Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #3

[LadyL]

oh boy the anti-vaxxers will just use this as ammunition for their cause

Canada's public health agency admits it tracked 33 million mobile devices during lockdown

 

[LadyL]

which province or area are you located in?

I’m in the GTA (Toronto area) and we just don’t have the land for drivethru pharmacies. Just for Timmies and McDonalds.

I'm about 2 hours or less from you.

 

[JDG]

Guess we don’t go far enough afield, have not seen them in Canada at all.

Is it something new? We used to drive all over the place, maybe just not to pharmacies. lol

 

[otto]

Alberta started booster shots with age 65+ and 6 months after the last shot. It was reduced to age 60. Ten days later it was reduced to age 18 and 5 months since last shot. The rollout was pushed forward because of omicron, but it crashed the booking system and pharmacies ran out of Pfizer and/or Moderna. It's possible that some vaccine was expiring because not enough people got their shots right away, or were ineligible because it had not been 6 months. Now pharmacies are swarmed. Almost 2 years in and still issues with logistics.

 

[otto]

Seems like an oxymoron for a double vaccinated person to claim that she is so careful regarding covid but thinks she picked it up in a restaurant. It's a fact that the airborne virus spreads more easily in a restaurant ... ventilation vans and shared air.

Eating at restaurants during pandemic is not being careful, it's taking your chances.

"The 29-year-old Toronto law clerk said that she was shocked that she contracted the virus and found it "ironic," given how careful she's been. She said she's double vaccinated.

Floyd believes she was exposed at a restaurant on Dec. 10, and started to feel symptoms, which she said were similar to a bad cold, on Dec. 14.
...

This newest variant is incredibly contagious, with one study suggesting that it multiplies in tissue samples of human bronchi, the tubes that carry air into the lungs, 70 times faster than the Delta variant or the original strain."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/omicron-should-shake-off-covid-stigma-1.6296669

 

[otto]

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Airlines claimed that covid risk is low on a plane, and border closures ruin their business. Today, Airlines are cancelling flights because too many crew members are sick.

What a shift in perspective for the airlines and tourism industry. In a way, the pandemic had to become so bad that those who insisted on living as though there is no pandemic now have no choice but to rethink their position.

"At least three major airlines have reported cancelling dozens of flights as illnesses largely tied to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus take a toll on flight crew numbers during the busy holiday travel season.

Germany-based Lufthansa said Friday it was cancelling a dozen long-haul transatlantic flights over the Christmas holiday period because of a "massive rise" in sick leave among pilots. The cancellations on flights to Houston, Boston and Washington come despite a "large buffer" of additional staff for the period.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said they cancelled dozens of flights because of staff shortages tied to the Omicron variant. Delta cancelled 145 flights on Friday and 111 for Christmas Day, according to FlightAware. (Other factors, such as weather, are also causing cancellations.) United called off 175 flights on Friday and 69 on Saturday.​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/airlines-christmas-cancellation-omicron-coronavirus-1.6297442

 

[otto]

Remember covid with the 10-14 day incubation period, unlikely to get it twice? Those might be the good old days. Omicron seems to have a 3-4 day incubation period and high reinfection rate. Perhaps the next variant will have a 24 hour incubation period, like the common cold, with a higher reinfection rate.

3-4 days is consistent with the legal assistant I linked earlier. She was at the restaurant on Dec 10. Dec 14 she felt unwell and Dec 15 she took the test.

"The study found that the vaccine from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German partner BioNTech provided just 33 percent protection against infection, much less than the level for other variants detected in the country.

Noach said anecdotal evidence gathered from doctors treating omicron patients outside hospitals showed a high reinfection rate and multiple breakthrough infections in vaccinated people that emerge after a short incubation period of three to four days."
​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/14/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus/

 

[tarabull]

Finding rapid COVID-19 tests in Sask. is hassle-free. The same can’t be said for the rest of Canada | Globalnews.ca

 

[tarabull]

Omicron Is Our Past Pandemic Mistakes on Fast-Forward

 

[tarabull]

Omicron’s Here. We Invited It In | The Tyee

 

[otto]

Omicron’s Here. We Invited It In | The Tyee

I think it's time for the people who make the decisions to assume that this will happen (from your link):

"Hasletine adds that a variant more transmissible and deadly than Omicron is entirely possible given the dismal global response to the pandemic so far."​

It seems inevitable when looking at the pattern we have. The first covid virus was mild, delta was worse, omicron is worse still. This isn't getting better or going away, it's getting worse. Carrying on, life as usual, as though the virus will magically disappear isn't working. The 1918 virus did vanish after a couple of years, but people were not circling the globe on a daily basis as we do today.

​

 

[musicaljoke]

Omicron Is Our Past Pandemic Mistakes on Fast-Forward

This is an excellent article that spells out the essential mistakes that have been, and are continuing to be made in managing the pandemic. Thanks for sharing.

 

[LadyL]

Guess we don’t go far enough afield, have not seen them in Canada at all.

Is it something new? We used to drive all over the place, maybe just not to pharmacies. lol

I can't think of the names of the drugstores now ... maybe Rexall and maybe one at a Walmart? they're not new

 

[otto]

Global warming and pandemic! Life is good in the natural energy rich province.

"The entire province of Alberta was placed under a cold weather warning Sunday afternoon, as prolonged frigid temperatures continue to cancel activities and force many indoors.

