Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #3

[LadyL]

Canada’s 4th COVID-19 wave will be among unvaccinated, with fewer restrictions: experts

 

[otto]

If the Stampede concerts are anything like the Dutch concerts, Calgary will see a surge in cases starting next week.

"COVID-19 cases were at their lowest in the Netherlands when the country reopened in June, and vaccination rates were comparable with Alberta. At the beginning of July, infections jumped 500 per cent in one week; most cases were in young people and were the highly transmissible delta variant.

One music venue saw more than one in 20 attendees, or 1,000 people, test positive after an outdoor concert, according to local media. The concert, much like the Stampede's Nashville North concert tent, required visitors to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter.
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/premier-kenney-after-the-pandemic-1.6108920

 

[otto]

Does any one wonder about the fact that covid is a "herd immunity" event, but politicians who make these decisions are not part of the herd? That's not to say that someone should be part of the herd to support the cause, but perhaps it means that we should avoid the covid herd if we can.

Canada is opening up cities and country - essentially declaring that herd immunity is the only option.

I would suggest, only because I am overly cautious, that we continue to try to avoid getting sick until the virus cannot find new hosts, and we cannot be found. Just a thought.

There's no evidence that double vaccinated people who get sick do not get the long haul version - which means slow early death rather than 2 week sudden death.

It is a global pandemic, after all. No time to be foolish while governments ignore science.

 

[otto]

Canada’s 4th COVID-19 wave will be among unvaccinated, with fewer restrictions: experts

The UK is having a third wave, Canada seems to think it's having a fourth wave. What's the story, that Canada leads global waves? Perhaps Canada should stop thinking that managing an outbreak means it ended.

 

[MrX]

Does any one wonder about the fact that covid is a "herd immunity" event, but politicians who make these decisions are not part of the herd? That's not to say that someone should be part of the herd to support the cause, but perhaps it means that we should avoid the covid herd if we can.

Canada is opening up cities and country - essentially declaring that herd immunity is the only option.

I would suggest, only because I am overly cautious, that we continue to try to avoid getting sick until the virus cannot find new hosts, and we cannot be found. Just a thought.

There's no evidence that double vaccinated people who get sick do not get the long haul version - which means slow early death rather than 2 week sudden death.

It is a global pandemic, after all. No time to be foolish while governments ignore science.

I think, after 18 months, that it's pretty clear we are dealing with a long term situation. In March of 2020, our Governor announced a 2 week lock down. During that time I learned that the Gold Standard for fighting a pandemic was what Australia and New Zealand were doing. Once our two weeks turned into six, it was clear that most of the world was adopting an ineffective cocktail of masks, distancing, closures, curfews, etc., and this wasn't going end any time soon. At that point I decided to just keep living a normal life. I don't have a ton of "good years" left and decided not to waste them in isolation. I eventually became part of the herd. Others need to make different choices, but I think it's critical to realize that Covid isn't going away. I've discussed this, with others, who take the position that someone being careless in Berlin is responsible for a death in Mumbai. It's a poetic sentiment, but not realistic when weeks are turning into years.

 

[JDG]

Does any one wonder about the fact that covid is a "herd immunity" event, but politicians who make these decisions are not part of the herd? That's not to say that someone should be part of the herd to support the cause, but perhaps it means that we should avoid the covid herd if we can.

Canada is opening up cities and country - essentially declaring that herd immunity is the only option.

I would suggest, only because I am overly cautious, that we continue to try to avoid getting sick until the virus cannot find new hosts, and we cannot be found. Just a thought.

There's no evidence that double vaccinated people who get sick do not get the long haul version - which means slow early death rather than 2 week sudden death.

It is a global pandemic, after all. No time to be foolish while governments ignore science.

Some people with both vaccines are dying from COVID but I agree that it’s time to get some normalcy back into our lives.

I’m in no rush to die from COVID but time is passing us by and the reality of life is that any of us could be in an accident today or tomorrow. If you’ve had your vaccines, you’ve done the best you can.

Life is short, make the most of it!

 

[LadyL]

Canada, U.S. working together is no guarantee of border symmetry, ambassador says

 

[LadyL]

New COVID-19 cases surge in B.C. among the unvaccinated

 

[otto]

Opinion - I heard something promising on the radio this evening. Apparently racial tensions increased during Covid-19 lockdown. My first thought is : how can cultural confusion worsen when everyone is on vacation, paid pandemic time off in the USA, Canada, EU, et cetera?

Relaxing pandemic concerns is apparently tied to reducing racial tensions.

 

[otto]

I had not seen my son for some time so we had lunch on an outdoor patio - given the recent relaxation of restrictions. The outdoor server did not wear a mask. Someone smelled sick, but that's my imagination.

I will count 5 -14 days for symptoms, meanwhile Pier Morgan published that double vaccinated Delta virus illness hit him within two days as sneezing a lot, coughing, fever for a few days, recovering. Is that what herd immunity looks like? A really bad flu?

 

[MrX]

I had not seen my son for some time so we had lunch on an outdoor patio - given the recent relaxation of restrictions. The outdoor server did not wear a mask. Someone smelled sick, but that's my imagination.

I will count 5 -14 days for symptoms, meanwhile Pier Morgan published that double vaccinated Delta virus illness hit him within two days as sneezing a lot, coughing, fever for a few days, recovering. Is that what herd immunity looks like? A really bad flu?

