Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #3

[deugirtni]

The province announced Wednesday that it would be utilizing crown corporation the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to roll out free rapid antigen tests in the face of growing calls to increase accessibility for the screening kits, currently being offered for $40 at pharmacies.

Instead of lining up at your local drug store, the free tests are being paired with a different class of drugs, to be made available for any member of the public at select LCBO locations across the province.

Ontario is going to start giving out free rapid tests at the LCBO

 

[deugirtni]

Yesterday I went to a local Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up a script. There was a lineup waiting at the pharmacy pickup window, which was annoying, and I wondered why it was like that (it isn't usually), and further wondered if they might be doing Covid vaccinations, since I'd seen lineups for that purpose in earlier days. As I made my way up the line, and got to second place, I could overhear what the couple before me were saying to the pharma clerk: "We're here for a covid test."

I thought, wow. Unbeknownst to me, I've been walking amongst potentially symptomatic, not-yet-officially-diagnosed-Covid patients, in a public store.. lining up right behind them, etc..... along with probably all kinds of sick people coming in to fill their scripts, old people, disabled people, who might be vulnerable, etc.

I shared this with a friend in healthcare, and they said, "Oh, the testing done at the pharmacies is only for NON symptomatic testing, and for travel." But after looking at the Ontario website for official testing sites, the store I visited, along with numerous others all over, is indeed listed as a site for testing SYMPTOMATIC (as well as 'exposure') Covid.

I hadn't realized that stores serving the general shopping public were doing this type of testing, so I thought I'd share. SDM is not just a pharmacy, they sell all kinds of stuff from food, books, toys, gifts, seasonal, electronics, household supplies, post office, etc. Think I'll ask for delivery next time one of my family needs a script filled, and maybe stop shopping for other things at SDM for now - especially if 'Omicron' is such an easy/fast spreader and they're not sure if the vaxxes will work against this strain.

It's one thing to go for your own Covid test at a Covid testing facility, knowing you're amongst others who are in the same boat as you, (who also must wait outside until no more than 5 minutes before their scheduled appointment, and the facility is manned with people monitoring behavior, as far as I understand it).. but it's another to shop amongst those who've been sent for testing due to exposure, or symptoms. Of course we're all potentially exposed to this every time we walk into any store, but in this case, people are potentially just cluelessly shopping amongst at least some people who know they've been exposed or have symptoms. I guess ignorance is bliss?

From Ontario's website linked below:

"Tests people with symptoms, exposure, or people in certain groups without symptoms or exposure"

Who can get a test

• Can test anyone over 2 years old

Diagnostic testing available

• In-store testing

Appointment and location details

• In-store testing is by appointment only (call or visit their website to make an appointment)

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/assessment-centre-locations

 

[musicaljoke]

For anyone interested, here is a link to the Premier of Ontario (Doug Ford) press conference today, regarding speeding up eligibility for booster shots, encouraging all to get the third dose, restricting capacity to 50% for large venues with a capacity to host 1000+ people, such as event halls, etc. And more.

I wonder if we will continue to see huge crowds at professional sports events.

 

[JDG]

Yesterday I went to a local Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up a script. There was a lineup waiting at the pharmacy pickup window, which was annoying, and I wondered why it was like that (it isn't usually), and further wondered if they might be doing Covid vaccinations, since I'd seen lineups for that purpose in earlier days. As I made my way up the line, and got to second place, I could overhear what the couple before me were saying to the pharma clerk: "We're here for a covid test."

I thought, wow. Unbeknownst to me, I've been walking amongst potentially symptomatic, not-yet-officially-diagnosed-Covid patients, in a public store.. lining up right behind them, etc..... along with probably all kinds of sick people coming in to fill their scripts, old people, disabled people, who might be vulnerable, etc.

I shared this with a friend in healthcare, and they said, "Oh, the testing done at the pharmacies is only for NON symptomatic testing, and for travel." But after looking at the Ontario website for official testing sites, the store I visited, along with numerous others all over, is indeed listed as a site for testing SYMPTOMATIC (as well as 'exposure') Covid.


I hadn't realized that stores serving the general shopping public were doing this type of testing, so I thought I'd share. SDM is not just a pharmacy, they sell all kinds of stuff from food, books, toys, gifts, seasonal, electronics, household supplies, post office, etc. Think I'll ask for delivery next time one of my family needs a script filled, and maybe stop shopping for other things at SDM for now - especially if 'Omicron' is such an easy/fast spreader and they're not sure if the vaxxes will work against this strain.

It's one thing to go for your own Covid test at a Covid testing facility, knowing you're amongst others who are in the same boat as you, (who also must wait outside until no more than 5 minutes before their scheduled appointment, and the facility is manned with people monitoring behavior, as far as I understand it).. but it's another to shop amongst those who've been sent for testing due to exposure, or symptoms. Of course we're all potentially exposed to this every time we walk into any store, but in this case, people are potentially just cluelessly shopping amongst at least some people who know they've been exposed or have symptoms. I guess ignorance is bliss?

