport to fly out of the country. They couldn't get on the plane without paying an unpaid parking ticket. University students with unpaid fines don't receive their degree document until they pay. People who can afford to travel during covid have money, and there must be options to ensure payment such as a one time bump in the upper limit on a credit card.

I have no doubt that every single person facing mandatory quarantine will pretend that they cannot afford it.

 

[Tadpole12]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...cine-task-force-deloitte-consulting-1.5909515

Ontario gives sole-sourced contract to Deloitte to support COVID-19 vaccination campaign

"Doug Ford government refuses to reveal cost of consulting deal"


The state of COVID-19 variants in Canada: Ontario has more than half the cases | National Post


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/fake-covid-test-toronto-pearson-1.5909286

Man charged after allegedly displaying fake COVID-19 test at Toronto's Pearson airport

""When a man's negative COVID-19 document was revealed to be fraudulent, it was, in fact, a positive test result," police said in a news release Wednesday."


Central Pickering had one of Ontario's highest COVID positivity rates at the end of January

 

[Tadpole12]

Ontario reports 945 new cases of COVID-19 today but Toronto Public Health data incomplete

"Third wave possible this spring"

 

[otto]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/fake-covid-test-toronto-pearson-1.5909286

Man charged after allegedly displaying fake COVID-19 test at Toronto's Pearson airport

""When a man's negative COVID-19 document was revealed to be fraudulent, it was, in fact, a positive test result," police said in a news release Wednesday."

I am surprised that so many people will try anything to get around public safety. It seems that the only way to account for individuals who think the rules are for other people is stricter rules, fewer options for deceit and trickery.

 

[Tadpole12]

COVID-19: Provincial modelling reveals 'real threat' of new COVID-19 variants; Ottawa reports 56 new cases | Ottawa Citizen

"Ontario postpones Spring Break to April 12."

"Some key mental health indicators remain "unchanged," he said but non-COVID emergency department admissions, and opiate deaths and care for eating disorders are worsening," he said."

ETA

"Meanwhile, the province was forced to backtrack Thursday after announcing the first round of COVID-19 vaccines in all of the province's lone term care homes had been completed."

***

Ontario admits it didn't actually meet deadline for first doses of COVID-19 vaccinations in long-term care homes

 

[LadyL]

ok, this is concerning to me

COVID-19: Calgary man says he was given no reason for quarantine in undisclosed hotel

 

[Tadpole12]

^
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...ne-covid-19-isolation-public-health-1.5900876

A rare glimpse inside Calgary's COVID-19 isolation hotel, as travellers share concerns


"While the Public Health Agency of Canada won't say how many people have stayed in the Calgary facility - or even where it is, in order, it says, to protect the privacy and safety of travellers - 5,030 have been lodged in the sites countrywide as of Jan 24."

 

[otto]

ok, this is concerning to me

COVID-19: Calgary man says he was given no reason for quarantine in undisclosed hotel

That's the same story I posted from the CBC the other day. He making the rounds with different newspapers.

He was quarantined because he returned from international travel and was sent to an undisclosed hotel for 3 days at a cost of $2000. He should read the news if he needs more information about quarantine for international travellers.

It sounds like he thinks that travel for business means an exemption from the rules.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...ne-covid-19-isolation-public-health-1.5900876

 

[LadyL]

2 masks are better than 1 to protect against coronavirus, CDC confirms

 

[LadyL]

That's the same story I posted from the CBC the other day. He making the rounds with different newspapers.

He was quarantined because he returned from international travel and was sent to an undisclosed hotel for 3 days at a cost of $2000. He should read the news if he needs more information about quarantine for international travellers.

It sounds like he thinks that travel for business means an exemption from the rules.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calg...ne-covid-19-isolation-public-health-1.5900876

sorry didn't realize you'd already posted the story

 

[LadyL]

Video of Earls guests breaking Alberta COVID-19 rules condemned by restaurant and Hinshaw

 

[LadyL]

What a 16th-century plague survival guide has in common with COVID-19 advice

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent...nlR8GEv3HNkN7ZzIABHshFmMcTUAj9PXOWHFvYRKXKZ_Q

 

[otto]

sorry didn't realize you'd already posted the story

It's good to see the same story with a slightly different slant. The article you linked does expose the man as bewildered regarding quarantine. What I meant to say is that this man is acting as though he was mistreated regarding quarantine rules and pretending that he didn't understand what was happening to him. He wants to appear as the victim of an overbearing and unfair government that deprived him of his rights. When the CBC didn't have the tone he wanted, he found another news outlet that would give a better victim slant to his complaints.

Every day there's another news article about someone complaining about how the world was changed by pandemic, and how it feels unfair. I don't think there's anyone in the world who doesn't agree that it feels unfair, but there's nothing to be done but to ride it out and hope that the virus fades away after 2 years as it did in 1920.

The man decided that because he travelled for business, rather than vacation, he should be treated differently. He knows that makes no sense, but he's hoping others will sympathise with him.

 

[otto]

Video of Earls guests breaking Alberta COVID-19 rules condemned by restaurant and Hinshaw

I like how this is framed by health officials (from link):

“It is heartless and it is cruel to treat their deaths and the sacrifices of Edmontonians who have diligently followed Public Health orders to do their part to protect our health-care system as if they mean nothing, by flouting these important rules that are here for our safety.”​

 

[otto]

2 masks are better than 1 to protect against coronavirus, CDC confirms

Finally! I was quite surprised when this was discussed on CBC and, instead of debating one mask versus two, they discussed two masks versus wearing one mask properly - concluding that one mask worn properly is better than wearing two masks.

I researched double masking a while ago and the 2003 SARS outbreak info was that two masks are better than one. Too often experts think they need to re-invent the wheel.