Most of the province was already facing an extreme cold warning, but the advisory has been expanded to include parts of southern Alberta that were not included on Christmas Day.

In Edmonton, Environment Canada said it's expected that extremely cold wind chill values between –40 C and –55C are expected. In Calgary, the current forecast calls for a wind chill around –43 C.

"Extreme cold, brutal cold, there is no other way to describe it," said Dave Phillips with Environment Canada."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/extreme-cold-warning-1.6298641

 

[Sundog]

Global warming and pandemic! Life is good in the natural energy rich province.

"The entire province of Alberta was placed under a cold weather warning Sunday afternoon, as prolonged frigid temperatures continue to cancel activities and force many indoors.

Most of the province was already facing an extreme cold warning, but the advisory has been expanded to include parts of southern Alberta that were not included on Christmas Day.

In Edmonton, Environment Canada said it's expected that extremely cold wind chill values between –40 C and –55C are expected. In Calgary, the current forecast calls for a wind chill around –43 C.

"Extreme cold, brutal cold, there is no other way to describe it," said Dave Phillips with Environment Canada."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/extreme-cold-warning-1.6298641

Wow, that's cold! My brother and his family live in Edmonton, I hope he has the day off work today. Wonder if the car will start... I've only been to Edmonton once, and thankfully it was in the summer. They have tried to get us there in the winter for a Christmas visit, but no way. Just too cold for us, we don't have the right gear.

 

[Sundog]

Global warming and pandemic! Life is good in the natural energy rich province.

"The entire province of Alberta was placed under a cold weather warning Sunday afternoon, as prolonged frigid temperatures continue to cancel activities and force many indoors.

Most of the province was already facing an extreme cold warning, but the advisory has been expanded to include parts of southern Alberta that were not included on Christmas Day.

In Edmonton, Environment Canada said it's expected that extremely cold wind chill values between –40 C and –55C are expected. In Calgary, the current forecast calls for a wind chill around –43 C.

"Extreme cold, brutal cold, there is no other way to describe it," said Dave Phillips with Environment Canada."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/extreme-cold-warning-1.6298641

My niece is a nurse at a hospital in Fort St. John, British Columbia and this morning she posted that with the windchill factor, it is like -48. Definitely brutal.

 

[musicaljoke]

My niece is a nurse at a hospital in Fort St. John, British Columbia and this morning she posted that with the windchill factor, it is like -48. Definitely brutal.

Would you mind asking her what it's like to wear a mask at that temp? Does it freeze to your face? Does it ice up from your breath? Does it help keep your face warm?

 

[anneg]

Global warming and pandemic! Life is good in the natural energy rich province.

"The entire province of Alberta was placed under a cold weather warning Sunday afternoon, as prolonged frigid temperatures continue to cancel activities and force many indoors.

Most of the province was already facing an extreme cold warning, but the advisory has been expanded to include parts of southern Alberta that were not included on Christmas Day.

In Edmonton, Environment Canada said it's expected that extremely cold wind chill values between –40 C and –55C are expected. In Calgary, the current forecast calls for a wind chill around –43 C.

"Extreme cold, brutal cold, there is no other way to describe it," said Dave Phillips with Environment Canada."
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/extreme-cold-warning-1.6298641

Wow! Hard for me to imagine.

 

[Sundog]

Would you mind asking her what it's like to wear a mask at that temp? Does it freeze to your face? Does it ice up from your breath? Does it help keep your face warm?

She drove to work and parked as close as she could to the hospital entrance. In the car, she put on a surgical mask as they have to have a mask on when they enter the hospital. Because of the windchill factor, she had to put on a hat that covered her ears, and she put a scarf over her mask for extra coverage of her nose and rest of her face so that not much of her face would be exposed. She said she kept two new/clean masks in her bag so that she could change out her mask as soon as she could when she got inside because the masks freeze on the outside and then are not effective - they stay moist on the inside due to your breath that stays warm on the inside of the mask, but the outside freezes when it gets wet, although the scarf wrapped around her head helped. Also, with the cold air, often people get a runny nose, the whole thing is quite unpleasant, and you have to change masks quickly as soon as you can. Once it gets wet like this, the mask will not stop viral droplets from escaping or from entering.

That's pretty much it. Today is her birthday, and she is glad to be home where it's warm and cozy and no masks required.

 

[musicaljoke]

She drove to work and parked as close as she could to the hospital entrance. In the car, she put on a surgical mask as they have to have a mask on when they enter the hospital. Because of the windchill factor, she had to put on a hat that covered her ears, and she put a scarf over her mask for extra coverage of her nose and rest of her face so that not much of her face would be exposed. She said she kept two new/clean masks in her bag so that she could change out her mask as soon as she could when she got inside because the masks freeze on the outside and then are not effective - they stay moist on the inside due to your breath that stays warm on the inside of the mask, but the outside freezes when it gets wet, although the scarf wrapped around her head helped. Also, with the cold air, often people get a runny nose, the whole thing is quite unpleasant, and you have to change masks quickly as soon as you can. Once it gets wet like this, the mask will not stop viral droplets from escaping or from entering.

That's pretty much it. Today is her birthday, and she is glad to be home where it's warm and cozy and no masks required.

My goodness! Please tell her, thanks for the reminder to keep a dry mask in our coat pocket. I hope she has a happy birthday.