Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #3

[anneg]

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.

That sounds awful! I hate it when I'm singing and it gets wet inside the mask. (Have been singing in church choir and with a community chorus this fall.)

 

[otto]

In cold weather, while wearing a mask, my glasses fog up, my mask feels like it's suctioned to my face, I can't see or breathe clearly. Sounds like switching masks is the solution? Thank you!

I think no mask outside in freezing temps, only scarf, might be best?

 

[dotr]

Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 10,436 new cases of COVID-19 today; Several provinces considering allowing COVID positive health workers to stay on job

Dec. 29, 2021
''10:18 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 10,436 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths on Wednesday.

There are 726 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 while 190 people are in ICU due to the virus. The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 related patients in ICU is 174.

Also in the province, 26,815,586 vaccine doses have been administered, with over 176,000 doses administered Tuesday.

Additionally, 90.7 per cent of Ontarians aged 12+ have one dose and 88.1 per cent have two doses.

10:03 p.m.: The U.S. is seeing a higher number of kids in hospitals, as omicron spreads across the country, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told MSNBC.

“Most of those children are not yet vaccinated,” Walensky said Wednesday. “So the message here is: Get the children vaccinated.”

 

[tarabull]

CBC.ca: With Omicron surging, Alberta Health Services offers COVID testing option to unvaccinated staff.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ahs-rapid-testing-vaccine-mandate-covid-1.6297604

 

[tarabull]

Is it even possible to process more than 10,000 test a day?????

Hmmmmmmm

 

[dotr]

Is it even possible to process more than 10,000 test a day?????

Hmmmmmmm

Dec 28 2021 rbbm.
Ontario to change COVID-19 testing, tracing guidance in face of Omicron spike
''Labs were able to process between 60,000 to 70,000 samples per day prior to the holidays, with up to 19 per cent of them coming back positive, a clear sign that infections are going undetected.

Public Health Ontario says that infection data should now be interpreted with caution as it is a significant undercount of the actual amount of infection occurring in the province.

At Women’s College Hospital, Michael Garron Hospital, Sunnybook Health Sciences Centre, North York General Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital on Tuesday, the soonest any of them had an opening for a COVID-19 test was January 8.

Moore had a new conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but it was postponed.

The Ministry of Health said it was reviewing a new policy from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which states that anyone with confirmed or probable COVID-19 should isolate at home for five days, down from ten, so long as they do not show symptoms.''

 

[deugirtni]

Several provinces considering allowing COVID-19 positive health workers to stay on job

Yesterday, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube announced some health workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be allowed to stay on the job.

He said the move is necessary to keep the health-care system operational, and the decision would be made on a case-by-case basis under certain conditions.
....
Manitoba and Ontario have said they are considering similar measures to avoid overwhelming their own health systems.

Several provinces considering allowing COVID-19 positive health workers to stay on job

 

[otto]

Given that provinces are considering allowing covid-sick employees in hospitals, I'm curious what happens if someone is in hospital with the Delta variant and they are exposed to the Omicron variant.

 

[Sundog]

Given that provinces are considering allowing covid-sick employees in hospitals, I'm curious what happens if someone is in hospital with the Delta variant and they are exposed to the Omicron variant.

I wonder about that, too.

I thought it was interesting that the former director of the FDA, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, said in an interview last week that it is possible that when Omicron burns itself out (not his words, my paraphrase), then Delta might remain the residual variant. For some reason, I had thought that wouldn't be the case, that Delta would be eradicated, but guess that isn't necessarily the case. I know this is speculation by Gottlieb, but I was surprised to hear this possibility. Delta is much more serious in terms of symptoms, so I hope this is not the case.

Here in Ohio where I live now, we are still battling the Delta surge, while Omicron is fast advancing.

 

[otto]

New reality here is that there are not enough test kits to go around, so the better test is reserved for necessary care-people.

Omicron is spreading fast. With the common cold, only some caught it. With omicron it seems everyone in contact gets it 48-72 hours later.

I read that people who get omicron are more immune/resistant to Delta - still looking for peer reviewed confirmation. Some are even so optimistic as to hope that omicron will change the pandemic to an endemic.

 

[dotr]

December 31, 2021 10:38AM EST rbbm.
Ontario reports more than 16,000 new cases of COVID-19 as hospitalizations continue to rise
''Ontario is reporting a record number of COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, even as public health officials continue to warn that case counts are now a gross underestimate of the true burden of infection given limited access to testing.

The Ministry of Health says that there were 16,713 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus confirmed by the province’s labs over the last 24 hours, with 29.8 per cent of all samples coming back positive.

Hospitalizations are also rising steadily now after previously lagging behind the sudden Omicron-fueled surge in cases that has taken place over the last few weeks.

The ministry is reporting that there are currently 205 people in intensive care units with COVID-19 and 1,144 in other hospital units. At this time last week there were only 154 people in the ICU with COVID-19 and 508 in other hospital units.

Ontario is also reporting an additional 15 deaths in people who had contracted COVID-19, which is the highest that number has been in months. Since the beginning of the pandemic a total of 10,194 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19.''

 

[Sundog]

Quebec dog owners howl over coronavirus curfew rules; ministry backpedals: reports

 

[tarabull]

Alberta tech company hopes air decontamination device will help mitigate Omicron variant spread | Globalnews.ca

 

[deugirtni]

Amid what he called a "tsunami" of new Omicron cases, the return to classrooms for Ontario students and staff has been delayed by an additional two weeks.