From Ontario's website linked below:

"Tests people with symptoms, exposure, or people in certain groups without symptoms or exposure"

Who can get a test

• Can test anyone over 2 years old

Diagnostic testing available

• In-store testing

Appointment and location details

• In-store testing is by appointment only (call or visit their website to make an appointment)

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/assessment-centre-locations

At least one pharmacist (SDM) quit on the spot when told they must test symptomatic people for COVID. CTV News

I’m not going anywhere near SDM while this policy is in place.

Total boycott from out household, yet it’s a great one stop shopping experience in ‘normal times’.

IMO, everyone who is being put at risk by this policy should call Loblaws head office to give their opinion. The owner/operators are being forced to comply with this ‘voluntary’ policy by corporate office.

 

[deugirtni]

At least one pharmacist (SDM) quit on the spot when told they must test symptomatic people for COVID. CTV News

I’m not going anywhere near SDM while this policy is in place.

Total boycott from out household, yet it’s a great one stop shopping experience in ‘normal times’.

IMO, everyone who is being put at risk by this policy should call Loblaws head office to give their opinion. The owner/operators are being forced to comply with this ‘voluntary’ policy by corporate office.

Thanks JDG, I wasn't aware of any of this. I guess I'm behind in my reading, or I didn't pay attention to the implications. I found the article you referenced, which is dated just yesterday. With my friend being in healthcare, she wasn't even aware of it.. I wonder how many Christmas shoppers out there are blindly exposing themselves? And then when they contract Covid, they wouldn't have a clue where they'd been exposed. Craziness. imo.

Ontario pharmacist quits job in protest over Shoppers Drug Mart's symptomatic COVID-19 testing plan

Up until mid-November, pharmacies were only allowed to swab people without symptoms, for purposes of travel, or to conduct asymptomatic surveillance testing on a select number of vulnerable groups.

That changed Nov. 18 when the province announced a plan to expand its testing program from assessment centres into neighbourhood pharmacies.
....
Asked about whether individual stores and pharmacists are forced to conduct symptomatic testing, a spokesperson for Loblaws, which owns Shoppers Drug Mart, said that is not the case.

“As we’ve said all along, our stores are independently owned and operated, and as such have the final decision on providing symptomatic testing for patients. If the store owner does not want to participate, or does not believe they can do it safely, they don’t have to.”

But Miranda says that when he and the store owner raised concerns, two representatives from the company came to visit the location and convince them otherwise.
....
Miranda said he chose to publicize his resignation to put pressure on Shoppers Drug Mart and the Ministry of Health to reconsider the program, which now involves 585 pharmacies across Ontario.

“There is a reason we don’t put vaccination clinics in assessment centres, and Shoppers is trying to do both,” he said.

He said the arrival of the Omicron variant, and its increased transmissibility, is cause for the government to cancel the programand urged Ontarians not to visit pharmacies conducting symptomatic testing.

“If you see (the symptomatic testing) sign at a pharmacy, that is a do not enter sign,” he said.

Ontario pharmacist quits job in protest over Shoppers Drug Mart's symptomatic COVID-19 testing plan

 

[Sundog]

At least one pharmacist (SDM) quit on the spot when told they must test symptomatic people for COVID. CTV News

I’m not going anywhere near SDM while this policy is in place.

Total boycott from out household, yet it’s a great one stop shopping experience in ‘normal times’.

IMO, everyone who is being put at risk by this policy should call Loblaws head office to give their opinion. The owner/operators are being forced to comply with this ‘voluntary’ policy by corporate office.

Do their pharmacies have drive-through option to pick up prescriptons? That's what I use to avoid going inside.

 

[JDG]

Do their pharmacies have drive-through option to pick up prescriptons? That's what I use to avoid going inside.

I don’t know of any with drive-thru options.

Have only seen that, along with drive in banks, in the US.

 

[deugirtni]

Do their pharmacies have drive-through option to pick up prescriptons? That's what I use to avoid going inside.

The thing is... I didn't even know they were doing this in pharmacies.. and how many others are also unaware? I have no drive-through pharmacies in my area. To have them would make sense though. Our Shoppers even offers 'free delivery'.. but I never take advantage of that, because I actually like buying stuff at Shoppers. But no more.

 

[Sundog]

The thing is... I didn't even know they were doing this in pharmacies.. and how many others are also unaware? I have no drive-through pharmacies in my area. To have them would make sense though. Our Shoppers even offers 'free delivery'.. but I never take advantage of that, because I actually like buying stuff at Shoppers. But no more.

We also have curbside pickup if you want to buy items other than the pharmacy department.

 

[casesensitive]

The thing is... I didn't even know they were doing this in pharmacies.. and how many others are also unaware? I have no drive-through pharmacies in my area. To have them would make sense though. Our Shoppers even offers 'free delivery'.. but I never take advantage of that, because I actually like buying stuff at Shoppers. But no more.