Herd Immunity is different - that's when enough people have enough immunity that the virus has nowhere to go. Like if there are 1000 uninfected people are on a ship and 800 are immune. If the ship encountered a case of Covid, odds are that it will have nowhere to spread and will die out.

The bad flu scenario is more about the effect of the vaccine - a vaccinated person that gets bad flu symptoms from Covid, may have been hospitalized or died, without vaccine.

 

[JDG]

Opinion, Piers Morgan is a journalist who would write about his hangnail, given the chance.

He went to a few of the EuroCup games that were extremely crowded.

No surprise given that he took his mask off in a crowd of,IIRC, 50,000 people.

 

[tarabull]

CBC.ca:
At least 71 people caught COVID-19 at Calgary Stampede.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-stampede-covid-1.6119899

 

[LadyL]

CBC.ca:
At least 71 people caught COVID-19 at Calgary Stampede.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-stampede-covid-1.6119899

knew that was coming

 

[JDG]

CBC.ca:
At least 71 people caught COVID-19 at Calgary Stampede.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-stampede-covid-1.6119899

Still a very low number of people for an event that size.

IIRC, just under 800 people are positive in the Calgary area.

My friend always goes to the Stampede, she thought the crowds were well handled and had her usual wonderful time.

 

[JDG]

Calgary Stampede COVID numbers by comparison to Toronto’s daily numbers.

The positivity rate from the Stampede, so far, is 1.5.
It is expected to increase in the third week after the event.

The positivity rate in Toronto has been 1 for over a week, the authorities seem to think it’s great.

I wonder what the Toronto rate will be three weeks after opening bars/restaurants etc.

Our local patios are jam packed in this area, as are the parks and other public spaces.

 

[otto]

We knew this was coming.

What I find interesting is that the Alberta gov't announced that the threshold of 70% vaccinated (first shot) was reached in June, justifying removal of all covid precautions. Today, that number is 55% with single shot.

"Health and infectious disease experts say the rate at which COVID-19 cases are growing in Alberta is alarming, as it spreads faster than during the height of the pandemic's third wave.

The R-value, which represents the number of people infected by each infected person, was 1.48 (with a confidence interval of 1.38-1.59) in Alberta as of Sunday, according to Alberta Health.

That number — which has doubled in recent weeks — means 100 people with the virus will spread it to 148 others.

"The current R-value provincewide is one of the highest we've seen throughout the pandemic. So although the numbers are low today, the rate of viral spread is really as fast as we've seen at any other point during the pandemic," said Craig Jenne, an immunologist and microbiologist at the University of Calgary.

"This really is the foundation for what everybody refers to as exponential growth … it is definitely laying the potential and the groundwork for a large surge of viral cases in the coming weeks." ...

Of Alberta's total population, 35.8 per cent of people still haven't received a single vaccine shot (25 per cent of those eligible) and 45.7 per cent aren't fully vaccinated, according to Alberta Health.
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/covid-growth-alberta-1.6120076

​

June 16, 2021

"In the coming days — or possibly even hours — first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines will have been administered to 70 per cent of eligible Albertans, starting the two week countdown to Stage 3 of the province's reopening plan."
​

Alberta poised to eclipse 70 per cent vaccination threshold, move toward Stage 3 anticipated

 

[JDG]

^^^^ well, if there was no vaccine, it would be a big problem but with most people getting a lower viral load and thus not having to be hospitalized, it may not be so bad.

Once COVID has been declared endemic most of us will get it at least once, maybe more.

IMO, there will be booster shots in the fall just as there are flu shots.

It seems that most of the really sick people are either partially or not vaccinated. Hasn’t been made official here yet but it has in Europe/Great Britain etc.

 

[deugirtni]

We knew this was coming.

What I find interesting is that the Alberta gov't announced that the threshold of 70% vaccinated (first shot) was reached in June, justifying removal of all covid precautions. Today, that number is 55% with single shot.

....
Of Alberta's total population, 35.8 per cent of people still haven't received a single vaccine shot (25 per cent of those eligible) and 45.7 per cent aren't fully vaccinated, according to Alberta Health.
​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/covid-growth-alberta-1.6120076

​

June 16, 2021

"In the coming days — or possibly even hours — first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines will have been administered to 70 per cent of eligible Albertans, starting the two week countdown to Stage 3 of the province's reopening plan."
​

Alberta poised to eclipse 70 per cent vaccination threshold, move toward Stage 3 anticipated

I'm feeling weak-brained today.. why was AB at 70% in mid June, but now at end of July, they are only at 64% vaxed with first shots? Is it because they are now including 12-17 year olds in the numbers?

 

[deugirtni]

^^^^ well, if there was no vaccine, it would be a big problem but with most people getting a lower viral load and thus not having to be hospitalized, it may not be so bad.

Once COVID has been declared endemic most of us will get it at least once, maybe more.

IMO, there will be booster shots in the fall just as there are flu shots.

It seems that most of the really sick people are either partially or not vaccinated. Hasn’t been made official here yet but it has in Europe/Great Britain etc.

What hasn't been made official here yet.. that most of the really sick people are either partially or not vaccinated, or that covid has been declared endemic?