Last week the province announced that students would be back in the classroom on Wednesday, but following an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday night the Ford government has pushed that date back to at least January 17.

Ontario delaying return to classrooms by 2 weeks amid 'tsunami' of Omicron cases - CityNews Ottawa

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Ontario shuts schools, indoor dining and gyms (clickondetroit.com)

TORONTO, ONT – All schools in Canada’s most populous province will be shut down and move to online learning because of a record number of coronavirus infections fueled by the ultra-contagious omicron variant, Ontario’s premier announced Monday.

Premier Doug Ford also announced the closure of indoor dining. Gyms and cinemas will also close and hospitals have also been told to pause all non-urgent surgeries

Ontario is seeing record new infections and there are concerns about hospital capacity...

Ontario shuts schools, indoor dining and gyms (detroitnews.com)

 

[deugirtni]

CTV News Toronto has compiled a list of all the new restrictions, which will come into effect on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

GATHERING LIMITS SLASHED

• Social gathering limits will be reduced to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors.
• Capacity will be limited at organized public events to five people indoors.
• Businesses and organizations will need to ensure employees work remotely unless the nature of their work requires them to be on-site.

REDUCED CAPACITY LIMITS

• Capacity at indoor weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites and ceremonies will be limited to 50 per cent capacity of a particular room. Outdoor services are limited to the number of people that can maintain two metres of physical distance.Social gatherings associated with these services must adhere to the social gathering limits.
• Retail settings, including shopping malls, will be permitted at 50 per cent capacity. For shopping malls, physical distancing will be required in line-ups and food courts will be required to close.
• Personal care services will be permitted to operate at 50 per cent capacity. Saunas, steam rooms, and oxygen bars will be closed.
• Public libraries limited to 50 per cent capacity.

CLOSURES

• Indoor meeting and event spaces are required to close with limited exceptions, but outdoor spaces can remain open with restrictions.
• Indoor dining at restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments will no longer be permited. Outdoor dining with restrictions, takeout, drive through and delivery is permitted.
• Indoor concert venues, theatres and cinemas will be closed, but rehearsals and recorded performances are permitted with restrictions.
• Museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens and similar attractions, amusement parks and waterparks, tour and guide services and fairs, rural exhibitions, and festivals will all close. Outdoor establishments will be permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy, where applicable, limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Indoor horse racing tracks, car racing tracks and other similar venues will close. Outdoor establishments will be permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy limited to 50 per cent capacity. Boat tours will be permitted at 50 per cent capacity.
• Indoor sport and recreational fitness facilities, including gyms, will be closed, except for athletes training for the Olympics and Paralympics and select professional and elite amateur sport leagues. Outdoor facilities will be permitted to operate but with the number of spectators not to exceed 50 per cent occupancy and other requirements.

SCHOOL CLOSURES

• All publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting January 5 until at least January 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations.
• School buildings would be permitted to open for child care operations and to provide in-person instruction for students with special education needs who cannot be accommodated remotely.

SURGERIES

• On Jan. 5, the Chief Medical Officer of Health will reinstate Directive 2 for hospitals and regulated health professionals, instructing hospitals to pause all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures in order to "preserve critical care and human resource capacity."

Full list of Ontario COVID-19 restrictions for modified Step 2 starting Jan. 5

 

[otto]

My daughter in Ottawa is just back to work at a gym and now the gyms are closed until at least Jan 17, possibly into February. I read that there is a new gov't benefit for people who are out of work due to lockdown. As a parent with three young children, who must again be home-schooled, she may not know about it. Does anyone have the link handy?

We discuss this twilight zone where there are food shortages and social and interpersonal interaction is mandated. We could never have imagined life like this a couple of years ago, until it was on us so fast we blinked and life changed.

 

[dotr]

My daughter in Ottawa is just back to work at a gym and now the gyms are closed until at least Jan 17, possibly into February. I read that there is a new gov't benefit for people who are out of work due to lockdown. As a parent with three young children, who must again be home-schooled, she may not know about it. Does anyone have the link handy?

We discuss this twilight zone where there are food shortages and social and interpersonal interaction is mandated. We could never have imagined life like this a couple of years ago, until it was on us so fast we blinked and life changed.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html
''On this page

• Support for individuals
• Support for businesses
• Support for sectors
• Support for communities
• Other measures
• Completed measures

Support for individuals
Individuals and families

• Employment Insurance (EI) program
• Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit
• Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit
• Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit
• Supporting low-income workers and families
• Mortgage payment deferral
• Provincial and territorial support

 

[otto]

Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan - Canada.ca
''On this page

• Support for individuals
• Support for businesses
• Support for sectors
• Support for communities
• Other measures
• Completed measures

Support for individuals
Individuals and families

• Employment Insurance (EI) program
• Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit
• Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit
• Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit
• Supporting low-income workers and families
• Mortgage payment deferral
• Provincial and territorial support

Thank you!
The lockdown benefit is for people out of work due to lockdown.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/worker-lockdown-benefit.html

 

[deugirtni]

It feels like things have completely gone off the rails now... completely out of control. Shortage of PCR tests.. employees being 'forced' to submit to rapid tests performed by their employer.. only a 5 day quarantine for positive rapid test results.. people who've been a close contact now have to also quarantine for 5 days, even if double vaccinated.. people expected to be honest and quarantine if they're asymptomatic and test positive on a rapid test - even though many can't afford to miss 5 days of work/pay.. numbers are now absolutely meaningless..