I knew some Shopper's Drug Marts in my city were doing the tests for symptomatic people. I called the store closest to my house and confirmed they were not doing them, and was told which locations were. I asked if that could change in the future and the pharmacists said "I don't know". So, I will continue to check the status.

 

[tarabull]

Two-month-old baby dies from COVID-19 at Montreal hospital | Canoe.Com

 

[Kaley Smith]

Two-month-old baby dies from COVID-19 at Montreal hospital | Canoe.Com

I wonder if the mother was vaccinated? I heard yesterday that a pregnant woman's Covid vaccine protection transfers to the baby while she's carrying it.

Vaccines & Pregnancy: Top 7 Things You Need to Know

 

[deugirtni]

I wonder if the mother was vaccinated? I heard yesterday that a pregnant woman's Covid vaccine protection transfers to the baby while she's carrying it.

Vaccines & Pregnancy: Top 7 Things You Need to Know

Yes, it would be helpful to know more details instead of hiding behind confidentiality when it suits them. How'd this baby get exposed? Did any other family members have it? Were they vaxxed? Instead, we just get the headline, the scariest part. imo.

 

[deugirtni]

Ontario reported 4,177 new cases of the virus -- more than two-thirds of which are in people who are fully vaccinated -- in what was the highest daily tally since April 23.

The seven-day average of cases swelled to 2,542 Sunday, compared with 1,236 a week earlier.

The province announced Friday that it would reinstate 50-per-cent capacity limits in many indoor settings starting Sunday, including restaurants, gyms, personal care services and retailers, while also capping indoor social gatherings at 10 people.

The province also barred dancing at clubs and instituted restricted hours for serving alcohol.
....
The province's science advisers have said two doses of COVID-19 vaccine are only 35 per cent effective against the variant three months after being administered, while a third dose bumps efficacy up to 75 per cent.
...
Hospitalizations appeared to decrease with 283 people in hospital — including 159 who are in intensive care and 103 on ventilators. The number of hospitalizations decreased by 99, but not all hospitals report on the weekends.

New COVID-19 cases exceed 4,000 in Ontario as capacity limits come into effect - CityNews Ottawa

 

[dotr]

Israel to ban travel to U.S., Canada over omicron variant
''December 20, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli ministers on Monday agreed to ban travel to the United States, Canada and eight other countries amid the rapid, global spread of the omicron variant.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office announced the decision following a Cabinet vote.

The rare move to red-list the U.S. comes amid rising coronavirus infections in Israel and marks a change to pandemic practices between the two nations with close diplomatic relations. The U.S. will join a growing list of European countries and other destinations to which Israelis are barred from traveling, and from which returning travelers must remain in quarantine.

A parliamentary committee is expected to give the measure final approval. Once authorized, the travel ban will take effect at midnight Wednesday morning.''

 

[otto]

Yes, it would be helpful to know more details instead of hiding behind confidentiality when it suits them. How'd this baby get exposed? Did any other family members have it? Were they vaxxed? Instead, we just get the headline, the scariest part. imo.

I recall a news article from a few months ago where a pregnant woman in Vancouver got covid. She was put in an induced coma. The baby was born while she was in a coma, and kept for observation for 2 weeks. The baby did not have covid and went home with the father. The woman survived. That is an example where the baby was protected and safe even though the mother was ill, so it's not necessarily true that babies born to ill mothers automatically become ill.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-woman-gives-birth-coma-covid19-1.5803491

 

[otto]

Of those who have had the booster shot, were there any noticeable side effects? I don't recall my first dose causing side effects, but my second one caused chills and feeling unwell for about 24 hours. I'm curious about what to expect.

 

[Sundog]

Of those who have had the booster shot, were there any noticeable side effects? I don't recall my first dose causing side effects, but my second one caused chills and feeling unwell for about 24 hours. I'm curious about what to expect.

I had the Moderna booster shot, and had the same side effects that I had with my second dose of Moderna six months prior. Although with the booster shot, I didn't have as high of a fever, just a low-grade fever, fatigue, some aches and pains, and mild headache. My husband had the Pfizer booster and he said he had no side effects, maybe some fatigue.

 

[otto]

I had the Moderna booster shot, and had the same side effects that I had with my second dose of Moderna six months prior. Although with the booster shot, I didn't have as high of a fever, just a low-grade fever, fatigue, some aches and pains, and mild headache. My husband had the Pfizer booster and he said he had no side effects, maybe some fatigue.

Thank you! I'm booked for moderna tomorrow - not looking forward to 24 hours of feeling unwell, but the symptoms disappeared as quickly as they started.

 

[casesensitive]

I had the Pfizer for my first shot and had to get the Moderna for my second. Neither caused more than slight side-effects. I have a choice to get either one for my booster. Has anyone read recent reports that one is better than the other for the Omicron variant?